Thea has served in the ND Army National Guard for 11 years, after deciding she wanted to enlist when she was 27 years old. She recently closed her fitness studio that she had operated since 2015 to take a job working full time for the National Guard.
She spends almost all of her time volunteering in the community and even works with veterans across the country. She has been a volunteer with Team RWB for 10 years, and has held almost every volunteer role you can in the organization. She currently is the Functional Fitness Activity Group Leader and leads a team to provide workouts nationally for Team RWB’s 200,000 members. She also works closely with the National Guard each year to host the annual September 11th Remembrance event in Bismarck.
She volunteers with the Travis Manion Foundation, providing Character Does Matter programs to youth and works very closely with veterans and families of the fallen in ND.
Thea is the co-host of the podcast These Are Your Neighbors, which is a part of her role as the Chair for the City of Bismarck’s Human Relations Committee. She was appointed by the mayor to be on this committee. Here, she focuses on diversity, inclusion, accessibility and equality in the community. Her podcast has had local Senators, City Commissioners, non-profit directors, business owners and other people making a difference in Bismarck on.
She is actively involved with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She does a little bit of everything for them, having been the Walk Chair one year, to providing presentations for people across the state. She is most active in their Advocacy program, working with elected officials on policy. She is currently the only ND resident to sit on a new military committee for AFSP.
She’s a board member for Bismarck Global Neighbors and a mentor as well. As a mentor she works with New Americans in a number of capacities.
She currently sits on the Bismarck Parkinsons Support Group Board of Directors, is a member of the Executive Team for Bisman Power of 100, was appointed by the Govenor to serve on the NDServes Commission and is a part of the New American/Foreign Born/Immigrant (NFI) Advisory Board.
Over the last 10 years she has served terms on a number of boards, been appointed by the Govenor to sit on task forces and continues to make an impact in the community. She is constantly doing something and truly loves to serve the community.
