#MILLSUMMIT 2022 Speaker Profile: Denée Crumrine
Denée Crumrine: Offering to help doesn’t mean you should do everything for everyone
Denée Crumrine is responsible for internal and external communications and press relations at Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware. She oversees the organization’s corporate giving, community affairs, and its BluePrints for the Community health grant fund. She also supports executive visibility, employee engagement, marketing, and strategic partnerships.
Prior to Highmark Delaware, Denée held communications roles at the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, Delaware BioScience Association and Harford County (MD) Public Schools. In addition to her work with Highmark Delaware, Denée is involved with Exceptional Care for Children, Junior Achievement of Delaware, Leadership Delaware, Public Allies Delaware, Public Relations Society of America, and the Delaware chapter, KIDS COUNT in Delaware, and several other organizations and committees.
She is also in her second year as an executive co-chair for the #MillSummit, which she says has been “a lot of fun and a huge honor. As a founding committee member and former subcommittee chair, it has been great to watch the #MillSummit grow and evolve and to have played a part in each year's event”
Denée earned her B.A. in Mass Communications from the University of Delaware. Denée enjoys spending time with loved ones, volunteering, live music, traveling, archery and Harry Potter.
1-3 Things You Hope People Will Take from the Session/Event: For those tuning into the #MillSummit, whether in person or virtually, I hope they leave with a better understanding of themselves and are inspired to engage in different and deeper ways with their communities and careers. I hope they can define 'success' for their own personal journey, as well as gain tools and insights they can use to redefine it as they go.
What’s the biggest problem facing your millennials? Oversimplified, I would guess (maybe “say”) finding that elusive work-life balance and managing our own expectations with the expectations of everyone else.
What’s the question you wish more people would ask themselves? How can I help? Whether it's considering how you can lend your expertise at work to solve a problem, support a struggling friend, or advocate for a cause you feel strongly about, putting your best self forward to improve the world around you makes a much bigger impact (even if in small increments) than assuming others will take up the mantle. And helping doesn't necessarily mean forgetting about boundaries and doing everything for everyone. Sometimes it's just helping to reframe a situation or offer a different perspective.
What’s the last book that blew you away (and why)? Sadly, I haven’t read anything new recently! The most moving book that came to mind though is Just Mercy, which I read with some friends as part of a virtual book group during the pandemic. I loved Bryan Stevenson's storytelling. He wrote an incredibly insightful and powerful book. As someone who has very little knowledge of, or experience with, criminal justice (or injustice!), it was humbling and painful but beautiful and hopeful. There is an abundance of wrongness in life that this book tackles, but our capacity for goodness was not overlooked.
When was the first time you realized you had the power of change or the power to do something meaningful? I am still realizing this about myself to be honest. It is easy to believe that I am not good or strong or smart enough to make a difference. But it oftentimes comes down to the little things - consistency, thoughtfulness, trying/doing your best. I keep re-learning that I matter and have purpose; that my words and actions can both tear things and people down as well as build them up; that kindness goes a long way even if we don't see it; that doing nothing can sometimes be as detrimental as doing a wrong thing; and that complacency is much more comfortable than owning your responsibility to do right and good things.
What advice would you give your younger self? Where were you at that time? Not really advice, but insight: It all works out - even if it's not how or when you expected. I think I’m speaking to myself in high school and through college. I was so worried all the time about what was coming, what the future held. I had a hard time living in the present. Now that I've learned to let go of some of that anxiety and appreciate life as it happens, I wish I had figured it out sooner.
When you feel overwhelmed, distracted, or lose your focus, what do you do? Take a break. Whether it's a short walk, meditation, or doing a task unrelated to what I'm working on, stepping away gives my mind a chance to process without pressure.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten (and who was it from)? Do a good job at whatever you're doing, and people will notice. This advice came from my former coworker, longtime mentor, and now friend and esteemed colleague, Cheryl Corn. Her philosophy is that your work, in or out of the office, will speak for itself, no matter how big or small the job seems. [This is #2.]
What’s your go-to mantra for difficult times? Breathe! It's easy to get caught up in a moment or feeling or situation and I weirdly hold my breath when I am stressed. Pausing to focus on breathing in and out sounds silly, but it helps me to calm down, take a beat, and assess what's going on with more clarity and objectivity.