Humans of Orcas | Meet Andreia Henigson

Andreia Henigson is a newcomer to Orcas Island. She and her husband, Jeff Henigson, moved here last September, hoping to find a more engaging, stronger community than the one where they lived in in Seattle. Andreia was born in Brazil and moved to the States in May 2015. She first spent a couple of years in Florida before moving to Seattle where she met Jeff. The Henigson family has lived on Orcas Island since the 80s and are frequent supporters and donors throughout our community. Their philanthropic gifts include generous funds to create the track at Orcas Island High School, the Funhouse scholarships, and the new wing at the Public Library.

Often referring to herself as “Jennifer Beals, the welder character from Flashdance,” Andreia’s first job was as a welder for an oil and gas factory. She always imagined she would go down the engineering route until her parent’s friend in Brazil was hired to run a start-up and recruited her. Andreia discovered the corporate world for the first time and loved it. Their start-up was acquired by a global company, and after a “series of coincidences,” she ended up at Microsoft as a Change Manager, which entails running sales programs across eight global sales centers and helping the company implement and stick to their plans. Her favorite aspect of her job is the exposure to other parts of the world. She enjoys the diversity of her global team and hopes to see similar representation in her volunteer work.

Aside from her volunteer work on the board of a Seattle women’s shelter, Andreia was recently recruited to join the local non-profit Orcas Community Resource Center (OCRC.) The Resource Center’s mission is to connect those in need with the services they need to be self-sufficient. She noted that OCRC serves 850 clients per year, which is twenty percent—a significant chunk—of our island population. Her work with the Resource Center is similar to what she does with Microsoft; she implements a framework to improve how their staff engages with clients and builds plans to be more efficient and serve an even greater population. Andreia sees the Resource Center as a great tool to address inclusion and increase diversity on the island, which is especially important to her as a Latin woman.

Andreia is currently assisting OCRC with the implementation of trauma-informed care (TIC), an approach that focuses on the understanding of and responsiveness to the impact of trauma. It promotes positive outcomes by emphasizing physical, psychological, and emotional safety. The Resource Center also recognizes the experiences of race-based discrimination and its psychological impacts on individuals. Andreia stated, “Implementing TIC will equip OCRC staff with tools and resources to work with clients thoughtfully, acknowledging their lived experiences and avoiding re-traumatization.”

“The scope of my volunteer work leverages my professional skills in Change Management and Program Management,” she continued. “What’s wonderful about this volunteer work is that, as I help OCRC, I am learning so much about the non-profit world. It is a delightful exchange.”

Throughout my interview with Andreia, I often felt more like the interviewee than the interviewer, as she asked me about my plans and offered her words of wisdom and encouragement. At the very end of our interview, we spent half an hour discussing fashion and perusing images of some of her favorite dresses from Brazil. She promised to bring a few up from her house in Seattle the next time she went off island just for me, proving her kindness extends beyond her volunteer work.

Orcas Community Resource Center is a safety net for Orcas – connecting islanders with housing support, food, healthcare, transportation, and more. For more info, visit: https://orcascrc.org/