Anna Jeffries grew up in the Cleveland area and attended Ohio University where she majored in journalism.

 

During college, she was inspired by her experiences as a volunteer counselor at a Muscular Dystrophy Association Summer camp and decided she wanted to use her love of writing to empower people with disabilities by telling their stories.

 

That goal took a detour as she approached graduation and decided to explore a career in newspaper journalism.   She spent more than seven years at the Newark Advocate newspaper in Newark, Ohio, as a feature writer, also covering breaking news and education.

 

During that time, she received multiple awards for feature writing, storytelling and community service reporting.

 

She was hired as the Public Information officer for the Licking County Board of Developmental Disabilities in July of 2016.

 

Her articles still appear in the Advocate occasionally and she is always looking for opportunities to be use storytelling to move people forward and make connections between the DD world and the local community.

 

Anna is a member of the Community Intercultural Relations Conference  (CIRC) planning committee at OSU-N/COTC and the DEI committee for the East Central Ohio Chapter of the Red Cross. She is also a member of the United Way of Licking County's Women United steering committee.

 

She is a member of the Post Alumni Society board, which supports the student newspaper at Ohio University. She is also involved in her high school's alumni organization and volunteers for POEM

(Perinatal Outreach & Encouragement for Moms.)

 

She lives in Gahanna, Ohio with her husband, son and daughter.