Sr. Community Engagement Specialist / Age 38
Oshkosh Corporation
While still in high school, Oshkosh native Rachel Hansen took a summer job planting and watering flowers on the grounds of EAA in preparation for the annual AirVenture event. “It was a blast, and I got a really great farmer’s tan,” Hansen says.
After graduating from UW-Eau Claire, Hansen became a sales representative and trainer at The Conover Company, a publisher of transitional assessment programs for special needs students.
But Hansen had her sights on Oshkosh Corporation and first accepted a position as the building ambassador, eventually taking a role with the company’s community engagement team: “a position that I love and have the opportunity to make a difference,” she says.
Through her role, Hansen coordinates all corporate events that support the community, including the Feed the Body, Feed the Soul program in which more than 1,000 team members and community members package more than 130,000 pounds of rice for Feeding America.
Hansen says food insecurity is one of the biggest issues facing Northeast Wisconsin. “Data shows us that 1 in 8 people and 1 in 5 children in our area do not know where their next meal is coming from,” she says. “The impact of hunger influences academic success, development and health. Families should not have to make the decision between buying food and paying for medication, transportation and housing.”
