Shelley Snyder’s voice breaks and she pauses to collect herself. After a moment, she explains how when she was a teenager her father was found dead in her family’s home. At the hospital, the doctors asked her family a question that would change Snyder’s life forever; would they be willing to donate her father’s corneas?
The doctor’s question to her mother was Snyder’s first introduction to organ donation, but it was her job with Donate Life in Cincinnati that really got Snyder interested in pursuing a career long term in the field. Her job was to go to the hospital when there was a potential organ donor, assess the situation, comfort the grieving families and ask them if they were open to having their loved one become an organ donor.
During this time, Snyder discovered her love for educating people about organ donation. She also discovered the impact donating had on the family of the donor. In their time of grief, families could take comfort in the fact that their loved one was able to save lives. This was something Snyder’s family had experienced themselves, as her father’s corneas enabled two young people to see.
“My mom just remembers it being the one moment of light in a day of complete darkness for our family. We knew he’d be able to help someone else, and that’s of course what he’d always wanted to do,” Snyder said.
It was these experiences that drew Snyder to her current job, serving as the Executive Director of Donate Life Kentucky Trust, a non-profit organization that assists organ donors and recipients in the state. This organization also leads education efforts to encourage people to register to be organ donors. As a leader, Snyder works to maintain an environment that both supports and challenges employees. She believes that a sense of community is key to having a successful staff. She has worked from her first day in the role to uplift her employees and ensure that they support each other.
“I always tell people, when I first met her I thought, ‘Is this lady for real? She’s so energetic and so kind, and I just don’t know if she’s just putting on a show or if she’s really this nice.’ And I always say, ten years later, she’s the real deal,” Becky Kaelin, Outreach Operations Manager at Donate Life Kentucky Trust, said of working with Snyder.
In 2024, there was much uncertainty about the funding of Snyder’s team. Her emphasis on community has been helpful during times of stress. Snyder was able to find support in her team, knowing that they were all going through the same stressful situation.
“I am an external processor. I have got some really great colleagues, friends and mentors. When things are really stressful, I just need to let it out and talk to someone,” Snyder said.
“She just continues to reinvent us to make it more successful, to make organ donation available to everyone and to just expand upon what we do. I’m probably somebody who could just get comfortable and be like, ‘OK, it’s working.’ Shelly’s more like ‘OK, it’s working, but what more can we do?’” Kaelin said.
When faced with challenges, Snyder’s habit of overthinking can be both a blessing and a curse. While it helps her plan for a wide variety of outcomes to a problem, it can also cause a great deal of added stress. Something that Snyder tries to do to mitigate this is to have a healthy work life balance. The work day is dedicated to her job, but the rest of the day is meant for spending time with her husband and two kids.
“After five, I’m not going to be on my laptop because now it’s my kids time,” Snyder said.
Snyder hopes to continue serving as Executive Director in the future, and her employees hope she continues as well. As our conversation comes to a close, I tell Snyder that I have one more question for her; what would she say to those considering signing up to become an organ donor?
“It is one of the most generous, wonderful things that anybody could do,” Snyder said.
For more information regarding the organ donation registration process, see Donate Life Kentucky Trust’s website here.
