Meet the newest Makin’ It Happen staff member, Emma Scott (Dolan)! Emma joins us as the newest Community Impact Manager, where she will help expand and develop the Community Impact in the 603 focus area and lead the YW&P Collaborative that her predecessor, Ashley Bachert, fearlessly began. We decided to sit down with Emma and get to know her more.
Q: What landed you at Makin’ It Happen?
Emma: I have a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology and always knew I wanted to help people. During the pandemic, I started working at Families In Transition and really loved what the case managers were doing, so I ended up working as a case manager in Southern New Hampshire for individuals experiencing persistent and severe mental illness. Later on, I came across the Community Education and Outreach Advocate position at REACH and did that for the last three years, doing a mix of direct services with domestic and sexual violence survivors and also conducting trainings, attending community events and getting exposure for the organization.
Q: Why are you interested in the field of prevention?
Emma: I’m passionate about making sure that youth, families, and communities know of the resources that are available to them. I think that taking a preventative approach is much more impactful than a reactive approach when things happen, so I just want to be a part of that!
Q: What are your passions? Personal and professional!
Emma: My professional passions are community engagement, outreach, making connections, and prevention, of course. Personally, when I’m not working I also am a Pilates instructor and so I love fitness.
Q: What would you like to achieve at Makin’ It Happen?
Emma: Growing community engagement – help facilitate community connections between organizations so we’re not reinventing the wheel but enhance what’s already happening in the region. And also highlighting our own work at Makin’ It Happen so that people are aware of what we can offer to them.
Q: What are your ultimate career goals?
Emma: Oh my gosh, I’m not sure… I think it’s ever-evolving, so maybe that’s my career goal. I’m kind of a nerd, I love to learn and so I want to just learn as much as I can and then share what I’ve learned with my community. I don’t want to lock myself into anything because I take pride in being adaptable.
Q: What do you like to do in your free time?
Emma: I love going to the gym, playing with my two dogs, Bruin and Ollie… I do feel like I need to rediscover my hobbies, though, since my hobby as of late has been all wedding planning!
We’re so excited to have Emma join the team and jump right into prevention for the Greater Manchester Region!
Written by Janelle Havens | Recovery Ready Communities Director | 5/21/2025
