Heather Walaszek
Wheat Ridge
Summary
Results-driven relationship manager recognized for delivering timely, accurate solutions and exceptional customer service. Nationally selected for officer recognition in client relationship management and awarded the President’s Award for two consecutive quarters.
Overview
27
27
years of professional experience
Work History
Teacher's Aide/Substitute Teacher
Golden View Classical Academy
Golden
08.2025 - Current
- Taught as substitute teacher and aide, employing specialized strategies to enhance learning outcomes for at-risk students in language arts and math.
- Developed class curriculum aligned with state standards and teacher pacing, utilizing a multimedia approach with videos, discussions, and games to engage students.
- Implemented classroom management strategies to maintain a positive learning environment.
- Collaborated with parents to integrate child development goals into student experiences, supporting school administration's 'Responsive Classroom' culture.
- Facilitated resolution of small-group conflict via student self-reflection and collaborative dialogue resulting in real emotional-social growth.
Landscape Designer
Independent
03.2024 - 09.2025
- Created innovative, high-desert resilient landscapes with curb appeal, incorporating latest materials and specimens.
- Transformed client visions into 2D and 3D designs, fostering collaboration through effective presentation software.
- Utilized advanced tools for site surveys and design, enhancing cross-platform capabilities of software tools.
- Performed site surveys and client consultations.
Horticulture Assistant
City of Wheat Ridge
Wheat Ridge
05.2024 - 02.2025
- Monitored thriving of high-impact city landscapes in 21 locations. Engineered and implemented solutions to acute and chronic threats to landscape health from irrigation failure, pest incursions and heavy visitor impacts.
- Led work teams to establish, prune, and weed landscapes, ensuring alignment with project success criteria and providing weekly metric reports.
- Surveyed, designed, and planted xeric perennial landscapes, reclaiming two city assets and contributing to 12% savings in horticulture budgets.
- Addressed facility issues to ensure safe pedestrian and vehicle access to government buildings and parks.
Home Educator
Christian Home Educators of Colorado
10.2015 - 04.2024
- Developed personalized lesson plans tailored to diverse learning styles, incorporating hands-on activities, videos, field trips, and discussions to enhance student engagement.
- Designed and implemented whole-child curriculum including social development issues such as conflict resolution or peer pressure.
- Encouraged creativity through art projects, coding, engineering labs and music lessons.
- Maintained comprehensive records of student attendance, grades, and evaluations to support academic progress tracking and individualized instruction.
Community Garden Manager
Wheat Ridge Parks and Open Space
Wheat Ridge
03.2014 - 10.2017
- Elevated a 3-decades old community garden of 70 gardeners aged 7-77 from rough, loosely-managed 2-acre underutilized park, to high-visibility city asset showcasing city’s commitment to sustainable urban agriculture.
- Established program to distribute excess harvest through collaboration with county extension services, local farmers, and foodshelves, reducing food waste and supporting community food security.
- Developed sustainable practices to enhance soil health and biodiversity implementing a train-the-trainer approach to propagate across the community.
- Organized and stored tools and equipment for garden operations, enhancing accessibility for all gardeners.
Technician
U.S. Census Bureau
Lakewood
03.2010 - 08.2010
- Conducted interviews with 20 residents every 3 hours, adapting conversations to address objections and achieve complete profiles as per U.S. Census Bureau targets.
- Monitored data quality to identify inconsistencies and implement corrections, enhancing overall data accuracy.
- Documented interactions while ensuring compliance with federal reporting standards in data processing activities, supporting accurate data collection.
Implementation Project Manager
Sprint-Nextel
Denver
10.1998 - 10.2007
- Anticipated client anxiety at key project deadlines, diffusing concerns through sensitive communications, ensuring zero attrition in project teams and facilitating two promotions within the client team.
- Facilitated critical dialogue with SMEs and project stakeholders, leading to effective risk mitigation strategies.
- Created cohesion on project teams through resilient communication, transforming into cross-team functional synergies. This reduced team overtime hours by 40%.
- Monitored threats to project milestones and success criteria, leveraging company capabilities as solutions for client challenges, contributing to two significant promotions for client contacts.
- Synthesized data from requirements gathering into concise project plans, including customized communication strategies and effective project tracking tools.
Education
M.S. - Psychology
Colorado Christian University
M.A. - International Economics
University of Denver
Dual B.A. - International Affairs, German
Concordia College
Skills
- Social-emotional learning
- Conflict resolution
- Relationship building
- Creative problem-solving
- Critical thinking
- Project tracking
- Wordpress
- Googledocs
- Microsoft Edge Suite
- Canva
- Kaltura Capture
- Morpholio Trace
- Moasure
- Sustainable practices
Timeline
Teacher's Aide/Substitute Teacher
Golden View Classical Academy
08.2025 - Current
Horticulture Assistant
City of Wheat Ridge
05.2024 - 02.2025
Landscape Designer
Independent
03.2024 - 09.2025
Home Educator
Christian Home Educators of Colorado
10.2015 - 04.2024
Community Garden Manager
Wheat Ridge Parks and Open Space
03.2014 - 10.2017
Technician
U.S. Census Bureau
03.2010 - 08.2010
Implementation Project Manager
Sprint-Nextel
10.1998 - 10.2007
M.S. - Psychology
Colorado Christian University
M.A. - International Economics
University of Denver
Dual B.A. - International Affairs, German
Concordia College