When new residents first come to Westminster-Canterbury of the Blue Ridge, the first associate they get to know well is likely to be Laura Markey Monroe, our new Marketing Coordinator.

That is, she’s the first one after her fellow team members, Marketing Representatives Wendy Sager and John Coppi. “After new residents make the decision, they hand them over to me, and I work out the details,” she says of her new job, which she started on Feb. 15. That means a little bit of everything – from seeing to details of residents’ new homes to anything else they need to get settled in.

Only two days after starting, she was already fully involved. “I had a meeting with new residents today, making selections for their new home.” Beyond that, she’s been doing “a lot of meeting people, and learning how my role is going to interact with their roles.”

And so far she loves it. She wanted to be here because WCBR is “really the gold standard in Charlottesville. It’s an honor to be here.” She knows that from having worked in the senior care area in the area since 2017, most recently as a patient care advocate with the University of Virginia Medical Center.

Before 2017, she spent 12 years at the University of Virginia Law School Foundation. Her work with older alumni in that position was what persuaded her to pivot into senior living. This would be reinforced by her later experiences with Martha Jefferson House Senior Living and Commonwise Home Care. “I realized that was a bit of my calling.” So she became a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA) – a specialist in aging services – and combined her love of working with seniors with the logistical and management skills developed up to that point. Eventually, that led her to WCBR.

Now, she and her two teenaged boys have been in Charlottesville for nearly two decades, and she loves it. In her spare time she likes to take walks in the woods with her dog – and you can hardly find a better place in the country for that.

Her time in Charlottesville has helped her realize more about herself and what she’s good at. “I love people. I was working remotely for a little while, and I realized working remotely really didn’t amplify my best skills,” she said. “I love to hear people’s stories, and I love to hear people’s ideas.”

The marketing team very much appreciates having her here.

“Laura is a breath of fresh air in her vibrant, energetic personality, professionalism and her passion for seniors,” says Deidra Jane Massie, the WCBR Vice President of Marketing. “With her strong business acumen, marketing event planning and execution, proven success in building relationships and public relations, I am confident Laura will be an amazing asset to marketing and our WCBR family.”