Shanika Cooper, MHS-PC
Being described as a passionate, driven, caring, supportive woman, Shanika Cooper began her 20 year career path initially as a service clerk at the local health department. Shanika decided she was not a product of her circumstances, but a product of her decisions. She rose above her raising. She discovered through her experience that if you want different, you choose different, and you do different. On May 8, 2015 that introverted teenager, that survivor of domestic violence, that single black mother graduated from the Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania with a M.S. degree in Human Services.
Shanika currently serves as the Executive Director of the Bureau of Access to Healthcare at the Howard County Health Department. Prior to that, Ms. Cooper served as the Baltimore City District Supervisor for the Bureau of Payment Integrity at the Baltimore City Department of Social Services. She has also served in varied leadership roles within the Maryland State Department o Human Resources, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Board of Directors Howard County Department of Social Services.
Shanika has learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
