BUSINESS

20 Under 40: Shari Bryant

Jessie Higgins
Evansville Courier & Press

Ever since Shari Bryant was at little girl, she knew she wanted to be a nurse.

“I think it was a sixth sense, or a spiritual connection,” Bryant said. “Since the second grade, I always knew in that part of my soul.”

Thirty years later, that calling has not faded. If anything it’s stronger now than ever, she said. Being a nurse has shaped almost every aspect of her life.

Though she is now the Director of Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Services at St. Mary’s Medical Center, Bryan began her nursing career working as an oncology nurse in 1999. At once, she felt she was doing what she was called to do.

“It was so rewarding to go into work and feel like you’re giving back,” Bryant said. “Helping people at their lowest places.”

During her time working as an oncology nurse, she cared for her grandmother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer, and a dear friend, who passed away from cancer at age 25.

“It was kind of one of those God moments, where I was able to be there for them,” she said.

Her desire to give back spread beyond her job. After years working with sick and dying patients, she decided to find other ways to help the community.

In 2006, Bryant began volunteering with the Potter’s Wheel Inner City Mission, helping kids with homework after school.

Today, Bryant is a member of the mission’s board of directors, serving as secretary and vice president.

“I got my foot in the door to help kids and 10 years later I just never left,” she said, with a laugh.

Her work has not gone unnoticed by others in the community.

“Shari has been involved with our youth programs, soup kitchen, clothing bank, Baby Basics, music ministry and fundraising teams raising over $170,000,” Michael Ballard, the executive director of Potter’s Wheel, wrote when he nominated Bryant for the 20 Under 40 award.

As her work with Potter’s Wheel grew, Bryant’s career continued moving. After years as an oncology nurse, Bryant decided it was time for a change in the mid 2000s. In one of the “hardest decisions” of her life, she left oncology and went back to school at the University of Southern Indiana.

“I left oncology to learn more about other disease processes,” she said.

She earned her Master’s degree in 2008 and became a board certified in acute care, in addition to being an advanced oncology nurse practitioner. And for the last four years, besides working acute care nursing at St. Mary’s, she has taught nursing students at USI.

“When you love your job it’s not a job,” Bryant said. “It becomes a ministry.”