July 2025 | Issue #38
Summer, Summer, Summertime!
Welcome to the Reimagined Constant Connections!
Inspired by your feedback, we’ve refreshed the format and cadence of our newsletter to strengthen team connections and enhance organization-wide awareness of key projects and events—all while keeping things streamlined and purposeful.
Scroll down for the latest updates, insights, and announcements.
We kicked off the year with strong momentum, and I’m proud to share that our financial performance reflects the resilience, flexibility, and dedication of this team. Despite a slower-than-expected start to Federal RFP activity, we’re now seeing encouraging movement. To maintain our progress, we’ll need to lean in—pursuing and winning new Federal work with renewed focus and energy.
As we move into the second half of the year, let’s double down on delivering exceptional client service. Our goal? To earn a strong referral on every project. Client satisfaction isn’t just a metric—it’s the cornerstone of our reputation and future growth.
I’m also looking forward to our upcoming CONSTANT Summit—a meaningful opportunity to reconnect, hear from our Board, and deepen our understanding of the market and our place within it.
Thank you for everything you contribute to this team. Wishing you and your loved ones a safe, joyful 4th of July. Let’s keep the momentum going—and stay focused on our shared mission: making the world a safer place.
(Pictured: Twins Isaiah & Isabella enjoying some festive 4th of July treats!)
-Michelle Constant, CEO
Ana-Sofia Arena, Consultant
Ana-Sofia Arena is excited to return to Constant after interning with the team in 2023. She holds a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Southern California, focusing on global health, health promotion, and disease prevention. Most recently, she worked as a Project Specialist at the USC Center for Translational Exposomics Research, where she supported clinical research coordination and led community engagement efforts. Her recent work includes published research on resilience in children following disasters and equity in cancer treatment access.
A proud San Franciscan now living in Los Angeles, Ana-Sofia shares her home with her cat, Blu, who will likely appear in meetings, usually curled up on her lap. Outside work, she loves exploring new restaurants, pilates, and listening to true crime podcasts. She’s thrilled to be back with the Constant team and looks forward to reconnecting and continuing meaningful work.
Lynn Brown, Senior Associate
Lynn is joining CONSTANT as a Senior Associate. Lynn is a dynamic professional with over a decade of experience in project management, training, and development, with a strong emphasis on service and relationship-building. She began her career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar, where she led community-based initiatives and designed training programs to support local development efforts.
In 2012, Lynn relocated to Guangzhou, China, where she taught English to adult learners and quickly advanced into leadership roles in training and education. After returning to the U.S. in 2018, she joined FEMA as the Training Manager for the External Affairs Cadre, where she built the agency’s training program from the ground up, shaping strategy and structure for long-term success.
Lynn holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business with a minor in French from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where she also played on the softball and volleyball teams. A lifelong learner with a passion for languages and cross-cultural exchange, she became conversational in both Malagasy and Mandarin during her time abroad.
Lynn is an avid dart player outside of work, competing in leagues and tournaments throughout the DMV area. She enjoys riding her Yamaha MT-03 on scenic back roads, camping, and exploring music festivals and offbeat concerts with her partner, Erik.
Irina Nersessova, ISD Analyst
Irina has created engaging eLearning and in-person experiences for companies across industries including tech, biotech, nonprofits, edtech, and finance, using innovative methods tailored to each audience. Prior to her corporate consulting work as a Learning Experience Designer, she taught at Illinois State University, where she earned her PhD.
In her instructional work, she’s a storyteller, and creating meaning through narrative is key to her design approach. She grew up in California and currently lives in Michigan. When she’s not designing learning experiences, she enjoys cooking with her 6-year-old sous-chef.
Soso Okonkwo, Senior Knowledge Management Specialist
Soso is joining CONSTANT as a Senior Knowledge Management Specialist. Soso has over four years of experience in operations strategy, change management, process improvement, federal consulting, and startups. She has led cross-functional initiatives for public health and regulatory agencies, driving efforts to streamline processes, standardize documentation, and enhance knowledge sharing across teams and systems.
Soso enjoys traveling, writing, watching films and reality TV, and playing chess outside of work.
CONSTANT's July, August, & September Birthdays
As we celebrate another quarter of success, it’s important to recognize the birthdays of our incredible team members. Please join me in wishing a very happy birthday to those celebrating this quarter! Your hard work and dedication make a meaningful impact, and we’re grateful to have each of you on our team.
- July 9th – James Meeks
- July 11th – Charlene Tovornik
- July 20th – Madalyn Bryant
- July 23rd – Ali Leis
- August 1st – Alison Brown
- Augist 16th – Nathan Carpenter
- August 22nd – Nicole Christensen
- August 23rd – Ellie Jackson
- August 24th – Constant’s Birthday! 21 Years!
- August 26th – Shante King
- September 3rd – Kristina Bautista
- September 6th – Lenah Mansour
- September 21st – Mona Bontty
- September 23rd – Dylan Yates
- September 26th – Christina Chapper
Happy Birthday! May all the wishes you make for your candles come true!
CONSTANT's July, August, & September Work Anniversaries
It’s important to recognize the hard work and dedication of our team members who are celebrating work anniversaries this quarter. Their continued contributions are a key part of our success, and we’re grateful for their impact on our growth. Please join me in congratulating them on reaching these significant career milestones!
- July 1st – Elaine Poett Payne – 1 Year
- July 1st – Shante King – 1 Year
- July 25th – Lenah Mansour – 2 Years
- August 15h – Nora Caplan – 6 Years
- August 24th – Michelle Constant – 21 Years
Happy anniversary! Here’s to many more years.
CONSTANT Summer Summit - Monday, July 28th 9am PT
We are so excited to bring you another inspiring and informative summit later this month.
Please make sure you have the date and time saved on your calendar. See you there!
If You Build It, They Will Come: BD Strategy Implementation
The BD team has launched several key initiatives in collaboration with Ops leadership to implement CONSTANT’s Federal and SLTT BD Strategies.
On the SLTT front, the team is tiering priority states to focus resources on key strongholds and growth areas based on factors like funding, strategic alignment, and past performance. For instance, the team seeks to reinforce our California prominence; we also plan to establish a presence in Virginia to align with our new HQ location and staffing footprint as well as build qualifications to support future bids at the SLTT and Federal levels. Stay tuned for the final round-up in the coming weeks!
In our Federal portfolio, the team has been working to refresh CONSTANT’s pipeline. The pipeline is a structured system used to track and manage our potential business opportunities in stages from identification through proposal submission. We have been working closely with Portfolio Managers to remove stale or cancelled opportunities, move promising ones to higher priority stages, and add exciting new ones into the mix. We use a formal gate review process and discussion in weekly Federal pipeline and (new) monthly Portfolio Manager meetings to facilitate this effort. The pipeline refresh is helping us target our pre-RFP efforts on opportunities that best align with our capabilities and strategic path forward.
Baby, you’re a Firework!: Q2 Bookings
CONSTANT follows up a strong showing from Q1 SLTT bookings with new Federal and SLTT work in Q2.
For SLTT, we added another $1M of work in support of repeat clients including Bay Area UASI, LA County, and San Mateo County, in addition to new clients, such as the State of New Mexico. Notably, the Ops team did a great job working relationships on the ground to gain $351K in new work with the California Department of Public Health. We also had a total team effort in putting together the $278K winning bid for the LA County Medical Examiner Mass Fatality Plan. In Q2, we submitted proposals valued at $5.2M; when combined with Q1, this totals $9.2M, or 77% of our yearly submission goal.
For Federal, kudos to Ops in gaining the FEMA FQS option years for task orders 1-3, for $6.5M in Q2 bookings! Doing great work is one of the strongest BD strategies we have as a company, enabling us to continue and expand with our current clients. Separately, we also submitted a large federal proposal in Q2 for FEMA HMTAP, totaling over $14M, stay tuned.
Thanks to all that have supported proposal content, reviews, and interviews. If you would like to learn more about BD processes, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Nicole, Christy, or Cyndi. The BD team is always looking for contributors—if interested in professional development opportunities to build the business, please discuss with your supervisor and reach out to BD!
CONSTANT Impact
With our July CONSTANT Connections, we’re kicking off a new section focused on the impacts of the great work our team is doing. In future quarters, we’ll reach out to team members for ideas on what we should highlight!
Preparing San Diego Healthcare Organizations for a Radiological Incident
On June 9, the CONSTANT Team led a radiological incident tabletop exercise in support of San Diego Health and Human Services. The TTX was designed to engage 12 healthcare coalition members in enhancing information sharing, operational coordination, and decision-making during a radiological incident.
The exercise challenged participants to:
- Validate existing plans that address response, coordination, and communication for radiological emergencies.
- Test coordination and resource-sharing processes for distributing medical countermeasures (MCMs) during a high-demand event.
- Evaluate healthcare facilities’ ability to maintain operations and patient care during a radiological event.
- Assess capabilities related to radiological detection, staff protection, decontamination, and surge management.
The team built and delivered the exercise on a tight timeline, and identified unique engagement strategies for encouraging open discussion on a difficult topic. We have three more exercises coming up!
Engaging the Community in NorCal
Strong relationships between emergency management agencies and the communities they serve are critical to our disaster resilience. In Northern California, CONSTANT is working on several projects to better engage communities and community-based organizations.
Our team has deep relationships in the Bay Area that help us connect with the local jurisdictions and the community organizations they work closely with. Here are a few ways we’re doing that:
- With San Mateo County, we are launching a community survey on the County’s emergency preparedness needs, kicked off with an interactive Disaster Preparedness Day in August.
- With the Bay Area UASI, we are conducting over a dozen exercises focused on building core capabilities identified by communities themselves.
- We are also helping the Bay Area UASI empower 10 community-based organizations in the region to tackle $30,000 projects that enhance the preparedness of their communities.
Helping the Small Business Administration Support Disaster Survivors
This past month, several CONSTANT team members supported an annual exercise at the Small Business Administration with disaster preparedness. The SBA supports both individuals and businesses post-disaster; CONSTANT is helping them think through how best to organize, track, and measure those response operations and impacts. We’re also directly contributing to the SBA’s on-the-ground engagement with disaster survivors.
This project has several key elements; the work has been dynamic and the project team has adapted in a way that has built strong client trust.
- Helping the agency refine its Outreach and Engagement Strategy.
- Standardizing policies and procedures for Field Operations Centers.
- Connecting directly with disaster survivors on funding for mitigation projects as part of rebuilding their home or business—our next engagement will be in Southern California for wildfire recovery.
- Providing strategic planning and leadership support.
Shining the Summer Sun on Promotions
At CONSTANT, growth is dynamic. Our team has continued to expand, and we prioritize opportunities for internal promotion when new positions open. Our pace of growth leads to a high internal promotion rate but can also make it harder to see how growth and promotions are managed. In this quarter’s CONSTANT Connections, we wanted to share some information and advice about growth and promotions on our team.
- How do we decide on promotions? Promotions are based on both team member readiness and company needs. For positions that straddle multiple projects, company needs can be more dynamic. Positions that are 100% devoted to one project are more connected to open roles on that project. We do consider promotions during performance cycles, but also routinely make “out-of-cycle” promotions when appropriate.
- How do I show I’m ready to be promoted? Start well before you want to be promoted. Ask your manager what higher level opportunities might look like and what skills you’d need to develop to show you’re ready. Work together on a growth path to identify opportunities to develop and demonstrate the necessary skills. Keep in mind that the new role may not just be a more advanced version of your current role but may require different skill sets or perspectives (e.g., people management).
- What if I want to change direction at the company? Say you’re in a project-specific role and want to be considered for a broader position (or vice versa). Bring this up in your routine 1:1s with your manager. Ask to spend some time on projects you’re interested in, provided it’s not going to adversely affect your current work.
Our mission is to make the world a safer place.
It’s that simple, and that’s why we are here. We have a strategic plan for the next three years, called CONSTANT Strategy, which outlines what our biggest priorities are:
- Take care of our people
- Forward our mission
- Respond to our clients’ most pressing needs
- Expand strategically across markets
- Build infrastructure for the future
To help us execute on our mission, we have developed the CONSTANT Credo and our aligned core values (see the graphic below). We live by these.
Our Credo
