Candace grew up in Gainesville loving the University of Florida. She attended Westwood Middle School & Gainesville High School and graduated from Florida State University with a BS Hospitality Administration. Candace participated in the Summer Study Abroad in Switzerland. She notes that Switzerland was wonderful & some of the other countries that she enjoyed included: France, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Sweden & Finland.
Candace has spent the majority of her career managing restaurants in Orlando. She returned back home to Gainesville to live on her family farm. She realized her purpose in life was to foster at-risk youth in our community. Candace is a licensed foster parent for children in the custody of the Department of Children and Families in Florida. She embarked on a new career in office administrative support to fulfill this purpose.
Candace enjoys solving challenges, helping people, innovative ideas and teamwork. She shared that she is so honored to be working at University of Florida at The Center for African Studies. Candace’s family friend was a student at CAS during the early years–his enthusiasm for Africa & his studies at UF really stayed with her. That was one of the reasons she applied for the position. Candace is looking forward to meeting everyone & learning all that she can about Africa. It would be her pleasure to assist anyone that might need it.