with the organization. Her younger brother Matthew has Down syndrome and had been a client there for a number of years. During her internship she had a firsthand account and insight into what Cedar Lake Lodge does for the community and for clients. She was ensconced in the depth of care for people who often do not have the same advantages as others, due to conditions beyond their choice and, often, understanding.
Tara and her brother Matthew
DIFFERENCE MAKER TARA OLIVER TALKS JOURNEY AT CEDAR LAKE LODGE
Writer / Annette Skaggs Photography Provided
Cedar Lake Lodge has been in the Louisville area for 50 years, providing assistance to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. With a workforce of over 450 employees, some having been with the organization for 40-plus years, one can imagine the dedication, drive and empathy that these caregivers have for their clients and patients who come to Cedar Lake Lodge to heal, learn and grow. One such person is Tara Oliver, who serves as director of corporate and foundation relations for this revered organization. Oliver didn’t start at that level - she worked her way up through the ranks beginning as an intern when she attended the University of Louisville. Before her time at U of L, she had been
attending Kentucky Wesleyan College under an academic scholarship in biology, with a focus on becoming a research geneticist. After two years at Wesleyan, Oliver felt this was not the right direction for her career. She came back to Louisville and took some time off from the collegiate world, and resumed her work with Kentuckiana Allergy, where she worked during summers off from Jeffersontown High School and college.
When Oliver went back into the workforce, she was ready to create her own identity, and she worked with organizations like Path Forward, who had similar programs to Cedar Lake Lodge, such as job placement services. While she enjoyed her work there, she felt a calling to make it back to Cedar Lake. Having completed the internship, Oliver was certainly known there among the management, and she expressed interest in working there in the marketing and communications department. It wasn’t long before Cedar Lake asked her to come on board. Starting in the marketing and communications department, Oliver’s talents quickly earned her a rise within the organization, always in a fundraising mode and sometimes serving as the sole person in the department. Her eight years with Cedar Lake have been some of the most rewarding of her professional life.
When asked about how her work has coincided with her brother being a client, Oliver is quick to share that she is able to be successful because of Matthew’s success. Yes, she often uses her brother’s story as part of As life came calling, Oliver met and married her husband of 20 years, Steve, a former dental the dialogue that she presents to potential donors and patients, but it is a dialogue lab salesperson. Soon came their son Jaden and daughter Harper. While Oliver took some steeped in truth and admiration for the time to be a wife and mother, she also realized remarkable work that is done through and it was important to get back to school and earn with Cedar Lake Lodge. a degree. She enrolled at U of L and began Cedar Lake has been present in the classes in art history, then teaching, before community for half a century, and began landing in business and marketing. as a way for those with challenges to learn and develop skills that lead them on the During her final year of school, Oliver had path to experience - as Cedar Lake leaders the opportunity to engage in an internship express it - a life of abundant possibilities. at Cedar Lake Lodge, with which she was Its founders were parents of children who familiar through her brother’s association 14 / MARCH 2021
