I met Susan Russell seven years ago when I was transferred to the NICU. I immediately knew she was a key member of the NICU Leadership Team. My years of working with her have shown that she is an exemplary Nursing Educator who is passionate about the education of the nurses and the quality of care provided to patients and families in the NICU. Shortly after completing my orientation, I experienced a sudden unexpected demise. Obviously, it was not the ideal experience for a new nurse in the NICU. Susan provided resources for me to lean on during my shift, including a resource nurse, transport nurse, and charge nurse. If it  was not for the support Susan provided, I would not be on this unit today. The day Susan heard what had happened, she called me at home, and we met the next time I worked to discuss my experience and personal impact. Having that support system so quickly after orientation made me feel heard and supported as a new staff member. After experiencing this compassion from Susan, I have seen her do this time and time again with not only new staff but the entire staff. She makes new staff feel welcome and comfortable with challenging assignments while pushing them to learn all levels of care in the NICU. Susan has created an environment that fosters learning, mutual respect, and continued professional development. She creates a personalized plan for education on orientation. Nurses with NICU experience have custom education plans, while inexperienced nurses go through a comprehensive NICU course planned and facilitated by Susan. This three-month course covers topics that provide fundamentals of neonatal care advancing to elements of critical care. Assignments are then made to coincide with their didactic. Susan follows up with preceptors on strengths and areas for improvement for nurses on orientation. She continues to provide guidance on assignments after orientation to ensure new nurses continue to get the experience they need on the unit. Aside from her major role in educating new staff, Susan provides ongoing education to all staff, teaching many classes specific to our unit. These classes include NRP, NICU charge class, NICU transport class, and continuing CEU courses. Charge and Transport classes provide a foundation for staff to advance to these specific roles in the NICU. Susan provides the tools they need for critical thinking when assuming these leadership roles in the NICU. The opportunities for education provided by Susan motivate staff to seek out learning opportunities. Susan develops her educational vision collaboratively with the staff by conducting a needs assessment yearly. She reviews the needs assessment results and customizes the plan for learning opportunities and annual competencies as requested by the staff. By sharing this common vision with staff, Susan creates buy in from the staff for continuing education. Susan hosts many continuing education opportunities throughout the year for staff to get certified in their specialty area. In 2017 ten nurses became certified in their area of specialty thanks to Susan’s successful education program. Susan is available for new nursing staff and veteran nursing staff and the entire NICU team. There have been many circumstances when Susan has been called upon to help a neonatologist with a difficult procedure and one that is not performed often. Most recently Susan stayed late to make sure everyone was comfortable with a full exchange transfusion that would be taking place at the change of shift. The nurses were prepared, yet the neonatologist was not familiar with the new equipment. We were able to call Susan on facetime, and she calmly walked our doctor through the new setup. Susan is simply a nurse’s nurse. She is always willing to lend a hand when the unit needs her. She has gone out on transport, accompanied babies for swallow studies, and even worked overnight. She is truly a pillar of our unit and a mentor to many staff members. Thank you, Susan, for all you do!