Janae Parent didn’t set out to become a public health leader.

Now, 13 years later, she runs Benton-Franklin Health District’s daily operations – and says the job found her.

“Day by day, month by month, year by year, it started to turn into a passion I didn’t know that I have of community service and support of my peers,” she said.

She moved up from senior administrative assistant to executive assistant, then administrative services manager, then assistant administrator. She became interim district administrator in July 2023 and took the role permanently in May 2024.

“She really has helped move us into a whole new level of excellence,” said Heather Hill, deputy to the health officer at BFHD.

Building relationships

Parent said she’s still learning the scope of the role public health plays at the state, local and national level. It’s a place where science and technology, healthcare and agriculture intersect.

BFHD’s work spans disease monitoring and prevention, including West Nile virus and avian flu, along with care for pregnant teens, youth mental health, waste disposal, water testing, disaster preparedness and more.

At the core of her work is building relationships. “When the relationship is there, when there’s a foundation, when there’s a connection, the systems, the advocacy, all of that starts naturally flowing and happening,” Parent said.

“My passion is relationships and lifting others up,” she said.

Parent’s leadership comes intuitively, Hill said. Even before her current role, “she looked at staff as real people, not what their job is,” and helped bring out the best in them, Hill said.  

A different path

Parent’s path to the health district wasn’t conventional. She grew up in Pasco, attended elementary school in Kennewick and graduated from Richland High, connecting her with all of the Tri-Cities.

She started working in banking at the age of 16 and took accounting-focused courses in college before stepping back to raise a family. She said not having her degree was held against her.

“I didn’t believe that I was ever good enough to hold a leadership role because I didn’t have the completed four-year degree,” she said. Still, those around her encouraged her to apply to her current position permanently, and she did it.

In 2024, she returned to school for a human resources degree – not to be a human resources manager, but to learn something relevant to her work at BFHD and “what I was passionate about.”

“It’s about finding out what you want, quieting the noise around you that says you’re not good enough, and just take the next step,” Parent said.

Hill said that she has been impressed by Parent’s focus on self-care and modeling work-life balance for the leadership team, along with her willingness to acknowledge vulnerabilities.

“As a woman in a leadership role, that meant a lot to me,” Hill said.

Looking ahead

Parent was named a 2025 ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award winner by the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce and will return this year as a panelist at the Women in Business Conference alongside other award winners.

Parent said she was surprised when the chamber called to notify her that she was a winner. “I was blown away,” she said. “…I’m just a little girl who grew up off of 18th Avenue and Court in Pasco. And how honored and privileged am I to be in a position to receive that award.”

Hill nominated her for the honor after reading the criteria for it. She thought: “‘This is Janae.’” She reached out to a few team members who encouraged her to nominate Parent, and the more she worked on the nomination, the more apparent it became that Parent exemplified the award, she said.

After receiving the award, she told her team, “‘This is for you guys. This is, if I’m here today, it’s because of you.’”

Looking ahead, Parent said BFHD is focused on growth and innovation, including new branding and values for the organization.

Her advice to new leaders is to focus on their team and remove barriers so people can do their best work, to let everyone have a seat at the table, and to speak up.

Parent said her drive to make things better at BFHD has stuck with her thanks to the influence of her grandfather, a World War II veteran, who always taught her to leave things better than she’d found them.

“It’s about taking care of your people, and they will take care of you,” she said. “…You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to get started.”