Meet Traci Blido

Executive Director of Virginia Career Works

Traci Blido has spent her career working at the intersection of economic development, workforce advancement and community engagement.

She started her career early in corporate public relations which eventually led her to leadership roles in regional development.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in Bucyrus, Blido said her hometown had a unique aspect. “We had a bratwurst festival every August before school started. It was a three-day event, and at one point, we sold more bratwurst there than anywhere else in America,” she said.

How a Liberty Grad Became a Catalyst for Change in the Lynchburg Region

She came to Lynchburg to study journalism with a concentration in public relations and marketing at Liberty University. Blido’s career took off while she was still in school, gaining experience at Babcock & Wilcox in their PR department. “By the time I graduated, I had three years of corporate experience, which helped me land my next roles,” she said.

Her professional trajectory included positions at Georgia-Pacific and a decade at Ericsson, an international telecommunications company.

Her transition into economic development came when she joined the Region 2000 Partnership. “I was hired to assist with meeting businesses, finding ways to help them grow and attracting new companies to the region,” she said.

This experience led her to become the Director of Economic Development for Bedford County, a position she held for ten years. Among her many accomplishments, one of the projects she is most proud of is the shell building in New London. “That was my last project in Bedford and seeing it become home to Belvac is incredibly rewarding,” she said. Another highlight of her time in Bedford was securing a $600,000 industrial revitalization grant to support the redevelopment of Beale’s Brewery. “That funding helped remove asbestos, clean up the site and pave the way for what is now a thriving brewery,” she said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Blido observed dramatic shifts in the workforce. “A lot of people retired early due to remote work challenges, while others left jobs for better pay or work-life balance,” she said.

Recognizing the increasing need for workforce development, she pivoted her focus to helping individuals overcome employment barriers and is now the Executive Director of Virginia Career Works, an organization that works to advance economic stability and growth by preparing and connecting people who want to work with employers who need to hire through its training providers and network of professional partners.

“Whether it's childcare, transportation, or poverty-related challenges, we need to connect people to higher-paying jobs through training and support,” she said. Since 2021, Blido has been leading efforts to allocate federal workforce funding effectively. “We focus on helping young people explore in-demand careers and assisting adults, including those with disabilities or criminal records, in finding meaningful employment,” she said. Her programs support individuals up to age 24, as well as adults seeking new opportunities due to layoffs or economic shifts.

Looking ahead, Blido said she wants to continue educating high school students about trade programs and high-demand fields. “Healthcare, engineering and skilled trades offer excellent pay without necessarily requiring a four-year degree,” she said.

By collaborating with organizations like the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance and Beacon of Hope, she hopes to strengthen the talent pipeline in the region. Through Virginia Career Works, Blido and her team can use some federal funds to help companies improve their employees.

“So they will help pay a little bit of that, but we can pay the majority for companies in our region to help their own employees learn new technology and it can be in their building, or it can be combined with the community college for a custom training program,” she said.

Blido is enthusiastic about giving back to her community in her free time.

“Since you see that I’m passionate about helping young people, I’m also enthusiastic in my private time with helping young people,” she says. “I volunteered with Brook Hill Farm for about 10 years, working with youth there. That was when I was in Bedford County more, so I had more opportunities to do that.”

How Rotary Fueled a Life of Global Impact

She is also an active member of Rotary International. “Rotary is the world’s largest humanitarian organization and we’re responsible for ending 99.9% of polio cases worldwide,” she said. “We have that little bit to go and I’m here to educate people on why it’s so important to fully eradicate polio or it will come back to America.” Through Rotary, Blido has participated in three international service trips.

In 2015, she ventured to India to participate in India’s National Immunizations Days campaign for a week where she joined over 100,000 Rotarians from around the world to eradicate all children ages five an under from the devastating effects of polio. Since that time, India has been declared polio free, thanks to Rotary and its worldwide partners, she said.

In 2017, she went to Rwanda along with five others from the Bedford Rotary Club who participated in a Rotary International grant project that assisted the Mbyo Peace & Reconciliation Village to help outfit them with technical education supplies and clean water for their school, livestock for the families and a community residual income plan through a renovated Airbnb space.

Mostly recently, last May, she went to Ecuador with her husband, Mikael, who joined two dozen other Rotarians in her District and provided more than 200 new wheelchairs to children and adults who desperately needed them.

Ending polio in her lifetime is her biggest goal in life. “I’ve spent the past decade raising awareness of the crippling disease that continues to devastate children in the final two endemic countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and in under-vaccinated regions around the world. If the polio virus exists anywhere, it’s a threat to us everywhere,” she said.

There were still 250,000 children getting polio in the late 80’s in dozens of countries and this past year and Blido said they’re down to less than a dozen cases, but it takes millions of dollars, Rotarians and partner organizations around the world to keep the virus outbreaks from spreading like fire again and returning to the United States.

In addition to her humanitarian work, Blido enjoys staying active and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

“I love cooking, growing my own food with my husband and taking care of myself so I can live a long, healthy life,” she said. “I do that through running and cardio workouts and I’m part of a running group called ‘Running with Coach K, aka Stud Muffins.’ It’s a community of 20 to 30 people my age. We run in the evenings after work and on weekends and it’s a great way to stay connected and motivated.”