Colonel Rachel Nicole Salladay

For Colonel Rachel Nicole Salladay, from Louisville, her career with the American Red Cross began long before she held an official position. Unable to donate blood herself, she found another way to contribute—by encouraging others to give through her role as the president of her high school’s Red Cross Club.

After graduating college, she transitioned from volunteer to staff, eventually working her way up to Regional Disaster Officer for the American Red Cross. In this role, she oversaw disaster relief efforts across 117 counties, managing a team of 15 staff members and more than 500 volunteers. Her team worked on disaster preparedness, response, and recovery—whether it was teaching CPR, helping families affected by home fires, or responding to large-scale disasters like the devastating 2021 tornados in western Kentucky and the eastern Kentucky floods of 2020 and 2022.

When reflecting on her career, she is most proud of her team’s response to the western Kentucky tornados because this was the first major disaster she responded to due the scale of destruction and the geographic area. However, they were able to respond within hours, and their long-term recovery efforts had an even greater impact. One of the most meaningful projects she was involved with was the installation of storm shelters for families whose homes were destroyed. In a heartbreaking but potentially life-saving example, a family who lost their home in the 2021 tornados found safety in one of these storm shelters when another tornado struck and destroyed their home this past May.

Colonel Salladay was nominated and commissioned due to her day-to-day work as well as the work she did for both the tornados in western Kentucky and flooding in eastern Kentucky. Becoming a Kentucky Colonel was especially meaningful for her, as both her grandfather and stepdad shared the honor. She recalls how her grandfather proudly displayed the Kentucky Colonel license plate on every car he owned, though as a child, she didn’t fully understand the meaning behind it. Today, she recognizes the honor of being part of a group dedicated to service and giving back to the Commonwealth. Outside of her work with the Red Cross, she continues to serve her community through volunteering with the Louisville Metro Animal Shelter and leading a small group at her church. Her advice to future Kentucky Colonels, especially those in nonprofit and volunteer roles, is to, “Take care of yourself as much as you take care of others.”