Over 8 years ago I started working for the American Heart Association. I believe I got hired for my sales experience and relationship building skills. But, it was an 18 year journey that brought me to interview and qualify for that job, now my passion, and a job that is fueling my own entrepreneurial endeavor.
I graduated high school in 1989 and had absolutely no idea what i wanted to be when I grew up. I liked people, I was good in math, and I was a hell of a waitress. I attended a local community college, met the love of my life, graduated and got married.
My first "big girl" job (I was 20) was as a teacher's assistant at a school for emotionally disturbed children. The pre-teen and teenage girls that I grew to know and love were not only taller than me but more experienced in life than I would ever know and understand. It wasn't my job to know what they had been through or what had brought them to this group home, but I over heard their stories. Some were brought up in cages, some brutally abused in ways that was inconceivable to me. I loved them all so much but my love was not enough. They were all so angry and when one threatened to kick me in my stomach and kill my baby when I was 8 months pregnant (at this time I was married, 23 years old and still making minimum wage...$6.35 at the time?), I knew it was time find something new.
It was 1994 and computers were starting to become main stream. I was the "go to" person at my job in the group home/school when we received a grant and each classroom received a computer. I set them all up and installed the software to get them up and running. I attached the printers and gave tutorials...and then I got a new job.
I went from a Teachers Assistant, where I was kind of the boss in a way, to the secretary for the secretaries at a local health insurance agency. I sat in a cubicle for the first time and got to make copies and put together binders for company trainings. I took notes at meetings and will never forget the time I misspelled "role", (I spelled it "roll")...I was made fun of for a while, I'll never make that mistake again. I laughed with the other secretaries when we saw the CEO pick his nose and eat it (seriously), and I had a mentor, the presidents secretary. She once gave me a purple wool skirt suit. The blazer was a bit bulky and the skirt went to my ankles. I hemmed the skirt to about 4 inches above my knee and threw away the blazer...she probably wouldn't be proud.
After a merger, I learned that I was losing my job...apparently the secretaries didn't really need a secretary, go figure! I had friends in high places though, so I was relieved to know that they had set me up for a job in data entry...that lasted less than a week. I would rather be out of a job then be timed and graded on how many numbers I could enter on a keyboard in an hour.
And so, I bounced for a bit and eventually found myself face to face with a decision to move to Georgia with my husband and our soon to be 3 year old daughter...if there was ever a perfect time to take a leap, this was it, and so we did. I loved Georgia. We'll go back some day. I was lucky enough to settle ourselves in to our new state and be home with our daughter for a few months. But time and money was starting to run out...and so I got a job, and then another, and then one more...my third job in Georgia was my turning point.
I went from a sales assistant to a sales representative for a company that was downsizing. I covered a small market in Georgia (excluding Atlanta) and all of Alabama selling recording tape. (Yes, the magnetic media known as reel to reel and cassette tape). Fast forward and our company downsized even more. I was transferred to New Jersey and my territory was Manhattan and then it expanded even further. I was just 28 years old and schmoozing with major record and recording studio executive, I had no idea what I was doing, a bit over my head, traveling from Manhattan to Detroit, to Boston to Chicago...I decided to take a step back. I floundered through a couple of jobs in sales and marketing and I landed at Nextel Partners, a cell phone company that was on the bleeding edge of technology. I was there for 4 years and would have stayed forever. I loved it. I was an indirect account rep. I was the liaison to Nextel and their independent dealers. I found my niche, I was pretty good at it and I thought I was in-disposable...but I wasn't. I was soon a victim of another merger.
And so all of this lead me to my job with the American Heart Association. When I applied I felt it was a perfect fit. My love of life, my human services background and my sales and relationship building skills were everything I needed to be a successful fundraiser. I've had my successes and my challenges in fundraising. I have grown to appreciate how precious life is and how although we have little control over certain things, we have some control of our health and wellness. The American Heart Association says that 80% of heart disease is preventable. So lifestyle and healthy choices have become so important to me that I want to help others.
Here is where the story ends, or begins...I am launching my own wellness classes this week. I think I have a great message, I know I have a kick ass workout. I hope I can inspire others. My life, at 44 years old is still evolving. I am still growing. Everything that has happened in my life leading up to this has set me up for my next challenge. I'm exactly where I should be
