About
As the youngest of four, it could have been easy to get lost in the shuffle, but fortunately, my siblings and I have very different personalities and talents. Mine has always been a love of writing, which led me to pursue a degree in Public Communications from American University.
Shortly before graduating, I quickly learned that recruiters did not source for communications positions and job boards scarcely existed in the early 90s. So how did I land a job before graduating from college? I did it the old-fashioned way – I networked!
I cut my teeth working for one of the world’s leading public relations firms in Washington, DC, and boy did I learn a lot. Not only did I get to work on national accounts, but accounts whose initiatives still impact our lives today.
But life in Washington, DC, was a rat race, so I returned to my hometown of Denver, CO, where I was hired by a local advertising and PR firm for my telecommunications and high-tech background. While my clients initially consisted of Sun Microsystems, Nextel Communications, and Space Imaging EOSAT, circumstances shifted with those clients and I was assigned to work on accounts, including the Denver Broncos, Colorado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets, Starbucks Coffee, Denver Botanic Gardens, Larimer Square Restaurants, and more.
My career segued into marketing with Penton Media, where I oversaw marketing for two high-tech trade publications, Boardwatch and CLEC Magazines. In addition to managing all aspects of promoting the magazines, the marketing department collaborated with in-house graphic designers, supported a national sales team, and managed exhibits at industry trade shows.
After the Internet bust in the early 90s, I was recruited as marketing manager for a food manufacturer outside of Chicago, IL. In addition to overseeing all marketing communications and supporting a sales team of five, I worked with in-house staff on product development and packaging. I also served on the team that designed and launched a product line for America’s Second Harvest, which oversaw 80% of the food banks throughout the United States at the time.
Possessing an entrepreneurial spirit, I returned to Denver to work as a field sales rep for The Hershey Company and turned around a territory that had been neglected for over a year. Additionally, I established relationships with key decision makers within each account and strategic partners with Kraft-Nabisco and Pepsi Company. My efforts paid off with the territory rebounding into the top three on a consistent basis.
In 2007, I took advantage of the opportunity to live in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and sell real estate to the world. Having never lived outside of the US, this was an incredible learning experience. I was challenged with not only with cross-cultural communications, but staffing, corporate expectations, and many of the issues today’s workforce continues to face.
Upon leaving Playa del Carmen at the end of 2007, I was introduced to the field of career transition and took to it naturally because similar to when I graduated from college, there were still no recruiters that advocated for communications professionals. I also realized that I was in perpetual career transition, so surely, I could help my fellow professional.
Over the next several months, I learned the in’s and out’s of the field and shortly thereafter, founded The Career Agent and have never looked back.