MY STORY

When I was little, you would find me helping other kids that were being ignored or needed help understanding things. Even then, I loved seeing the look of confidence as they were able to figure something out. They only needed some encouragement and support.

I had 3 younger brothers and around the holidays, I would often organize them to make decorations. I was in my element working with them on a project and scaling it to apply to all of our ages. The excitement that they felt at creating something lit me up.

When I was 16, I started a job in retail and let me tell you, it was not long before I wanted to be a manager. At 19, I was given the opportunity to start my management career as a shift manager at a 26,000 square foot import store with a kitchen store in it. This was awesome and not awesome. There was no training…it was all trial by fire. I rose to the challenge and by the time that I was 22, I was the store manager for the whole place.

That didn’t mean that I was always good at it. There were a lot of failures and successes in my journey. I had a lot of teachers along the way that taught me how to hold boundaries, have compassion, and how to build a team. I also had lessons in what not to do.  One manager would throw things from his office if he was angry. You were always careful walking past his office...it was really unpredictable. I looked at all of the poorly handled interactions that I had with staff as well as the ones that managers had had with me and learned from them. 

By the time that I started my job at The Paper Zone, I had learned a lot and become a pretty good leader. This job, though, was where I would learn the most valuable lessons and have the richest playground to experiment in. 

In my first stint with The Paper Zone, I was a store manager. The company was lead by an awesome human, Jim Wheat. He truly cared about taking care of the employees so that the employees took care of the customers. I loved building that team and working with the clients and I was given enough trust and breadth to find my way as an effective leader. I built a team culture so strong that my employees’ experience of their job was not that it was just a job…it was a place to experience opportunities for growth and make an impact in peoples’ lives beyond the job. 

I didn’t really know this until I left. When I left, my staff presented me with what is now one of my most valuable possessions. They created a book about how I had impacted their lives beyond the walls of their job and highlighted the ways in which I had helped them see their potential and lovingly pushed them to do and be more than they thought possible. 

I loved working for the Paper Zone so much that after a couple of years, I came back. I managed a different store and eventually became the district manager leading 3 stores. The new VP of the company, JIm O’Brien, was my most impactful mentor. It was under his leadership that I found my way to being a great leader. He didn’t let me get away with anything and gave me the space to try almost anything. Through a lot of dedication and commitment to the greater purpose of supporting people in the biggest events of their lives, I had the most innovative, cohesive, and driven teams in the whole company. When this job ended, my staff also gave me a book about how I had impacted their lives beyond the walls of that job. 

All of these experiences have led me to wholeheartedly and unwaveringly believe that businesses are a phenomenal place to give people an opportunity to experience their possibility and see their potential impact. I believe that this is the responsibility of businesses to serve their employees so that they can grow to be more than they set out to be and serve the clients and customers beyond expectation.

Throughout my journey, I have continued to be curious, to look for opportunities, and creatively move past challenges. Experiencing the expansive impact that having empowering leaders as well as being one can have beyond our businesses, I am committed to supporting the growth of empowering leadership, the development of company cultures that support individuals in becoming more than they thought possible, and sharing the power that service-based cultures have to make positive impact in our world. 

 I would be honored to be your guide on your journey to develop a resilient, impactful business with empowering leadership.