All my life, I have been a free spirit. I’ve always been extremely creative, and didn’t really fit into a box. I’ve always had my own style. My brother and sister both knew exactly what they wanted to do when they grew up. They were very book smart. I was not. I did not like school at all. I couldn’t sit still in class. When it was time to study and do homework, I just couldn’t do it because my mind was constantly thinking of ideas and wanting to be creative. I was a dancer. I was interested in sewing. I liked going out with friends and, of course, I liked chasing boys (way too much). I was all over the place. I think at times, my parents didn’t know what to do with me. My brother and sister were very school-focused and knew what they wanted to do.
So when it came time to go to look at colleges, I didn’t know where to go or what to do. I like to sew. I like to draw. I want to do something with business, yet I like art. Long story short, I ended up picking fashion design. Then I switched majors of course because I had all these different interests. I ended up majoring in business. I love people. I’ve always been very social. So I got a degree in human resource management. I started out working for a college in the development office and I absolutely loved that job. But I couldn’t stay there because I worked there while I was still going to school, graduated, and they didn’t have any positions open at that time.
That’s when I entered Corporate America. Until then, I was very free spirited and creative. I was an outside of the box thinker. I loved doing different things, learning different things, being socially active, and living life to the fullest. When I entered Corporate America, I started getting put into a box, fit into a mold. And it worked a little bit in the beginning. As I started moving forward in my career, I learned a lot about business, and I started going in the direction of marketing. I ended up working for a company for a long time in a marketing role.
Yet, the longer I was in Corporate America, the more that creativity and inspiring spirit kept getting squelched. Corporate America is great for some people, and I know people who love it there…. For me, every day I would dread going to work. I worked long hours. Sometimes I’d work 60 hours a week, nights and weekends. I was sacrificing being with friends or building relationships.
I was recently divorced. I had gotten married very young and gotten divorced, and all I knew was that I had to work to make money. Shortly after, I met my current husband. Early on, we’d have conversations, and I’d kept saying to him, “I know there’s something in my gut telling me I was meant to help people on a grander scale. I was meant to do something amazing with my life.” What I was doing just wasn’t working for me, and I wanted to get out in the world and explore, and be able to be multi-passionate and tap into my creativity, and use my strengths to help other people do amazing things.
Watch for Part 2 of My Story (coming soon!) to find out how I turned things around…
