1. What are the most challenging and rewarding aspects of your job?
People and their diverse personalities. Understanding and relating to people, as well as helping them find their hidden talents, is difficult but also very rewarding. Collaborating with people and seeing their point of view is always helpful and productive. To me, there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing someone grow within the organization to become a strong individual and leader.
2. Who do you look up to or admire in business?
Donald Trump –– his ambitions have always intrigued me. He’s known as one of the most successful businessmen in the world. His high-risk/high-reward lifestyle is something I admire and find very interesting. It takes confidence in yourself and your choices to live that kind of lifestyle, and that’s something I strive to achieve for my company and myself every day.
3. Thinking back on your career, what advice would you give your 21-year-old self?
If I could go back, the advice would probably focus on education, family, and fun. I would tell myself to absorb and learn as much as I possibly could from those around me who had been in the business for a long time. I’d also tell myself to continue taking classes to improve my career opportunities, because there’s always room for improvement. When it comes to family, my advice would be to spend as much of my free time with them as possible. Last, but not least, fun. I’d tell myself to carve out some “me” time for the things I like to do. You can’t have fun if you never have time for it!
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4. Do you have any secret talents or abilities that people would be surprised to discover?
I can play the piano, and crochet. At a young age my parents signed me up for piano lessons, and I’ve played ever since. Playing the piano always reconnects me to my childhood. I learned how to crochet from my grandmother; it was very difficult at first, but after I got the hang of it, it became second nature. I also learned how to bake and even won several awards in local fairs growing up.
5. What are your guilty pleasures?
Really good tequila. I have more than 21 bottles in the bar at my home, and I’ve tried every last one of them. Sometimes I just like the look of a bottle and don’t really care about what the contents taste like. But it’s fun to take all these varied brands of the same type of drink and experience how they can all taste so different.
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