For as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with creating things. I wasn’t content with just reading my Nancy Drew books, so at the age of 10 I wrote my own. I even recall modifying the page format to replicate the layout of an actual book.
That passion has never gone away.
I have 15 years of customer service/sales experience, 10 of it in management. There, I learned to assist others in reaching their full potential while also running a profitable, ever-morphing business. That became another passion of mine very quickly.
I could SEE the direct impact of the behaviors I instilled in my staff, whether through direct results, or customer feedback. After taking a struggling store with Gamestop to an end of year overall rank of #48 out of 4500+ stores company wide (based on sales, performance metrics, and customer service) in my second year, I really started to love running a business. Helping others succeed by offering support from my position of store manager mentor, whether it be hiring and training new employees or helping a store overcome challenges, was infinitely rewarding.
But, eventually, I knew I wanted something more.
Making the change from retail management to printing was a big adjustment for me, but turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made. I learned so much about print production & graphic design working directly with customers & in the prepress department.
However, I feel like there are more steps in this journey to be taken, which is why I am attempting to further my education at CPTC with a graphic technologies degree. While working the last few years in a print shop, I spent (ALL) of my free time teaching myself skills to further myself at my job & in my desired career path of graphic design & photography.
This included opening an Etsy shop which grew to be very successful in a short amount of time due to my rigorous study of all things SEO & Web Design. While I consider myself a strong photographer, learning more about managing a social media / editing & updating websites is an area I am anxious to learn more about - so much that I spend much of my free time doing so!
...to be continued
