Born in Versailles, Missouri, I attended four different Kindergartens until my dad made a career move to Gering, Nebraska, a small town in the panhandle.

I joined Girl Scouts when I was 5 (my mom was a Scout leader), I was a State Speech & Debate Champion for all 3 years in high school, and I worked full-time while in high school as a grocery store cashier.

I graduated from Gering High School and moved to Boulder, Colorado to attend University. I graduated with a BS in Business in four years while working full-time.

Skills, experience, and knowledge can be learned. But character and values come from our core essence.

If you're interested in knowing a little bit about who I am as a person, read some of the defining moments in my life.

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80."

Henry Ford

Key Defining Moments

Work Ethic Started Early

I had my first job at nine mowing lawns for $3.00 each. At twelve, I started babysitting for $0.50/hour in addition to mowing.

In my bedroom, I had a tiny, two-drawer dresser that hung on my wall. For every dollar I made, 50% was put in the top drawer which was savings and 50% was put in the bottom drawer for spending.

I babysat and mowed lawns until the day I turned 16, the minimum age to get a “real” job. The job I coveted was checker at the Jack & Jill grocery store. I applied three months prior to turning 16. The manager said he’d hire me after my birthday. On my 16th birthday I drove to the store and got the job.

I started the next day and worked there until I left for college three years later. I saved enough money from those early jobs to pay for my first year in college – out-of-state tuition.

I loved that job as a checker – interacting with people every day, creating a relationship with the regular customers, teamwork with the other employees. I loved to challenge myself to see how fast I could check someone out, thus why I learned how to 10-key punch without looking.

I still can’t believe they let high school students work 40 hours a week and work the graveyard shift (11pm to 7am).

Self-Motivated and Disciplined

When I was 10, I rode my Stingray bike to a garage sale. Word had it, there was a typewriter for sale. I had saved my money from mowing lawns and wanted it badly. The tag said $25 but I negotiated the lady down to $20.

It was a portable Remington with its own hard carrying case. And the bonus? It came with an instruction booklet on teaching yourself to type.

That summer, I spent three months diligently working my way through the entire book. If the book told me to type an entire page of "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," I did it.

At the end of that summer I could type 40 words a minute with no mistakes.

Pretty good on a manual typewriter.

Passion for Communication and Managing People

The neighbor I babysat for when I was 12 had a book I started reading called, “I’m OK, You’re OK” by Thomas Harris. Dr. Harris’ guide to Transactional Analysis hit the best sellers list in 1972 where it remained for two years.

The book clicked with me – I understood the three states in which a person can switch between – Parent, Adult, or Child – and when and how to use those different states.

I learned how complimentary transactions (Adult to Adult for example) can continue indefinitely whereas crossed transactions (Child to Adult) can stop communication and frequently turn into an argument.

I learned I had a choice in how I interacted with people and that with practice I could pull people into a more adult-like conversation.

This was the beginning of my love affair with managing, coaching, developing, and mentoring strong teams.

I now coach and mentor young people as they enter their first careers or as they move into managing people.

It’s the thing I enjoy the most.

Tenacity Pays Off

When I graduated from college in April 1983, the country was suffering from the worst unemployment in decades. The jobless rate for college grads had never been higher. In fact, the current recession peaked in 2011 but did not exceed the unemployment level of 1983.

With no luck interviewing on the CU Boulder campus, I targeted a city where things seemed to be a little better - Dallas - and canvased the market with 40 resumes.

When I made my trip to Dallas, I had confirmed 10 interviews from those resumes, received three job offers, and took The Quaker Oats position in Albuquerque, NM.

Embracing Technology Early

When the first IBM desktop computer was delivered to Quaker’s Dallas sales office, I had just been promoted to my first management position. The computer sat in its box for several months unopened

One day I asked what was in the box and the office manager said it was “some kind of computer.” Over the next few weeks I assembled it and began exploring my first PC. Up until then, the only computers I had used were card readers and a large Xerox mainframe.

It was on that IBM in 1985 I taught myself Lotus Symphony, the precursor to Word and Excel. I developed the first-ever forecasting model in the Sales field using a spreadsheet.

A year later when I was promoted to a District Manager in Atlanta, I bought a Compaq portable computer for my home office. I’m not sure but I think I was the first DM at Quaker with their own computer.

The following year I bought a Macintosh Plus 512Ke.

My husband claims it was this Mac and its 20MB hard-drive that compelled him to propose to me.

I continue to have a passion of learning and staying on top of technology.

Overcoming Tragedy

When my best friend (my mother) heard the news her cancer was terminal, I just knew I’d die right along with her.

I spent six months traveling back and forth from the Bay Area to Kansas City to spend precious time with her. At the end I was one of her primary caretakers – all this while working full time at Imagine Foods.

She fought hard and refused to give in to the disease. We spent time writing names on the back of family photos from the 1930s and laughing about the time we tied a helium balloon to the cat’s tail, and she destroyed the house trying to remove it.

In the end, I had the great honor of holding her in my arms as she took her last breath. That’s when I knew the true meaning of Nietzsche’s quote.

I’m not sure but I think she “gave” me something as she moved on to her next adventure.

It was in her passing that I truly became stronger. I realized how precious time is and how the most important thing in life are people and our relationships with them.

Timeline Accomplishments

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

Friedrich Nietzsche

6 - 18

Taught myself to sew on my great grandmother's Singer Treadle sewing machine at 6.

Got my first dog, Buffy and was his primary caretaker at 6.

Taught self to knit and crochet at 7.

Never missed a Speech and Debate tournament in High School while working full-time.

Girl Scout from 6 until 14.

Learned to clean fish (we camped every weekend)

Guitar Lessons

24 - 35

Ballroom Dancing Lessons

Learned electrical wiring on a 1912 house

Piano Lessons

Overcame fear of rollercoasters (road Santa Cruz coaster until my palms stopped sweating)

40+

Started drawing and painting

Began mentoring young women

Traveled extensively - Europe, Alaska, Mediterranean

Rotarian & Pro-Bono consulting

First Board member position for nonprofit

Edited and published husband's fiction series

Started and ran food company

Started a publishing company

Bought and run an heirloom dollhouse internet business

Bucket List

Do not let making a living prevent you from making a life.

John R. Wooden

Bucket List - Completed

Cruise Alaska
Cruise the Mediterranean Sea
See the Pyramids
Experience Normandy Beach
Visit Pearl Harbor
Ride a roller coaster
Start a non-profit
Publish a book
Take golf lessons (and improve game!)

Bucket List - Yet to Do

Visit every State (only Montana left)
Establish scholarship fund under my mother’s name
Learn Spanish
Learn a computer programing language
Become a proficient artist (drawing and painting)
Volunteer at Hospice and Meals on Wheels
Run a nonprofit organization
Travel around the world
Live in Italy for a month
Be a best friend to many