The person behind the work.

My story

I didn’t plan a career in sales. I found the work that taught me how to grow.

I began college as a chemistry major with plans to become a dentist. It was a respectable path and, for a while, the future I assumed I was supposed to pursue. But after earning my Associate of Science, I had to admit something difficult to myself: dentistry was not the life I wanted. Continuing simply because I had already started would have meant investing years in someone else’s version of success.

Then I found sales—or perhaps sales found me.

My first sales job was selling Kirby vacuum cleaners door to door. I had never encountered anything like professional selling before. School had taught me how to study, retain information, and defend a point of view. It had never taught me how listening, questions, language, trust, and human psychology could influence a decision.

Standing at strangers’ doors took me outside my comfort zone in a way nothing else had. I had to become more observant, more resilient, and more willing to change. Every conversation offered immediate feedback. If something did not work, I could not blame a textbook or wait for the next semester. I had to learn, adjust, and try again.

That experience also changed what education meant to me. I discovered that learning did not have to end with an institution or a degree. Books about business and personal development were not merely inspirational—they contained ideas I could test, practice, and use. For the first time, growth felt like something I could pursue deliberately.

The doors eventually changed. At YP—the Yellow Pages—I learned to apply those fundamentals in conversations with local business owners. That led to direct-mail and digital advertising, where I built a substantial book of business from the ground up. Later, at RAIN, I entered the financial-institution market without an inherited portfolio and built one exceeding $1 million in annual revenue.

Today, the conversations often take place with bank and credit-union executives. The decisions involve growth strategy, customer acquisition, technology, measurement, and multiple internal stakeholders. I also use research, data, AI, and practical systems to understand customers more deeply and improve the commercial work surrounding the sale.

The scale and complexity have changed considerably. The foundation has not.

I still believe that good selling begins with the courage to start a conversation, the curiosity to understand what matters to someone else, and the accountability to remain present after a promise has been made.

The throughline: I did not follow the career I originally imagined. I found one that continually asked me to become more capable—and taught me that meaningful growth often begins when you are willing to step beyond the person you already know how to be.