The Incredible Journey

OK - so, it's not incredible yet. But it will be. Right? It has to be. I'm too stubborn for it not to be. It's going to be amazing.

For those of you who don't know me, or are interested in my interpretation of events, let me get you up to speed.

I graduated out of Clemson University with a degree in Marketing. But with no job nor efforts to find one. I'd been too busy playing through college to realize that was a necessary step somewhere along the way. However, through my Marketing & Promotions class, I was able to know one thing:

I wanted to stand in a board room and tell people how to spend their money.

But I didn't know what that meant exactly, or how to get there. It wasn't until I stumbled upon a small (at that time) agency here in Greenville called Erwin Penland, and made my way from receptionist to Media Coordinator that I realized I'd found exactly what I set out to do. And Erwin Penland (EP)was and continues to be a place I hold near and dear to my heart. I spent 8 out of the last 12 years there.

Throughout the course of this blog, I suspect you'll read a lot about EP, as well as the various places I was the other 4 years (12 - 8 = 4 for your account executive types).  I took a hiatus from EP for a while, but eventually made my way back. A lot of people do. It's a wonderful, welcoming place that way.

So, the last 5 years I was at EP, I got married to Vince Decabooter (thus the "Booter", and essentially took that nickname right out from under him, but I swear it wasn't intentional), and have two delicious babies. I have no doubt you'll read about them throughout the course of this blog. Elise turns 4 this June, and Claire turned 1 at the end of April. And guess what? The girls are only going to be young once. And advertising agency business being what it is - it makes it very hard to balance that family life and work life. But I don't want to look back when they are headed off to college and wonder where that time went.

After much deliberation and many conversations with Vince (who has been wonderfully supportive through this whole thing), we decided I'd start looking at alternative solutions. And from there it was a whirlwind. My first opportunity arose with M33 Integrated Solutions to serve as a contract marketing director for them. Since then, I've had several other opportunities that are what I call "percolating" right now, and things seem to be headed in the right direction.

And that's where we get to the meat of this blog. This will hopefully capture my journey as I go through this transition. Follow along. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two. I know I will.