My career path is a very unique one. One that most people would likely question due to the fact that I essentially worked my way backwards at one point to start a new path. At 20 years old I started in Real Estate, and was very successful at it. I was one of the fortunate few that was able to create a very comfortable living for myself and family off of being self employed. I thought I had everything I wanted, but after about 5 years I grew tired of the self-employed lifestyle and felt unsatisfied within my career. I knew I had to make a change because what I was doing just wasn’t fulfilling to me. I was no longer passionate about what I once was, and I think it was largely due to the fact that I was more so running a business based on commission and not helping others in a more meaningful way.
This is when I decided to work for my Tribal government, so I could assist the community I once grew up in, and shape the path for my kids generation. The reason I give this back story is because compensation was a large factor in these decisions. The motivating factor here was the passion I had to lead others in my community, and work towards a career path that would allow me the opportunity to set process in place that my kids and future generations would benefit from. I was choosing to leave a six figure a year income, and start over. I applied for a position posted as a limited duration part-time employee with the “opportunity” to develop into a full-time role. With no guarantee this was scary. My behavior towards this scenario was increased motivation, work ethic, and overall satisfaction towards my work environment. Once I received the job offer I knew I had to work extremely hard to work my way up the corporate ladder. I left a six figure per year career for $16 an hour part-time. This hurt, and motivated me to exemplify my attributes and find any opportunity I could to prove my value. Due to my contribution, I received the full-time position, and from there I’ve been promoted again to a Senior Executive Assistant. I’m very proud of the progress and growth I’ve made, and did not expect to be here in such a short amount of time. It goes to show with hard work, determination, and consistent action, you can make anything possible.