My first encounter with Accounting was during my junior year in high school. Needing an elective to fill out my schedule for the semester, I signed up for the introductory class on a whim. That one random decision led me to where I am now and created a foundation that I continue to build on to this very day. Accounting is so much more than numbers. It forms the skin and bones of an enterprise and it tells a story. Beyond that, there's an orderliness -- a set of constants, rules and absolutes. But also exceptions and areas of gray. In some ways when you learn Accounting you learn to speak another language, and in turn, translate that language to others. My particular application of Accounting has been to an industry I've always been drawn to: real estate. Throughout my career, I've had the good fortune of being surrounded by talented mentors who were willing to share as much of their knowledge and experience as I was willing to take in. From my very first position at Fairfield Residential, I was hungry to absorb everything I could. It was gratifying to see how things I had learned in school translated to the real world, but also a bit startling to discover so many things that had never appeared in a textbook at all. Learning is a lifelong process, and the path which my career has taken reflects how one step leads to another. Over the years I've built so many wonderful relationships with friends and colleagues, and those experiences taught me perhaps the most crucial lesson of all: the importance of collaboration, communication and teamwork. Just as my mentors shared their knowledge with me, it's also my duty to pass that along to my own team. The processes, numbers and technical applications will only go so far. After that, it's the human relationships we build that truly make the difference.