Every day I have the pleasure of building relationships with the most incredible customers on the planet – early childhood, elementary and secondary educational stakeholders who are advocating on behalf of children, teachers and families – and listening to their needs, and providing them with value-added services and the highest quality furniture and educational materials on the market. What I do:• Travel throughout the Chicagoland area on a daily basis building relationships with stakeholders involved in the purchasing process for their organization• Visit schools and child care centers on a regular basis to assess emerging and ongoing needs• Maintain an ongoing awareness of local, state and national trends and funding opportunities in early learning and elementary education• Pursue relationships with city, county and state government officials, university administrators, and community-based organizations to support cutting-edge learning environments for children• Host product presentations and events designed to familiarize customers with proprietary services • Most importantly, do whatever I can to support our customers

As an advisor it was my responsibility to connect clients finances to what they want out of life and create a plan designed to make it happen, revealing possibilities while protecting a client or their family from the unexpected—today and every day after.

As the Director of Partnerships for the PowerPuck Business Unit my primary responsibility was to grow the business in our target markets. The markets we served were airlines, airports, education, hospitality, sports venues, architect and design firms and manufacturing. My job was to maintain client relationships, create client presentations, set pricing, product marketing, trade show selection, manage proposals, Salesforce tracking, operating sales meetings, and closing large deals. I reported directly to the CEO.

Selected by the IDEAL Executive Team to help run IDEAL's first start up business unit. Moved back to Illinois from San Francisco, California to began to implement processes to help build the business. In my role I worked with the Product Manager and Engineering Team to develop the product. My role in the development was to get voice of customer feedback both from the infrastructure and potential users (B2B & B2C). Working with A&D Firms for installation feedback, business for infrastructure and consumer feedback, and finally customers for product feedback. The product was unique in the sense that it impacted both facilities or businesses, as well as consumers. For the first year I spent majority of my time researching markets, understanding competitors, setting pricing, developing presentations and proposals, and understanding what the market would allow.

After completing the Sales Associate Training, I accepted the ASM position out in San Francisco, California and took over one of the companies largest territories, with multiple overnights per week. My role was to grow the IDEAL tool line at electrical distributors which included wire connectors, test and measurement, tools, supplies, and data communications. A priority of mine was to reach out to trade schools and contractors directly to better understand who the end user was. My two years in the field ended with finishing in the top 10 in sales.

Part of IDEAL INDUSTRIES Sales Associate program, I received training in customer service, product management, marketing, and sales. This was a two year program, which I accelerated through in 10 months. In customer service I averaged taking 100 calls and entering in 100 orders daily, the average was around 60 calls and 50 orders entered. As a part of the Tools and Supplies Business Unit, I researched competitor products and how our product aligned. I helped to fill gaps in our product line and understand our pricing strategy. The Sales and Marketing training was to prepare associates for field training and becoming an Area Sales Manager. I was able to work directly with our Executive Team on multiple smaller projects as well during my time.

Had the opportunity to provide private lessons for youth softball and baseball players. The private lessons consisted of hitting drills or position specific drills. I would utilize the facilities at PlayMakers to run private lessons or even group camps. My main focus was with infielders, outfielders, and catchers.