Tanja Easson Email & Phone Number

I love education and I love my job -- developing resources for educators, planning strategically for development of My10yearPlan.com® and each upgrade/revision to the Career Choices series, overseeing operations at Academic Innovations HQ, and developing technology training.I would have been a teacher if not for a meeting with my high school guidance counselor. He explained that an aptitude inventory indicated I should major in science; alternatively, I might consider music since I won a full scholarship in music performance. My dad valued education for its role in lifting him out of a poverty-prone upbringing, so his advice was different: Use the scholarship to finance college, but music will never pay well. Neither will education. You'd make a great lawyer. Pick a major that will lead to law school. Lacking a clear sense of direction and a plan, I explored myriad fields of study at the two separate universities, eventually majoring in English.Where do English majors end up? In the software industry, of course! After college, I interviewed with TaxWorks (later RedGear™ Technologies), a tax software company. My high school programming classes finally paid off as I developed forms for the DOS-based program, documented operations for user manuals, and worked on the support team. By the end of my first full tax season, I had successfully resolved more support issues than any other support team member.In 1996, I joined Academic Innovations (AI) as the customer service manager, but quickly became an ad hoc member of the development team. As AI's digital efforts grew, I made a permanent transition to the curriculum/technical support team. When my growing family moved from Santa Barbara to southern Utah, I submitted a successful proposal that allowed me to become AI's first telecommuter.In 2001, AI's HQ moved to St. George and day-to-day management was added to my other responsibilities. AI has been a productive member of the St. George community ever since.

Listed skills include Staff Development, Editing, Instructional Design, Training, and 22 others.