Tell us a little about yourself…

I am from (and still live in) Chenoa, IL – a small town about 25 miles north of Bloomington.  I am the mother of two boys (er, young menJ); Brandon, 20, who just graduated from Army BCT at Fort Jackson, SC (for National  Guard), and  Dalton, 18, who is currently attending Heartland College.  I have worked for State Farm for 22 years, all in the administrative professional field.  The first 11 years were in Ad. Services, working for architects, engineers, and construction specialists, and the past 11 years have been at State Farm Bank.  So I’ve had a little bit of variety of associates to work with and have loved every minute of it.  (Okay, most of it.)  I first obtained my CPS designation in 1992, and plan to sit for the CAP exam this May.  I thoroughly love the field that I am in, and getting to be involved in a variety of assignments, meeting new people, etc.  I have been told I am a bit of a social butterfly.  J    

What are your hobbies?

My hobbies include baking, scrapbooking/card-making, reading, listening to music and attending concerts, movies, cooking, NASCAR, and watching sports.  I probably should throw watching t.v. in there.  J

What is your favorite food?

Pretty much anything Italian.  I love the pasta!!  Probably my favorite is Mona’s ravioli (tortellini).

What is your favorite color?

Blue or light blue/green.  Pretty much the pastels shades.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Hmmm.  Okay, well  FIRST – I wanted to be a famous (country) singer.  J  When it became obvious that probably wasn’t going to work out, I thought about becoming a nurse, but eventually decided to go the Administrative Professional route and have never looked back. 

Tell us about your favorite moment at work.

I have been very fortunate in my work experience in that I have had so many great times and moments.  One of my favorite moments was getting the results from the CPS exam when I passed.  That was hard work!  And such a feeling to know I passed and obtained that designation.  Other than that, probably my time as Office Manager during the OAB Remodel project.  I really got to stretch, learn a lot, meet a lot of different (definitely different!) people, had a great time, and accomplished a lot.

Do you have any hints, tips or advice you want to share with everyone?

Through my years of experience, I definitely think I have some tips that I think are helpful when trying to navigate waters in the workplace, advance your career, and just be happy.  I guess my top ones would be:

1.       “Bloom where you’re planted”.  You may not be where you eventually want to get to, but that’s okay.  Know that it may take time, and that experience counts for something.  Do the best that you can with the assignments you have now and it will pay off.  (You may think no one is noticing, but they are.)

2.       Be flexible.  Especially in today’s environment, everything is changing and nothing is a constant.  It can be hard sometimes, but keep yourself open to new opportunities, tasks, and ways of doing things.  Put yourself out there.  You never know where things might go, and most of the time, things actually work out better than what you could have imagined!

3.       Build on your working relationships.  Take the crucial conversations classes, communications classes, join a club (CIA!) whatever you need to do to keep building and maintaining good working relationships and a good network.

4.       Have fun and keep a sense of humor.  A happy environment is a productive and collaborative environment!  And it’s much better for the mood AND the blood pressure to be laughing instead of stressing.

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