When I meet someone for the first time and we move through the traditional introductions and handshakes (fist bumps in more recent times) I am always intrigued to find out what their path was to get into the corrugated industry. Whether it is in person, by phone, or via video calls, we all have an opportunity to meet new people on a weekly basis and in some instances when learning of someone’s path to the industry it will make sense, as they have had family or friends that led them to the industry at a young age…and once you are in, it’s rare to ever leave completely. On the other side of that coin, I have met so many colleagues whose stories portray something different than a direct link to the industry that we work in. Recently Tonya Kowa-Morelli wrote about her unique “Path to Printing” and I decided I wanted to do the same thing. While it is a post about the same topic, everyone’s path is different, and that variety of experience is one of my favorite aspects about working in an industry with all of you.
I could go back too far and bore you about how I grew up in a tiny coal mining town in the Midwest and graduated with a class of only 30 other classmates, but I think we will skip forward a bit!
In 1999 I graduated from Millikin University and took my first job at the local newspaper selling advertising space to the businesses and organizations in the area. I had an internship at this newspaper my senior year which led into my first professional job as an Advertising Sales Consultant. I would spend my days visiting local business owners and learning about their businesses. At the end of the day, I would return to the office with art layouts and details, I would write up the orders for the ads the clients wanted placed and then spend time with the graphic artists to ensure we were all on the same page regarding how the ads were to be designed. I suppose it would be possible to draw a very loose correlation between this job and my career at Huston Patterson but only with the fact the newspaper did utilize a printing press to print to paper in order to produce a product.
I would have one more stop before my destiny led me to my current role at Huston Patterson and this one would be far off any path leading me to a career in the printing and packaging industry. One of my clients was a family-owned jewelry store that had been in business since 1856. When I would walk into this store for meetings, I was always so awestruck by the beauty and elegance of the space, the case of Rolex watches, and all the beautiful pieces of jewelry. At the time, the gentleman that owned the business was the 3rd generation of his family to have owned the store and we had been working on a promotional event in celebration of his retirement and his son’s entry into the family business to become a 4th generation owner of the store. One day I received a call from the owner, and he requested a meeting with me outside of what we had previously planned. I just assumed we needed to discuss details of the schedule or gather information that would be necessary for the ads that we were preparing for him. Instead, I was shocked to be presented with an opportunity to come to work for his son during his new venture into ownership and to gain more education in a field that I could have never guessed I would ever be involved in.
With job this came the opportunity to undergo a year of education at the Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad, CA. A beautiful campus sitting on a bluff overlooking colorful flower fields that extend down toward the Pacific Ocean. He could have stopped right there because I was in! Who wouldn’t be at 22-23 years old? Over the time I spent at GIA I studied the more scientific aspects of the diamonds and gemstones that I would be working with. In hindsight, this was so important to the work I would be doing in my career in the jewelry business. By the time my stay in beautiful North County San Diego was over and it was time for me to make the cross-country drive back to the Midwest, I had earned a Graduate Gemologist Degree and also specialized my training there with a focus in Retail Appraisals.
After my year was up, I returned home to continue my career in the jewelry business. Over my time with this great company I was lucky to have met so many great people and I was privileged to work daily with some of the most incredible pieces of jewelry and unbelievable gemstones…but the 4 walls of retail were closing in on me and I felt like I wanted to do something different. Around the time I began looking for what this new chapter of my career could be, I became aware of a possible opportunity for a Sales Trainee at a printing company in town and I decided to go for the opportunity. It came with no offer of when or even if the position would turn into an actual sales career but after some time, I was proud to be offered and to accept the opportunity to become Huston Patterson’s first ever Sales Trainee! Huston Patterson approached my position as a Sales Trainee in much the same way the jewelry store did….with training and education. I had once again begun a career that I knew nothing about but was excited to learn and when the timing was right, I was promoted to the position that I still hold today nearly 14 years later.
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