I got married at 18 and gave birth to my first child at 19. For the next 20-plus years, my life centered on being a wife and a mom.
In my 40s, I finally had the space, time and desire to start figuring out my own life---who I wanted to be/become. At the core of that journey of discovery was how to earn a living without a college degree or traditional job experience.
I started with what I knew.
I combined the skills I had built as a wife and motherโcommunication, organization, intuitionโand melded them with my ability to tell a story.
I began offering PR and media services, treating my clients the way I would treat my own family. Ultimately, that led to two decades of unusual jobs and meaningful work.
I helped rehab homes for veterans, promoted both the National Buffalo Wing Festival and the Eden Corn Festival.
I worked as a PR/media specialist for the Erie County Legislature, and marketed/launched and served as move-in coordinator for a continuing care retirement community.
I spent 13 years as a newspaper op-ed columnist and a commentator/special reporter for @WBFO (BTPM NPR ) and hosted my own, community-focused talk radio show on 1230 AM WECK.
I was part of a diverse collaborative that distributed COVID-19 vaccines to underserved communities and was hired to coordinate town, city, county and state political campaignsโ-then ran for state office myself.
It was a mosaic of work that led a WNY businessman to once comment that I was one of those people that, "....does a lot of stuff."
It was a statement of admiration.
For a long time, that manโs dismissive assessment lingered in my mindโ- not just as criticism---but as motivation to blend the life skills I had developed with my โheart and soulโ ability to truly connect with clients, and deliver the services they needed.
This week, I again recalled that businessman and his assessment of my career when a large manila envelope arrived in the mail.
Inside was an executive summary detailing a groundbreaking project on Buffaloโs East Side, designed to attract and inform potential funders. It was the culmination of a collaborative project with WNY Media House, who hired me to write the copy.
After reading through the five-page document I found an enclosed note from, Lisa Napier, who brought me into the project.
โThank you for your special gift of communication, consistency, and the role you play in keeping my business operating at such a high level.โ
Yep, Iโm that person who โdoes a lot of stuff"โฆlike help move projects forward, support businesses and make a difference in my community. And Iโm totally good with that.