My business career and passion started in college when I took my first introductory
class into Business Admin 101 Summer of 2008. Coming from a family of a small business
owner, (my father) I always saw the hardship of day-to-day operations, meeting deadlines,
and nothing ever seemed smooth. This drove me into my passion to start asking my professor
a lot of questions and from there, my passion only grew more. My first big step after
college was several years later when I was hired to a brand-new grant through the
Sault Tribe under the MBDA (Minority Business Development Agency) to basically serve
as a Native SBDC for any members of our Tribe. We took what little information we
had and developed a CRM starting at roughly 15 clients to over 100 working businesses
over a year and a half. My efforts here caught the notice of PTAC who came to a conference
for Native business we hosted in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. I was contacted roughly 6 months
later and asked to apply for what PTAC was becoming that is now APEX. There I served
as a Counselor for roughly 2 years before the Host decided to drop the program. I
was then picked up by Mike Channel and NICC Apex who picked up the Midwest Region.
I now am happy to continue to serve the 5 and ½ state region we have been granted.
I hold a Bachelors Degree of Art from Alma College (in Alma, MI) in Business and have
a passion to continue to fight for our Native Businesses big and small as it is true
passion to hear their stories and struggles, they have faced.
I am currently working on getting my first CMMC Certification through the support
of Totem.Tech’s Facilitator Program as well as taking my first steps into the CPP
Program that NAPEX helps Facilitate.
I have many hours logged through my 2+ years now as an APEX Counselor in Govology
and have had the pleasure of attending 2 NAPEX Conferences so far.
Knowledge is support, Never stop trying to grow, be the Sponge.
