My father came to the US as an immigrant in the 70’s making me the first generation born in the US for our family. As a child, my dad often took on multiple jobs to support our family and eventually gambled on his entrepreneurial spirit and started his own business in a trade from his native country.
From a very young age, I helped my dad at night plowing snow for customers. While he was successful, this came at a price in that he missed many special moments due his commitment in ensuring we always had food on the table. We were not wealthy, we never took vacations, and I never had the latest fashions but we never went without the basic necessities. With the loving support of my mother and financial support of my father, I was the first child in the family to attend and graduate college.
Like all new grads I had a lot of ambitions and procured a job right out of college as an executive for Target. During my nine years there, I developed as a leader and a person. Some of my responsibilities included opening new stores, remodels, and even college campus recruitment. The job was rewarding, but as I learned I was going to be a mother, I found myself gravitating towards Human Resources, especially recruiting. I decided it was time to search for a new role in talent acquisition.
I was fortunate to find a job in the solid waste industry and was hired to be the first recruiter for a 12 state region. Not only did I have to learn about the industry, I also had to become creative and innovative to recruit for positions that aren’t exactly the most desirable. Like my father, I love a challenge and three years later I was promoted to run the recruiting department from the corporate headquarters and had my second daughter. At my Corporate job, I was responsible for staffing 32 states and lead a recruiting team of 17 recruiters.
While this was exciting, it required me to spend a lot of time away from home and I found that I was missing important milestones in my daughters’ lives. With no plan and a supportive husband, I resigned with the expectation of finding a life balance and a job nearer to our home in Destin, Florida. I loved the idea of following in my father’s footsteps and becoming an entrepreneur and many of my former hiring managers began asking me to assist them in recruiting critical hires and thus Rocket Recruiting Solutions was born!
I hope this story inspires other women and mothers to follow their dreams, put their families first and know you can still embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and raise a family. You have to believe in yourself and the rest will fall into place!