How do you manage stress and self care?
It wasn’t until I was diagnosed with cancer in 2019 that I came to realize how important managing stress and self-care is to one’s overall health. I’ve since fully recovered from cancer, but I have now incorporated exercise into my weekly routine through a combination of weight training, Pilates, yoga, and walking. I also try to meditate daily and take warm Epsom salt baths weekly. In times of stress, I turn to my dog, Bogey, and play with him for a few minutes. He always destresses me!

What are the hardest lessons you’ve had to face in becoming a leading woman in power?
I think the hardest lesson that I’m still working on is how to successfully work with friends. Through my career, I’ve found it is easier to cultivate friendships with people I’ve worked with and have had a chance to develop a mutual professional respect for, but harder to transition a personal relationship into a professional one.

Did you always want this career track?
Ironically, no. My career goals have changed throughout my career as I attained each one. I needed to dream bigger and reach higher. At some point mid-career, I realized that I wanted to be a business owner. I just didn’t know at the time what type of business it would be. Each step of my career eventually brought me to where I am today.

If you could look into a crystal ball, what would you want to know about your future?
The most important things I’d want to know are that I’m healthy, happy, fulfilled, and have no regrets.

If you are a mom, what is the reality of managing kids and family life with your career demands?
I’m a fur mommy and Bogey comes with me to work most days. I realize that with fur babies we have less time on this earth to spend with them, so when I started my own company, I wanted to make sure that I spent as much time as I could with him while he’s still with us.

What are two of your proudest accomplishments of your career?
First, having the courage to start Accumulus. We just celebrated our 5-year anniversary and had a thank you party for our employees, clients, and business partners. The Mayor came to our party and said, “You haven’t made it as a business until you’ve made it through the first five years.” Boy, is that true! We have accomplished so much through the past five years, and I’m so proud we have been able to serve so much of the community through our leadership and hard work during the pandemic. We have truly become a leading business advisory firm, committed to the success of our people, our clients, and our community—which also happens to be our vision statement! Now it’s time for a new vision.

Secondly, I’m so proud of the people that I have had an opportunity to mentor thus far in my career. A few of my mentees have gone on to become such successful women in their own right and I am so proud of them. I’ve always thought the most successful mentoring stories are when the mentee can become more successful than the mentor, and I think at least one of them is on her way to doing so. I am a strong advocate of gender equity and love to mentor and empower others in our community (men or women) to succeed and thrive. It just so happens most of my mentees to date have also been women.

What is your current daily routine?
I wake up, make my bed, brush my teeth, walk and feed Bogey, eat breakfast (either a green smoothie or overnight oats), get ready for work, stop to grab an oat milk latte on my way to the office, read and respond to as many e-mails as I can between meetings and before lunch, more meetings, work, and when I don’t have an evening work commitment or social event, I will do an evening workout while listening to an audiobook (I listen to audiobooks anytime I workout alone, or am in my car for more than 10 minutes), walk and feed Bogey, eat dinner (at home or out), and wind down with a shower at the end of the day and a cup of chamomile or hibiscus tea and a meditation, journaling, or an audiobook or podcast before bed.