February Question of the Month - Join the conversation and receive a badge

Sherry Fox

When I was a child, I had 3 childhood dreams for my profession, one was an airline pilot. I wanted to fly commercial planes, but I also wanted to fly private planes too. And my second childhood career dream was to be an architect. I created a second one when I found out that my eyesight would prevent me from becoming a pilot. And the third of course was a chef, and not just any chef, I wanted to be a chef at a Michelin Star restaurant, or something comparable!

As for now, I am a Business Analyst (AKA: Project Analyst, Process Improvement Analyst, & Data Analyst). I wear many hats during the day. And for the past 15+ years at multiple companies I have have worked "cradle to grave", and am a team of 1. I am also given the ability to get the requirements from the stakeholders (which is normally a bullet list), and then based on what I know of them, who their audience is, what they have stated they want/need out of the project, I get to determine the details. I decide if the project should be built within Excel or Smartsheet. Then whether their dashboard should be Power BI, Excel or Smartsheet. And all of those other fun details associated with development! I love creating something from nothing that allows others to save an abundance of time in their processes, and save the company money in the process!

kowal

I liked biology so I wanted to do something in this direction.

Now I am just IT PM.

sdunham

As a kid, I wanted to be either a fashion designer or an interior designer. I had magazines of homes and fashion everywhere in my room, my mom was going crazy. Growing up in Cairo, Egypt, it was a little challenging to find Architectural Digest in your grocery stores like how you can find them here everywhere. I had to go all the way downtown Cairo, and I lived in a suburb on the outskirts of the city, to be able to find the international bookstore that sells them and buy them from there. Least to say that they were very expensive.

Now, I'm a program manager for the transformation department at Wells Enterprises.

egypthntr

From the time I was 7 I wanted to be a doctor. This was my dream until my first year of University. School had always been easy for me and I never had to study. I was taking Physics and Chem and I realized that I actually had to study with these and all my pre-med classes. I decided that I wanted to party more than I wanted to be a doctor and I changed my major. Dumb 18 year old decisions! I now work in managing training programs. Its great, but I still want to be a doctor!

Stacey H

My sister and I were going to run a trucking company, she was going to drive and I was going to be her secretary. Know, she is part owner of a project management firm, and I am the Administrative Services Manager.

JLen

I wanted to be an attorney - essentially I just wanted to argue and get paid for it! :). I'm currently a Director of Legal Operations and I couldn't be happier. Over time I learned that my process improvement/systems thinking brain combined with my legal brain was the sweet spot (I do have a J.D.).

Linda Kimsey

When I was a child, I wanted to be a writer and then a librarian. I did get my library science degree, and then I fell in love with technology while working in libraries. I spent a decade implementing library systems, and then transitioned into procurement. This led to a position managing procurement policy so I guess you could say I did both writing and librarianship - just not how I had envisioned my life when I was a child. Now I'm a project manager in educational technology, which requires organization, helps others learn, and keeps me active in tech. Best of all worlds!

Ilona K

I used to play school with my friends. I always wanted to teach as well as learn. That has not changed. By my activities and my career, I have always been able to do both. Learning Smartsheets tools is another way to do what I love.

LMyers

When I was a kid, I wanted to be either a teacher or a nurse, which translated into 20 years of doing medical billing. Now, I ecstatically work for the technology division of a forklift company.

Marlana K.

When I was in Middle School - High School I wanted to be a photographer. I wanted to live in NYC and be famous!! My dad bought me my first 35mm camera and it went everywhere with me. I have always been a go getter. That camera and love of photography lead me to Camera Club President, Yearbook Photographer and Senior Year Year Book Co-Editor. Unfortunately I let others talk me out of going to school at the Art Institute because they thought it was no a lucrative field of study and that I would not get anywhere. While it never became anything more than a hobby, I did donate my services to a Non Profit Organization that Specializes in Individuals with Special Needs. I became their event photographer, where I photographed their Annual Ball, providing prints free of charge.

I found my way into the IT world and the role of Business Analyst.

I am a Smartsheet Solutioneer. Someone at Engage asked me what a Solutioneer was, I said kind of like a Disney Imagineer that makes Disney Magic happen, I make Smartsheet Magic Happen!

Tera K

When I was a kid, I wanted to be the first female NASCAR driver. Anything that went fast and was loud was the dream...Found it was hard to make a living and it was an expensive sport. So started to find jobs to help pay for parts and race fees. Ended up in Supply Chain and manufacturing where I got to really grow from when we did things manually to evolving to a more computer driven process. Did that for about 10 years till I hit a ceiling and couldn't find a way to keep moving forward....

Challenged myself to go back to school and finish up my Bachelors in Business Management. But almost all the way through a mentor told me I needed to look at Project Management and that he thought I would really enjoy it... BOY WAS HE RIGHT! I had finally found my calling and pursued it through Fire Rescue and Emergency Management and now into Life Sciences Med Device and Vet space for the past 5 years and love every minute of our work!

Deanna Vandermeer

When I was a kid I wanted to be a veterinarian and take care of animals, until I realized that I would not be able to handle losing any of the animals due to illnesses, accidents, animal cruelty, etc., I just knew that it would be too much for me to handle emotionally. I have worked for our local public school system for the past 37 years and for the past 6 years I have been fortunate enough to spend my days building out solutions in Smartsheet for not only myself but for other departments within our district. To say I have found my true calling thanks to Smartsheet would be an understatement!

Michelle Choate 2

When I was a kid I wanted to be a professional musician - but not a rock star, a famous flute player. I got my undergraduate degree in music performance and still do play flute in several community groups, just not professionally like my childhood heart wanted.

Professionally, I am the Smartsheet Guru for our company, Impact Housing. I build and maintain all of the Smartsheet Infrastructure for the company. And what does our company do? We build housing for low and median income families in Southern California without any subsidies. So I know what I do every day goes to support someone getting a place to live they could not otherwise afford.

Charlene Stacy

Long, long ago, I wanted to be a veterinarian. 🐶🐱 Didn't happen, but still a big animal lover. Fast forward a few years, my career has been in Education, helping others turn dreams into reality. In my current role, I build processes behind the screen, making sure teams handle info like pros. Changing lives through education is my ❤️.

TomG

Gosh, there have been so many!!

As a little kid, I wanted to be an astronaut like most of my friends but that was after being a fighter pilot. As a teenager I was part of a mountain search and rescue team in Colorado and almost chose that as a career. Leaving high school I wanted to be an architect but could not afford an out of state university. So, I got my degree in Information Systems Large Scale System Analysis and Design and was a software engineer for years. Now I'm a project and program leader and it is definitely the right fit for me. I get incredible enjoyment from serving a team of people and helping them accomplish a project, even with all the headaches and challenges along the way. I've been fortunate to have been doing it for over 20 years and what keeps me going (besides Smartsheet of course) is being able to help others be successful.