Tell us about your involvement with ABC/CMEF? For the past 2 years I have served on the Welcome, Membership, and Commercial Committees. I place a lot of value in devoting time to attend events, make welcome visits to new members, reaching out to prospective members, collaborating with members on Commercial Committee to create informative industry forums, building bikes every Christmas season with YPC, and creating lasting business relationships with fellow ABC members.

Why did you decide to become involved with ABC/CMEF? Shortly after joining Function4, my Director, Brad Yocum, introduced me to the Welcome and Membership committees. From there, I began exploring what ABC had to offer. I found a unique opportunity to grow my network and get to know so many folks from businesses I would not, otherwise, have the opportunity to meet. My goal in joining was to develop professionally. Being involved regularly allows me to achieve that goal on an on-going basis.

What’s your greatest achievement (personal or professional) and how has it shaped the person you are today? I’ve been fortune in my career to see a lot of success, win awards, and receive accolades. Really, achievements aren’t what have shaped who I am today. I adopted a philosophy years ago, “there is only winning and learning”. Personally, I believe what has affected me most and molded my career and character, is facing adversity head on and not being afraid to fail. If you do that enough and learn, you’re going to do a lot of good things in life.

What’s the best piece of advice you have to offer for someone new to the industry? Don’t worry about what or who you don’t know. Work hard, use your resources to help you through difficulty, educate yourself, and don’t be afraid to fail. Everyone talks about their wins. What they don’t brag about are all the losses they learned from to be successful. Surround yourself with successful people. Never complain. Hustle until you no longer need to introduce yourself.