As a child, my idea of fun was sticking labels on the bindings of all my children’s books and marking them with the last name of each author.

Next, I would alphabetize the books and stand back and revel in the organizational beauty I created! You know, typical childhood fun.

When it was time to choose a career, my father encouraged me to consider accounting. He knew my math skills and strong desire to categorize EVERYTHING would make me a great accountant. I scoffed at the idea. I knew I loved working with numbers, but I also really loved helping people grow, and at the time, I didn’t believe that accounting could be used as a vehicle to help people. 

Instead, I became a middle school math teacher. I absolutely loved teaching and the warm feeling I got when I made a positive impact on a child’s life, but I couldn’t help but notice that the curriculum we were required to teach was a bit archaic. I wanted to teach highly meaningful and relevant topics!

In 2014, I moved to Florida and felt compelled to search for a new way to make a living using my specific skillset.

I became a project manager for a gourmet market and was put in charge of sourcing local handmade goods to sell in our retail gift shop. I began my search at the Indie Flea and passed out my business cards to the local makers. I was blown away by these entrepreneurs! Their creativity and courage to start a business inspired me.

Over time, I built relationships with these unbelievable makers. Soon, they started asking me things like, “Hey, you’re math-y, can you figure out my food cost?” or “You seem like you’d be good at QuickBooks, can you help me?” As much as I tried to resist a career in accounting, I decided to put my trust in my community and let them guide me to what I was put on this planet to do. After all, it’s much easier to listen to your friends than your parents, right?! 

I started with reading “Bookkeeping for Dummies,” taking some QuickBooks classes, and doing A LOT of googling.

It came very naturally and soon, more small businesses started reaching out to me for bookkeeping help and Conscious Accounting was born. Eventually, a CPA in the community urged me to consider going back to school to obtain my CPA license. You can imagine the number of “I told you so’s” I received from my father…

After taking the GREs and 15 prerequisite classes, I was able to start the Master of Accountancy program at USF. While in school and studying for CPA exams, I also worked part time at a few local CPA firms to become more classically trained. I was given multiple opportunities to sell Conscious Accounting and become a full-time employee, but it was apparent that I had a unique style and mission, and I chose to stay true to that, even if it made me different than my peers.