We asked some brilliant entrepreneurs, artists and creatives to reflect on lessons they’ve learned at prior jobs. We’ve shared highlights below.

Emilio Dominguez

My dream growing up was to serve in our nation’s armed forces. I accomplished this when I joined the US Air Force at 18 years old and went off to boot camp after one semester at the local community college. The military will teach you so many things, but a decade and a half later, now, these are the core tenets that I take daily from my six years of service: – the mission is more important than the self – we don’t operate in silos – meaning, nothing is accomplished alone, and we depend on the team to accomplish our goals Read more>>

Cindy Appanaitis

I had been a high school P.E. & Child Development teacher for 8 years. Due to a family relocation, I interviewed for a middle school P.E. job. I did well in my interview and had to teach a sample lesson. I remember being so distracted with what I thought the committee wanted to see & hear in my lessons. This lesson was to last for a whole 40 minute class period. I remember getting about 10 minutes in and thinking this lesson was going very poorly. I also remember thinking to myself “well, I’m not going to get the job, but I’m stuck out here for 20 more minutes. Read more>>

Monique Gosling

One of the most important lessons I have learned in my professional career is to become a servant leader. What is a servant leader? Servant leadership is based on the idea that the best leaders work harder to serve others than to gain dominance or control. I learned this form of leadership from a principal I worked under at a charter school. She constantly spoke about the importance of servitude and how you must learn to delegate and serve when needed as someone in charge. Read more>>

Weston T. Hine

I was living Atlanta and doing work mostly focused around a band I was playing in at the time. Like most young bands we were broke and open to any opportunities to scrounge together some cash. I had a friend who connected me with a BBQ joint over in Peachtree Corners that had live musicians weekly (for very little money) and they were looking for more. I jumped at the opportunity. It was a situation where they wanted musicians to play mostly covers for multiple hours. Read more>>

Patricia O Urquiaga

The most important lesson I learned at my prior jobs was to never stop learning. I’m the type of person that loves challenges so I’ve always strived to learn as much as I could from everyone. Prior to opening my own business consulting agency, I held two corporate jobs where I held many titles – administrative assistant, marketing coordinator, account executive, media planner/buyer, head of media planner/buyer, sales executive, operations manager etc. Read more>>

Natasha Zahn Pristas

My work experience in retail in high school and college under amazing women bosses taught me numerous skills that I’ve continued to use in all my jobs over the years, especially today in my own creative business. If we’re genuine about our interactions with the public, our customers will return. Maybe it’s simply listening or being courteous to someone who’s not feeling seen that day. It could be taking a message, finding out the pertinent info, and then (key!) getting back quickly to the customer. Read more>>