We asked some fantastic entrepreneurs and creatives to tell us about their first job in their field. Check out their stories below.

 Jennifer Ritsema

Over 15 years ago I had just uprooted my life and made a drastic change of careers leaving education for the unknown AND moved out to the West Coast. (I am a midwest girl at heart with a LOVE of the beach & nature-outside of all things wellness that is!) While I did some soul searching to determine what I truly wanted to explore as a career I found a retail / customer service position at a local athletic wear company that was expanding all over Southern California. Through this position I was not only able to meet some amazing fitness instructors or as I like to call them, the OG wellness team I was able to take part in a variety of classes and fall in love with fitness so much so that I wanted to share it with my community and friends. One day while on the sales floor, with a dear friend and mentor, I whispered, “I want to do what she does!” (Pointing at a local spin & strength instructor whose class I adored!) My friend and mentor’s response to me was, “Well why can’t you? What’s stopping you?!” I was literally speechless and didn’t move an inch, felt like I wasn’t even breathing for minutes until I finally gasped out the response, “Nothing, nothing is stopping me. I AM GOING TO DO IT!” Later that same day the minute I got home I went on a mad search for the best and closest spin certification. I found one in Venice, Ca at the Madd Dog Spinning headquarters, signed up for my first cycle certification, and that began certification began my career & passion in the fitness arena. To say I was excited and nervous at the same time was an understatement, especially coming from someone who was quite shy growing up. And to add to the story, the exact same instructor who I said I wanted to be like, hired me for my first cycling class: to teach for a local campus recreation department. She found out I was certified and asked where I was teaching, I said no where yet, which was about 4 months after finishing my cert; her response, “You start on the summer schedule in two weeks when your audition goes well, be here tomorrow at 12pm for a trial class.” I had zero time to worry and it felt like all the time in the world to plan my audition, even though it was about 24 hours later. That afternoon, I created my ride, added music to it, practiced at a local gym by myself, then put a microphone for the first time the very next day and rocked it out on the bike! Thanks to Dana and Marieclare believing in and supporting me in the very beginning, I am where I am today and cannot thank them enough. Read more>>

Sharon Sheppard

Becoming a therapist was a second career for me. I owned a real estate development and construction company with my ex-husband for over 20 years. When the marriage ended I moved from California back to my home state of Massachusetts. For many years I was a stay-at-home mom and then a partner with my ex in his family business but now it was time to build a life and career as a single, 50 year old woman. When my twins were 11 years old they were both diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I knew enough to get them professional help and landed in the capable hands of a Marriage and Family Therapist. She equipped them with skills to manage the OCD and, most importantly, instilled hope for all of us that their condition was manageable and not defining of who they were and would be in the future. At the time, her skill, compassion and hopefulness impressed me so much I tucked the idea of becoming a therapist one day in my heart. Read more>>

Levornia Franklin

My first job as Pastor, was youth Pastor I was young in the ministry and excited to get started. We formed a board of people that wanted to help with the youth of our church. The first thing we needed was funding, so we could buy the things that we need to do for ministry. It wasn’t easy because the church would only match what we could raise. So we thought about chicken dinners and donut sales etc. but all these types of fundraisers cost money to start. But then we came up with the idea, let have a car wash, we could ask and borrow what we needed to get started. I started asking business with good locations and we found one. The first car wash we raised 300.00. The kids were excited because we had conquered our first hurdle. Read more>>

Jenelle Smith

My first job in ABA was after graduating from undergrad. I had majored in human development and had no idea what I was going to do with that. I had also worked with kids my entire life so I was looking for something different, but after months of job interviews and taking random jobs at a candy shop and a gym, an acquaintance of mine persuaded me to give ABA a try. I decided to go for it because I had limited experience with the special needs population and thought this would be a good opportunity to expand my knowledge. Read more>>

Dylan Brooks

I started my journey in the field of HIV Prevention when I was taking a Political Science course during undergrad at Gainesville State College in Athens, Georgia. As part of the course we had to volunteer a certain number of hours for a nonprofit in the area. At the time, I had just come out I was looking for ways to give back to the LGBTQ+ community. That was when I found an organization called AIDS Athens, now called Lived Forward. I started volunteering for their front desk. I was answering phones, getting clients connected with their case managers, community members connected with rapid HIV testing, and getting to interact with long term survivors of HIV. I say all that to reflect on my own coming out process. One of the first things I heard as a young gay man coming out in rural Northeast Georgia was that I was going to get AIDS and die and I was here to prove them all wrong! Read more>>