We asked some fantastic entrepreneurs and creatives to tell us about their first job in their field. Check out their stories below.
Jennifer Ruggiero
It was 1998. I had just moved to NYC to be a dancer. I had a Pilates practice in college that was part of the curriculum and wanted to maintain that practice as I viewed it essential to my dance career. There was no way I could pay for it on what dancing and waiting tables was paying me. A physical therapist of mine Sean Gallagher had a Pilates Studio and teacher training program. He offered me a position of assisting the director for Pilates, Inc teacher training program. As an employee that provided me benefits such as discounted private sessions, free group classes and a discounted rate for the Pilates teacher training program. I worked in the office for Pilates Inc the organization that ran the training program and sometimes for The Pilates Studio. My goal at the time was to become a Pilates Instructor, to stop waiting tables and to continue to dance. I had no idea the skills I was learning there at 22-24 years old would come valuable years later when I opened my own business. Read more>>
Brayden Robinson
When I found recovery in March of 2018, I had been a professional chef for 8 years. After I’d stabilized and felt ready for work, I tried out a chef job and realized quickly the lifestyle was not going to fit my newfound passion for recovery. I was terrified to try something new, but I made an emotional call to my brother, who was working as a peer support specialist at a local treatment center, and he helped me get an interview for a “client advocate” role there. I had no idea what the future looked like for me, but I knew that helping people in some way was what I wanted and needed to do. So, as I started that job, I started to look at the future and decided to go back to school at Weber State University for journalism. At the same time, I found a job closer to home and school as a Certified Peer Support Specialist and realized journalism wasn’t for me either, but that Social Work was where I’d best use my passion. That first peer support job served as the foundation for where I am in my career now and was one of my favorite jobs. I learned how to use my struggles with mental health and substance use and make them my biggest strengths and how to share that with others seeking the same. This new career path has been foundational to my recovery journey and is one of my biggest and best decisions. Read more>>
Melyna Blanco
As a Sports Industry Professional, I am familiar with both the administrative side of a sports facility, but also the customer-facing, service side. To understand how I got here we need to look back almost 10 years. I had reached the end of my competitive figure skating career and I was wrapping up my studies towards an International Business major at San Diego State University. The ice rink has always been my happy place and I knew that whatever I pursued in my career, I would always want to be involved in the community that gave so much to me. I decided that the next step for me was to explore how to apply my technical skills and newfound business knowledge towards becoming an Ice Skating Instructor. The rink I grew up skating at was only a couple streets away from the university. I knew some of the coaches and the Programs Director, so I started here. Something I learned over time was when you want an opportunity, you need to ask and let everyone know what you are looking for. You will be surprised how many people will help you and how many doors will be opened to you. I applied for a Junior Instructor position and began coaching part-time, assisting beginner classes. This was one of the best things I could have done and it brought me so much fulfillment that is it something I still do to this day. Read more>>
Becky Wickes
When I was right out of college, I was working full time as a social worker for a Child Placing Agency, and I decided I also wanted to be a CrossFit coach. I saw it as a way to build relationships and help foster community for people. As a young 23 year old ready to take on the whole world, I decided I was going to coach CrossFit without ever having DONE CrossFit. Once I actually did it, I was like “oh, nope, never mind, this is extremely difficult and I’ll never be able to coach!” But I stuck with it, because I wanted to do it for a work out even if I wasn’t going to lead the work out. However, after a year, I did end up getting my certification. It’s pretty common in CrossFit for the gym owner to approach members and ask them if they’d like to start coaching. This was not the case for me. I got my certification without the promise of a job and subsequently asked if I could start shadowing other coaches and train. The manager at the time agreed, but let me know there weren’t any classes available for me to take on; the gym was fully staffed. I just hung around, though, and after only about six weeks, one of the current coaches tore his ACL in a non-CrossFit related injury and voila! I had a job. I still thank that previous coach for his injury to this day. Read more>>
Brittany Gilmore
I started my career as an esthetician after completing school in 2015. Originally, my plan was to attend esthetician school to gain a deeper understanding of skincare and ingredients. I had always loved beauty products and the world of skincare, but my real niche was in writing and beauty recommendations. My goal was to combine my love for the two and start a blog or possibly get into editorial work—back when magazines were still a big thing. Read more>>
Sabrina Manriquez
I initially entered this field by complete coincidence. I was in undergrad and one of my friends was doing work with an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) company who provided Behavioral services to youth who had been diagnosed with a neurodevelopment disorder (Autism, Down Syndrome, etc.) I was already working on my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and decided that working in the field would be important as well as already having a deep love of working with kids in future jobs (coaching, babysitting). I absolutely fell in love with not only working with the kiddos while doing ABA but had a profound experience when seeing the vastly different family dynamics that each client’s home brought. Read more>>