Working in the high-tech industry in the 1990s was an exciting time.  I got to use some the earliest communication technologies (car phones, email, and laptops) before they were adopted by the average person.  I was also an entrepreneur for about 4 years, so I know a bit about starting a business.  I’m not a techie, and I’m not typically the first person to go out and buy the latest technology, but I’m fascinated by how technologies have become a part of people’s work lives.  I also found that being educated as a physical scientist left me a bit clueless about working in teams, hidden power dynamics, and the soft-skills that are necessary to be successful.  I thought that I could follow the rules and do great work, and that was enough for people to support and promote me.

I often said that my first few classes in organizational communication were like therapy: I realized just how clueless I was, and now I had theories that explained how people really behaved at work.  I was hooked on research by the end of my masters degree and I continued on to get a Ph.D.

The first class that I taught was not great; I made a lot of mistakes like not understanding the importance of consistency.  The second class I taught had 26 women and 1 young man in the class, and I was really concerned because all my industry experience was male dominated.  The experience was life changing and I’m still friends with several students who were in that class in the early 2000’s.  I realized I had found my calling.