I had always been interested in science my entire life, but it wasn’t until I found genetics in college that I found my passion. After college, I was accepted to graduate school at the University of Florida in one of the early pioneering labs in Gene Therapy research. It was a powerful foundation and due to working on a dual-degree, I spent 3 wonderful years in the laboratory.
I had a fortuitous moment in Grad school I’ll never forget. I was struggling in my attempts to clone a specific construct (no cells were growing). At the time, everything was fairly DIY, including the constructs and cells. Luckily, at that time, a vendor hosted a pizza party in my building. After gorging myself on pizza, I told her about my problems. She told me about a commercial cell line she offered and I didn’t hesitate to make the purchase. And guess what, my transformed cells grew! I was super thankful and it saved me months of struggling. I learned what a powerful resource they could be.
As my time was winding down in the lab, I started to consider my career options. I felt that academia was limited in scope and I wanted to try out more of the commercial side of the business. So, I took an opportunity to go to a large trade show in Boston, but instead of attending the talks, I put on my suit and went straight to the exhibition hall. There I asked the vendors questions and looked for job opportunities.
One vendor said to me, “Hey, you’ve got some balls to just walk around and try to get hired. Have you ever thought of doing sales?” I said, “Not really, but sure, why not?” By the time I left the conference I had been setup by a recruiter and had booked 3 different interviews.
My first job was Inside sales selling mostly reagents at what was then called Amersham Pharmacia. I was truly amazed at the amount of tools and solutions. I kept wishing that I knew about all these solutions while I was in grad school. The days/hours/weeks I would have saved!
This sparked my “Why” in my career. I’ve been on a mission to bring the best tools to the right people for 20+ years. And regardless of the role, I’ve held that mission closest to my heart.