Experience ...
In my 39 years of life, I haven't known many times when I haven't worked in some way. So far I've been an umpire, soccer referee, newspaper and phonebook delivery person, quality assurance inspector, receptionist, food and steel manufacturing accountant university facilities distribution student co-manager (even did some graphic design work at an embroidery shop), assistant controller (for 5 years), digital sales manager (8+ years), and vehicle photographer. If there were two principles I learned growing up they were: 1) Always be working, 2) Always be learning.
Before and during my pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in Accounting, I worked in manufacturing accounting /operations part-time off-and-on (what happens when you follow your father's footsteps into accounting). Learned about the basics by being a receptionist, shipment receiver, billing clerk, accounts payable clerk, and eventually, an accounting assistant, helping with general ledger entries, bank reconciliations, cash flow statements, sales and use tax compliance, accounting process documentation, etc. Also helped create databases to streamline end-of-month and end-of-year inventory counts, sales quotes (converting manual quoting to database searches based on parts needed), and even worked on making collection calls to encourage customers to remember their bills and help them make progress.
Shortly after graduating with an MBA, I started as a team member at Jim Barkley Toyota (Asheville, NC) in the accounting department as a manager [12+ person team] (September 2012). That initial role grew to touch areas like IT, marketing, e-commerce, purchasing, in-house warranty administration, and whatever else was needed in order to add value. Still at the same location nearly 5 years after a change in ownership but am now part of the Anderson Automotive Group, switching over to the following in October of 2017: sales coaching, auditing variable operations processes, CRM management, vehicle photography, and vehicle pricing - will have been there a combined 13 years in September 2025. Am always looking for better processes, creative ideas, cost savings, and methods of bolstering our brand. Most recently, I developed content for one store’s social media channels and gained over 1M views in the first year while simultaneously developing a playbook our sister stores could use.
Did a cool side gig consulting on the launch of www.BarkleysMill.com. Enjoyed working with the team there on their initial web and packing copy, starting their initial social media and search engine advertising, and figuring out their initial e-commerce process setup (Shopify and Avalara are awesome tools and can be connected right into Quickbooks). Check it out. They've since added an awesome PR firm and found specialists for graphic design. Best grits on the market! Their goal is to make their family farm in Weaverville, NC a sustainable business for the future that adds jobs to the community while creating valuable products and services. Not every accountant or salesperson can say they were able to help start a foodie brand! I mean, how many accountants (not that I’m an ordinary one) can say they helped launch a foodie brand?
