Age: 38
Occupation: Communications Director, Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency
What’s the best advice you ever received?
Nobody likes to be sold, but everyone loves to buy.
What do you consider your greatest professional accomplishments?
Helping decrease the amount of garbage being landfilled in Linn County while increasing recycling as the population increases.
What would most people be surprised to learn about you?
I sing a lot all day, despite being off-key and having a terrible voice.
What do you know now that you wish you had known earlier in your career?
Building up your 401K in your 20s isn’t everything; take more career risks before you have a family relying on you.
How do you ensure a balance between work and your personal life?
I remind myself my wife and kids do not care about tonnages or communications strategies, put down my phone and just enjoy being home with them.
What’s something people should know about your generation in the workplace?
We are great buffers for dealing with millennials, young enough to adapt to emerging technologies and mindsets, old enough to relate to baby boomers who aren’t.
If you had $1 million to give, what causes would you support?
Alzheimer’s Association, National Breast Cancer Foundation and the Iowa Epilepsy Foundation.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Psychologist.
What is the biggest issue facing the Corridor?
Attracting businesses that offer career opportunities that will keep young professionals in the community.
What do you want to accomplish by the time you are 50?
I would like to have a novel written.
Who are your local mentors?
Bill and Brenda Horaney, my parents; April Samp, news director, WOI-TV; and Karmin McShane, executive director, Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency.
