At about the same time John Mayer released his thought provoking hit single, “Waiting on the World to Change” in 2006, Paul Woods, an inventor and scientist with a vision and a patent, left early retirement to partner with Ed Legere, a former biotech CEO and gather a handful of scientists, biotech experts and inventors to form a small startup in South Florida called Algenol. The group began to develop an idea that had potential to change the world.
Meanwhile, I had just started my first “real” business, cmp creative, a boutique branding agency in downtown Gainesville, Florida. I was also awarded a graduate assistant-ship from the University of Florida (UF) to teach graphic design while studying for my PhD in mass communications. I was well on my way to so-called success. I had also been blissfully married for two years, and my husband was also pursuing his passion for music as a recording engineer the top studio in town. Life made sense.
Then one day, it didn’t.
My world changed the instant I saw the two pink lines. I quickly realized I’d have to put my educational pursuits on hold in order to focus on keeping my business in the black and growing a new life that we had not planned for at all.
As my priorities shifted, I moved my business from my Downtown Gainesville office to my home and prepared to be a mom for the first time.
[9 years later, my girls pose by the door of my first office with cmp creative, inc. in Gainesville, Florida]
I soon developed this primal need to seek a real sense of purpose in my life’s work. After reading the book, “Hot, Flat & Crowded” by Thomas Friedman, I became fascinated with energy production and global climate change. I realized how critical energy is, not only to every technological innovation, but to our daily lives. And, most of the time, we don’t even think about it. We take for granted that we can fill our vehicles up at the gas stations and our lights flick on every morning at our homes with no thought or effort on our part what so ever.
The only time we think about energy is when we don’t have it.
I knew if I wanted to work on solving problems that are truly important to every human being on the planet, I had to work in the energy industry. But, with no prior experience or scientific training, I wasn’t quite sure how to get involved.
I am a true believer that everything happens for a reason.
When I was recruited to join Gartner in 2009, the opportunity brought me and my family to Southwest Florida. At Gartner, I was immersed in the world of information technology, which also affects every business,non-profit and government in the world to some degree. I enjoyed being the conduit to help senior IT leaders develop technology strategy, solve problems and make decisions that affected the world’s leading businesses. Through this experience, I became enamored with the idea of working for an innovative, clean tech startup in the alternative energy space.
When I left Gartner in 2012, I stumbled across Algenol and immediately reached out to find opportunities to work with the company. At that time, with the focus on research and development, there weren’t any positions that fit my skills and experience. Not to mention the fact that I had no prior experience in alternative energy, oil and gas, photosynthesis, farming, algae or any real science driven startups.
The experience and relationships I developed at Gartner led me instead to an opportunity to immerse myself back in the IT and Information Security community at another innovative startup called Wisegate. While I loved my time at Wisegate working with IT and information security thought leaders, I still had that burning desire to leave a legacy of making the world a better place for my daughters and the next generation of leaders. In other words, I couldn’t just keep waiting on the world to change.
Persistence is everything.
So, I continued to follow Algenol in the news. When they hired a VP of Business Development, I reached out on LinkedIn to introduce myself in 2014. I asked him for coffee and he offered an introduction to his team. I followed up, went on a tour of the facility and became an even bigger fan as I learned that their patented algae and technology had the potential to not only create a clean, renewable fuel source for the four most important fuels (ethanol, gasoline, bio diesel and jet fuel), but at the same time reduce CO2 emissions from power plants by using them as a feedstock to the algae, and (with additional investment and processing), even convert saltwater to freshwater in the process.
This exciting technology startup had grown from an inspired idea from a college student in 1984 to a humble beginning in a Southwest Florida living room in 2006 to almost 150 full-time employees in 3 global offices, hailing from 14 nations around the world.
How I Landed My Dream Job
When a position finally opened up for a PR and Communications Manager, I knew I had to raise my hand. Even though I loved working in the information security field and had just been asked to assume a Board position Vice President of the ISSA in Tampa, and had accepted a part time adjunct role at Florida Gulf Coast University, I felt that had to take a risk and follow my passion to leave a legacy for my daughters.
I applied to the position at 2am when my husband sent me the alert. I got call back and had 48 hours (with my full time work schedule it gave me about 6 hours total) to submit a video that displayed my creativity and why I wanted the job. I had to work fast to make an interview video while also traveling to events for my full time job [see below] to show my passion for the mission. I interviewed with the hiring director and the CEO. I thought I nailed the interview. I sent handwritten follow up notes and felt pretty confident.
And Guess What?
I didn’t get the job.
The candidate they did hire had a 24 year career in journalism and was an TV anchor for the local CBS evening news. With their need for immediate exposure to attract additional investors and partners, there was no doubt she had a unique media experience and relationships that I couldn’t claim.
Instead of wallowing in my sorrow or feeling rejected, I put on my entrepreneurial problem solving hat and offered to consult with the company to help them build a new website. I took initiative, and offered a solution to complement the strengths of the candidate they did hire.
After a short time working with the team, I was hired on full time to develop the PR, communications and branding strategy for the company as it was on the brink of commercialization. I am proud to say I finally had the opportunity to join the mission and dive head first into learning all I could about the industry, science, technology and the people at Algenol.
How I Lost It:
Unfortunately, before the ink was dry on my business cards, I was laid off six short weeks into my role. The harsh reality is that the economic challenges facing this bleeding edge, pre-revenue startup trying to commercialize a capital intensive alternative fuel technology in a time period of sub $50 a barrel oil forced the board to make tough decisions, including deep budget cuts, reduction of staff, and elimination of their public facing profile (along with a hold on my website project and marketing strategy). The bottom line is that the company had to spend every dollar they had to get the technology ready for deployment.
While it was only a short time, I am grateful for the opportunity to immerse myself in the science, technology, and engineering inventiveness that is the lifeblood of the company. We had some big wins in my short time there, including two press releases that garnered TV, Print and Online exposure with an advertising equivalent value (AVE) of over $3M. Most importantly, I built new relationships that I will carry into the future.
I am proud to have had the opportunity to work with such a diverse, multi-national and global team of smart, talented and inspired people with a truly world changing mission.
All things happen for a reason.
If you take one thing away from my story, I hope it is that no matter what your background or experience, if you are focused, persistent and tenacious, you can land your dream job, no matter what industry it’s in.
If you take two things away, I hope the second is that no matter what happens that is out of your control, you have the power to make the best of any situation and move forward to even bigger opportunities if you keep a positive mindset.
Exciting things will be coming for me. I am not sure what they will be just yet, but my goal for now is to inspire as many people as I can to pursue their passions and keep dreaming…
…even when things don’t go as expected.
While my world changing opportunity may have ended abruptly, it did give me the opportunity to meet some amazing people, dive head first into the alternative energy industry, and learn about the magnitude of the challenges facing our world with Climate Change.
It also gave me a little more time to help my husband launch his dream business building beautiful wood guitar amplifiers and bluetooth music players (Online store coming soon – feel free to sign up for the launch) or Follow us on Twitter.
Even more importantly, I get to spend more with my family this holiday season while I work to find my next opportunity to make a difference and stop waiting on the world to change.
What’s your dream job?
How can you make a positive dent in the global goals to make the world a better place?
I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And, if you know of any world changing startups that could use a good problem solver, growth hacker, marketing leader and insatiable learner, please send them my way!