Okay, so my story might be a little different than you’d read about other bloggers here at b5media, but I assure you, it’s something I’m quite proud to call my own.
I began life knowing I was destined to work with animals. I was the kid who always brought home the baby birds with the broken wings, chopped up earthworms for their food, and snuck into my dad’s EMT bag for gauze and tape to work my healing magic. However as I got older, and after losing a few pets of my own, I realized that being a vet wasn’t exactly the direction I could manage to go in, so I opted for Zoology and Animal Husbandry. Yes folks, I’m a certified zookeeper who once did a belly flop onto a 14-foot alligator to “capture” it after it had escaped it’s enclosure. Life was good. On track. I was happy.
My world crashed around me shortly after September 11th. I had been working full-time in Florida at a zoo, and a second full-time job as senior site monitor for this nifty site you (or your kids) might know as NeoPets. In one fell swoop I was told that I wouldn’t be getting my raise and they weren’t sure about job security at the zoo (due to tourism shooting down over 33% in 3 weeks time), and Neopets told me I needed to either move out to California and work at HQ or they’d have to let me go (the attack on the US prompted the company to do what they had to do in order to ensure the site would be maintained at all times, in the event of another attack). Well, I couldn’t afford any option I could think of other than to move back home.
I’d worked several places - as a 911 dispatcher, a Curves fitness trainer, a biotechnology lab tech, an assistant manager of a retail store… all a bunch of double full-time work that had zero to do with me or my interests (well, the dispatcher job was great I must say - since I’ve also been a member of a volunteer fire department practically since birth). Then one day I found an ad online seeking someone who had some background in web design and was willing to be trained in SEO and Internet Marketing. Since I’d been fussing around with web design since the mid 90’s, and working online for about 2 years at the time, I interviewed and loved the atmosphere - Where else would I get a job that had a ping pong table, or that would play Scattergories with me AS PART OF the interview? So that’s where my little web design hobby blossomed into a career I never would’ve thought had the potential to become a passion.
Here’s the rub - while I was working on developing a career in SEM, I was also doing some plus-size modeling and acting work. I’ve since been in several hair shows for Redken, won a national magazine model search competition, and have parts in two movies that should be coming out this year (IMDb profile) . That whole “Jane of All Trades” thing kind of really does apply to me I suppose!
I opened my own agency in October 2005 called Anubis Marketing and currently blog there as well as at my personal plus-size modeling and weight loss site - LadyDeLaLuna. I have a few other projects in the works (pretty much at all times!) as well. At b5media, I’ll be blogging at Crooner Culture - yet another passion of mine, the music and culture behind some of the greatest crooners of all time - Think The Rat Pack and Bobby Darin right up through Harry Connick, Jr. and Michael Buble. It’s about the music, the fashion, and that “classic” feel behind the music.
I’m honored and thrilled to be a part of b5media! I’ve had the chance to meet some real ROCKSTARS in the group over the past year or so, and I look forward to being a part of this fantastic family!
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