Pivot delivers action. A shift in perspective. Pivoting means, I embrace new ideas, take risk, and am willing to explore opportunities that I might have never considered before. This has been my mindset for as long as I remember. I use this strategy as I guide students towards their college choices and careers. Students no longer have to choose a singular career path; they can have many. I also tell them that the days of forever jobs are pretty much over. My career path has been creative and varied: a true testament to a pivot mindset.
Here Is My Story:
About The Farmers:
My maiden name was Farmer. My dad was a fisherman, so my mom used to joke that we were the fishing farmers.
Neither one of my parents attended a four-year college. My father came from an educated family, but like many young men of his generation, he received an accelerated high school graduation and went off to war in 1943. Returning, he began a career he loved as a fishing captain, which spanned the next 45 years and every day of my childhood. My mother, despite not attending college, was well-read and a great writer. She was the driving force in our family and supported us the best way she knew how. She was not a helicopter mom by any means, but there was never a doubt that my siblings and I would go to college, as my mom made it clear that education correlated with a professional career and long-term success.
I attended a large public high school in New Jersey. I loved school but certainly wasn’t one of the popular kids; instead, I was considered bookish and nerdy. Most of my high school friends were smart, nerdy boys who influenced my early exposure to STEM subjects.
My College and Choice of Major:
Practicality and finances drove my college decision: with all three siblings overlapping college at the same time, tuition cost was a constant dinner table topic. My parents felt the same stressors that you all feel and constantly asked: Where will my darling daughter go to college that will set her up for a good paying job when she gets out? Will she have to move far away? And, how will we ever pay for it?
I barely worked with my high school counselor, and there was no discussion about STEM education versus liberal arts, or critical thinking skills versus vocational training. I was never offered choices that were a good fit; fit was never part of the discussion.
I wonder if fit was even a thing back then?
I wanted an escape from what was becoming a stifling, limited, small-town environment, and I thought I could 
achieve this most quickly by following a linear path to a degree that would 100% guarantee a professional job. (Little did I know then, that I was headed for anything but a linear path.) The service academies had just opened their doors to women two years prior. Focusing on academies associated with the sea (my father’s seagoing career was supportive of this narrative), with my mother’s guidance (read: insistence), I zeroed in on a STEM major: Naval Architecture – a rigorous yet artistic engineering pursuit. SUNY Maritime College had one of the best Naval Architecture programs amongst the service schools and it was less than two hours a
way. That is where I went, no questions asked.
Pivot after Pivot
As I followed my husband around the globe as a trailing spouse with two young children in tow, I realized that my choices began to follow a pattern. Identify a niche interest, focus and learn, develop expertise by doing a deep dive, prepare for and seek out ways to make a disruptive change in the existing model; deliver results, move to a new niche. Repeat. I call this the pivot.
Shipbuilder
Straight out of college, I cut my teeth at Newport News Shipbuilding. After five years of designing aircraft carriers and submarines for major defense contractors, I realized I was more suited to entrepreneurial pursuits. With some night school courses in interior design under my belt, I started a business focused on ship interior design. Building this business, dealing with hard-nosed shipping company executives and hard-headed shipbuilders, I learned as much about managing people and relationships as I did about construction and production, setting me up for my next pivot
The Happiest Place on Earth
After successfully building and selling my ship interior design business, I joined The Walt Disney Company. I was a non-traditional hire for Disney, and they took a chance on me. Coming in to manage a large creative division with an unfamiliar college degree and some remotely tangential experience contributed to upper management’s skepticism; I was told I had to prove myself in three months. I did and stayed. Loving every minute. Disney taught me to listen, evaluate risk, seek and solicit advice from diverse thinkers, and above all else value creativity. It was through this observation and participation that I began to understand the value of a liberal arts education and the necessary relationship between the arts and STEM topics.
Russia and School Uniform Business
Disney was my dream job until my husband came home one day and announced we were moving to Moscow, Russia. That was one huge pivot! While there, I combined my experience at Disney with my entrepreneurial spirit, starting a school uniform business – a Russian company that designed, manufactured, and distributed in Russia – one of the most difficult business challenges I ever faced. Ironically it was in Russia that I became involved in education, student advocacy, and guiding parents and students.
Nestle Brand Manager
After finishing up with the school uniform business, I opened myself up to a new pivot. This opportunity presented itself while sitting at the Bolshoi Ballet with the President of Nestle Russia. During intermission, I leaned over to ask: Why, as an expat, I had to bring my own chocolate chip morsels back in my suitcase for baking chocolate chip cookies. He leaned back at me and asked: What is a chocolate chip cookie? Ready or not, Russia was about to be introduced to the chocolate chip cookie. I was asked to come in and lead a Nestle team to introduce chocolate chip cookies to the Russian market – the whole kit and caboodle – packaging, brand marketing, retail space, recipe testing, and holding focus groups and tasting sessions.
A super fun project and boy did I eat a lot of cookies that year!
Back to the US
We finally moved back to the states after almost 10 years. (I deserve a medal, don’t you think?) About this time my son was ready for high school, so I immersed myself in adjusting back to life in the US and becoming a high school mom. I designed costumes for all the high school musicals and learned how to make a mean 7-layer dip. It was good to be home!
But since I can’t seem to sit still, I pivoted once more.
Educational Consultant
About ten years ago, I founded AdmissionSmarts. Just like many of you, I have navigated this process. My own two children are now in their late twenties, grown and flown, employed and supporting themselves in New York City. I can’t tell you what a great feeling that is…
Today, I bundle these experiences, working my left and right brain synergies, and help my students create their own stories – stories that allow them to discover interests, carve out a plan, take risks, think globally, and stand out. Leaning on
my own crazy journey of pivots helps me relate to parents and students and guide them as they navigate this complicated process. By breaking down the process into pieces, much like my various career choices, we can reduce the stress and present each piece in a cogent and even enjoyable way.
I trust my students. I encourage them, and I empower them; this process is theirs to own. While on this journey, I become their cheerleader, advocate, and trusted advisor.
I focus on being relevant, speaking a language my students understand, and knowing a lot about tons of random subjects from Dr. Who to Kierkegaard. While I focus on fit, I also concentrate on relevance – what really matters to them. I zero in on their growth mindsets, optimism, grit, and mindfulness as it relates to their outer world. Most importantly, I listen, inquire, and observe, as I come to understand your student’s college opportunities.