As a 10-year old child, Faith would sit at a roll-top desk and play with her “important papers.” She thinks that was an indication of her inherent interest in business matters. Playing violin was also a developing passion, and, as a senior in high school, she participated in four orchestras. Faith won a Presidential Scholarship to attend Wheaton Conservatory of Music, so naturally she assumed her career would involve the violin. Unfortunately, a serious problem with tendonitis forced her out of the music program after only one semester. 

    About that time Faith attended a Christian camp where she met her future husband. For the next decade and more she was a stay-at-home mom, raising a family of six children and caring for her home. This role was modeled for her growing up, and she followed in her mother’s footsteps. However, when the marriage faltered and divorce became a reality, Faith began to question what she should do during this huge transition. She started thinking about college and became involved in MVAC’s FAIM program which helped her invest in herself and her family’s future by providing matching funds for college.

     MVAC also referred Faith to Life-Work Planning Center (LWPC) and eventually she enrolled, participating in a ten-week series on personal growth and career development. She was impressed with a concept in the first workshop on transitions. Describing the experience she says, “It felt as though all the years of trying to pull back the cobwebs in a dimly lit room ended in one sentence.” That sentence was – “You can’t have a beginning without an ending.” With those words she began to embrace all the new beginnings she knew would be coming to her. Workshops on stress management, decision making, interests, skills, and strengths, as well as the Myers Briggs Personality Inventory, contributed to a growing sense of herself and her ability to create a life of satisfaction and success.  Listening to guest speaker Christine Kile share her 500-mile Camino pilgrimage was also a memorable workshop. This talk confirmed for Faith that she was the only one who could make the decision about how to live her life.

     In a career development workshop Faith completed the Career Assessment Inventory, the results of which confirmed her interest in “enterprising” fields, such as business and sales. As a displaced homemaker, Faith    

was referred by LWPC staff to the Dislocated Worker Program. As a part of that program, she received funds to complete her education, eventually graduating in May 2008 with an Associate of Applied Science in Marketing Management degree. Without this financial assistance, Faith would never have completed her education as she knew debt obligations would be difficult to repay with so many children to support.

     After graduation, Faith found a job that she liked but a car accident and her youngest son’s health required her to give it up.  Without the income she’d been receiving, she had to look for different housing. While online, she discovered the website of a fine quality builder, and decided that she would like to work for just such a company. Coincidentally, they had been starting to think of adding a marketing position. At this time, Faith is a contract marketer for them, and the flexibility of scheduling allows her to also meet her family obligations more easily. The job satisfies both her interest in fine quality building as well as her driving entrepreneurial spirit. Faith’s dream is to develop a multi-generational housing project as a part of her belief in building community and bridging the gap between generations.

     Faith has continued her personal/professional growth by attending LWPC’s networking events, serving as a guest speaker at the Winter Networking Event, becoming a member of BNI, and continuing to learn and practice networking and public speaking skills.

- Marlene Lange, Peer Counselor

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