What I Do My official title is Principal Solutions Architect. I am a Pre-Sales Engineer for Verizon Partner Solutions and work with customers to discover their networking needs and help to determine what services best fit those needs.
Why Engineering? I enjoy getting to know my customers and their networks and appreciate the satisfaction of helping to solve issues, problems and requirements.
School Days University of Tennessee, Bachelor of Business AdministrationUniversity of Tennessee, Bachelor of Business Administration
My Day At Work Meeting with customers, working with Operations to determine the best design for a customer solution, coordinating with various groups to ensure the solution is correctly designed and provisioned. I also demonstrate Network Security tools that provide IT professionals a visual into their network and assist in the detection of internet threats.
Proud Moments Cisco CCDA and MEF 2.0 Certifications! These are telecom industry certifications and there are few women included in the ranks of the certified, particularly the MEF certification.
Challenges When I started my telecom career I was always the youngest person in the room, the only person with no military background, the least amount of time with the company, and the ONLY female. It always took everyone a few minutes to realize I knew my business but when they did, my being female became an asset.
My Family I come from a large family of aunts, uncles and cousins and I currently have one pet, a tuxedo cat named Ed Higgins.
Dreams and Goals Short term goal is to continue to flourish and grow in my current position at Verizon. My long term goal, in 10 years, is to retire and enjoy my free time.
Inspiration My Pop ...he always expected me to excel and never questioned my ability to do anything I wanted in life, both personally and in my chosen career. Nothing was considered 'only for boys' or 'only for girls'. I was raised to know I could do anything I decided I wanted to pursue. Thanks, Pop!
Hobbies My hobbies include SCUBA, camping and reading. I host 3 book clubs including a Science Fiction book club and love discovering new authors and subjects. My all time favorite book is Mary Doria Russell's 'Children of God', a Sci-Fi novel about a group of scientists and ENGINEERS who travel to a distant planet after an intelligent life signal from outer space is captured by the Arecibo Observatory.