When I was around 10 years old, I remember being in the middle of my competitive dancing season, while also playing Fall and Spring soccer, along with being a committed Girl Scout and wanting to quit.  I vividly remember telling my mother this and that it was too hard, not as much fun anymore, the other girls were mean and I had too many other things I wanted to do. The words my mother spoke next have stuck with me, 16 years later. She said “You can’t quit. You made a promise to your team that you will be there and contribute no matter how hard it gets. At the end of the season, we can re-evaluate, and if you still feel the same way, we don’t have to sign up for the next year”. Well, needless to say, each season end would come and I always signed up again,  and funny enough, I ended up going to school in NYC for it! I thank my mom for this advice every day because this is the advice that gets me through tough times when it would be easier to quit, but I stick it out and end up discovering something new about myself in the process. They say diamonds form under pressure, and throughout my life so far, I believe that to be a true statement, because, through every hard time when I took on too many projects or jumped for a dream others said were too high, I ended up surprising myself the most. 

 

     Hi, My name is Kristen Perry. I am 26 years old and I have lived for the majority of my life in Charlotte, NC but I also lived in NYC for 5 years. Growing up, I was placed in every sport and extracurricular activity my parents could sign me up for like Girl Scouts, competitive dance, soccer, Latin club, debate team, youth group, theatre, and so much more. Needless to say, when I announced that I wanted to move to NYC at 18 and go to school for Musical Theatre, my parents were a little shocked that out of all the activities, I chose this one to pursue. Growing up I had no idea what I wanted to do. I experimented with wanting to be a lawyer, a doctor, a vet, a teacher, but while I was in high school I found a passion for dancing, singing, and acting and found out that I could be all of the above jobs by being an actor! When I graduated high school, I moved to NYC and attended a trade school known as the American Musical and Dramatic Academy for two years. I struggled with the fact that I went the “non-conventional” route, but knew I could not quit on my dreams, and owed it to myself to see it through. 

 

     As I continued living in NYC, after schooling,  I explored and learned a lot about myself and found what I truly wanted to do. I found that I did not want to perform on Broadway anymore but that I had a passion for helping people so I began working in the retail industry as a part-time sales associate for Under Armour and eventually went on to run the flagship store in Soho where I managed 120 associates, recruited, hired and trained new associates and developed the community ties through events and speaking engagements. I loved working for Under Armour and the fitness world and I discovered my love for fitness and my love for working in marketing and communications. I decided to move back to Charlotte, NC to continue my education and attended my first semester at SPCC where I took 3 classes in person and worked a part-time job at a cycling studio. As luck would have it, I ended up getting recruited by an HR manager at Bank of America in one of these cycling classes, and my plan was completely thrown out the window (or at least for a brief moment). I started back up from the ground again, working as an executive assistant to 3 HR executives, in which I was promoted within 8 months to a recruiter for Charlotte Operation roles and then again, promoted to a Talent Acquisition Consultant where I currently run the staffing operations and forecasting, along with recruiting and hiring for Small Business across the Northeast, New England, and Mid-Atlantic a.k.a the whole east coast. I ended up putting the degree at SPCC on the back burner but found during quarantine that I still had the passion and desire to not quit and continue on the pursuit of my bachelor’s degree. 

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     While it has been a long and hard road, balancing a demanding corporate job, extracurricular activities, and going back to school, it has all taught me that it truly doesn’t matter how old you are, you are still never too old to learn or try new things. While it can be daunting to see that it has been almost 4 years and my journey to my degree is still not complete, it reaffirms that my commitment to not give up on myself and my perseverance is a lot stronger than how some may view my journey. I love my job and the fact that I get to help people daily and make improvements across the country is rewarding,  but it’s not where I finish. My goal is to transfer to UNCC next year and pursue my bachelor’s degree in communications and continue the work I am doing for Bank of America on a bigger scale by being a part of our process improvement and project management teams for delivering initiatives within Small Businesses. I have had the opportunity to help hire and staff the consultants and bankers who help our small businesses and now I want to be a part of the team that directly helps and impacts them. I will graduate from SPCC with my associates in the Fall of 2022, after getting married that summer, and continue on my path to UNCC! When I am not at school, working full time, or adulting, I am either at the dog park with my fiance and our 1-year-old miniature Australian Shepherd Husky or at the CrossFit gym where I challenge my body after a full day of working the mind! “The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn't matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.”― Barbara Hall