During the COVID-19 pandemic, when I put my career on hold to focus on my children, I had my IKIGAI moment. I saw clearly the common threads that run through all of my creative and professional endeavors up to that point, as well as the direction these threads are leading me.
For lack of a better term, I am a Dynamic Systems Manager.
That is to say, I take on systems at any organizational level – project management, individual role, departmental, company, etc. – and map, organize, optimize, and document these systems for logic, efficiency, and clarity.
The following employment history reflects my engagement of this work in progressively larger and more complex systems.
To collect, organize, normalize, warehouse, and manage all relevant identifying data on all wind turbine and solar panel components required to maintain our vast and varied fleet, and to manage this dataset across multiple internal and external databases.
Initially hired as a contractor to build a unique and valuable dataset for the company, I spent months climbing around wind turbines and warehouses across the country with a camera and a notepad, taking pictures of and gathering data from the thousands of wind turbine and solar panel component required to maintain our fleet.
Upon completion of this work, I was hired on as the Data Warehouse Manager, where I integrated and managed this dataset in various local and global databases...
To manage, analyze, and report on all data available from our client's Amazon Vendor Central accounts, as well as relevant external data and content – with an emphasis on identifying metrics that indicate the status, health, and position of our brands and their products, as well as trends and patters that could be leveraged into opportunities.
Skarberg Sales & Marketing, a family-owned independent manufacturer's sales rep agency based here in SW Washington, specializes in representing established consumer electronic brands such as Sony, GE, PNY, and Marshall Speakers throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Over the decade prior to my hiring, Amazon evolved from a minor account to the agency's primary focus – reflecting the platform's significant growth in the consumer electronics market...
To fully own and drive our clients' Amazon business with white-glove service, aligning with contractual obligations and company values, while continuously acquiring and applying the knowledge necessary to optimize strategy, operations, product development, pricing, digital content, advertising, and reporting.
Cartograph offers fully outsourced, white-glove brand management services for their brand clients’ Amazon business.
As Cartograph's strategy is to fully train and empower each and every Brand Manager in all aspects of the business, rather than creating specialized teams for the various facet, my responsibility as Brand Manager was to understand, optimize, execute, and communicate every aspect of my client's Amazon account - soup to nuts...
In March 2020, I was just hitting my stride as a Brand Manger at Cartograph and our entire team was in California preparing to attend the Natural Products Expo West convention when, less than 24- hours before the show was set to begin, it postponed indefinitely amid growing concerns about the COVID-19 virus. Two weeks later, the world shut down and my then 1st and 3d grade children at home with us.
There is a lot to say about this period, but the crux of the calculus was that both my wife and I were working demanding jobs and we were deeply concerned about the negative effects our kids were incurring from both the ridiculous stresses of remote learning (as they were then in 1st and 3d grades, and had never used a computer) and the general atmosphere of fear, uncertainty, isolation, and political bickering.
Having looked at our options and variables involved, and having played an exhaustive game of What If, we decided the best option for our family was for me to briefly put my career on hold and focus on supporting our family, until such time as the world goes back to normal.
To map, organize, optimize, and manage our information systems - both the static repository in our Notion knowledge base, as well as the dynamic information flow from various channels.
In 2021, Cartograph was recognized as one of the fastest-growing companies in the country, per the Inc. 5000 list, and it was happily taking on the challenges of scaling.
Having had formative insights about my career and TKTK, I had taken on role of Knowledge Manger TKTK.
My immediate task in this rapidly expanding environment was to quickly understand, organize, optimize, and scale their information systems – specifically to map, organize, and optimize their static knowledge base in Notion, while simultaneously creating and implementing processes for capturing, organizing, integrating, and disseminating new information...
Having been anxious to return to work as schools were slowly transitioning back to in-person instruction, I was thrilled to be rehired by Cartograph as their Knowledge manager - a role that perfectly fit with my new clarity in career direction, in a great company that was ethical, intelligent, and dynamic.
However, during my tenure as Knowledge Manager at Cartograph, it became progressively more clear to me everyday that both the pre-pandemic "Normal" wasn't as normal as I thought, and that the post-pandemic world was trending positive.
Furthermore, despite all of the difficulties of that period, being home supporting our family full-time produced a quality of life that we were missing.
Again, with my kids TKTK in mind, I decided to step away from my career for a longer hiatus, until we felt that our kids were both logistically and developmentally back on the right track.
Co-Founder
Bivouac Racing is a Portland-area trail running events company I co-founded in 2019.
We established Bivouac Racing after inheriting a small but established series of four trail races in Oregon: Race to the Cape at Cape Lookout, Silver Falls Trail Challenge, Stub Stewart Trail Challenge, and Battle to the Pacific in Fort Stevens State Park.
Today, in addition this trail series, Bivouac Racing also puts on the Hellz Bellz Ultra 50-mile endurance race and the Crown Stub 100.
This venture allowed me to sate my entrepreneurial muse, collaborate and co-create with a team possessing symbiotic interests and skill sets, and apply my creativity to event development, website design, branding, and merchandise production.
Co-Founder
In 2006, leveraging my journalism studies and freelance experience, I co-founded The Vancouver Voice , an alternative newspaper in Vancouver, Washington.
This venture aimed to fill the void left by the city's previous alternative publication, The Vanguard, and foster a community among local businesses, artists, and artisans - whom I consider the bedrock of culture and quality of life in SW Washington.
It provided me with a platform to write freely, hone my photography skills, and engage deeply and regularly with this community.
