The B4CG Founder Series – The Framework

Every good structure needs a framework—a skeleton that carries the shape, guides the purpose, and lays out the path for what comes next.
Part 2 of my story is that framework.

This is the chapter where I learned how to work with people, how to work under pressure, how businesses operate, and eventually… how to build my own.

But more importantly, this is the chapter where I discovered something that changed my entire life:

I love accounting, and I love supporting the trades.

Not because it was handed to me.
Not because it was easy.
But because every step, every role, every unexpected turn slowly revealed what I was meant to do.

By the time I graduated high school in 2000, I had already worked in retail, restaurants, and even a movie theater–restaurant hybrid where I got paid to do my homework between ticket sales and serving.

All of it taught me something important:

• Work ethic wasn’t optional.
• Showing up mattered.
• People notice when you care.

But none of it felt like the thing yet.
I was still searching.

So I enrolled at the Florida College of Natural Health and earned a degree in Massage Therapy, with an end goal of becoming a physical therapist.

It didn’t take long to realize:

I don’t like touching people.

A small but important detail for a massage therapist.

Which became my first big pivot.

I needed a job—and quickly.

At 24/7 Protection, a home security installation and monitoring company, I started as a receptionist.
Nothing glamorous.
Nothing fancy.

But then QuickBooks landed in my lap.

And everything changed.

As soon as I opened that program and started making sense of numbers, patterns, ledgers, and processes, something clicked in my brain that had never clicked before.

I was a closeted organizational nerd.
I tracked every dollar I had as a teenager—down to tip money in jars.
I color-coded my life before color coding was a thing.
I found comfort in structure, patterns, and clarity.

QuickBooks felt like home.

Every day, I dove deeper.
Every task made me want to learn more.
Every financial detail made me want to understand the whole story.

This is where the seed was planted:

I want to do this.
I can do this.
I’m good at this.

And I began taking accounting classes at a nearby community college to build the foundation I knew I would need.

But this was only the beginning of the framework.

Over the next several years, I found myself in roles that—at the time—felt disconnected.

But looking back now, they were building beams I would desperately need one day.

Tijuana Flats (Server + Trainer)

This job wasn’t about accounting.
It was about people.
It taught me:

• how to stay calm under pressure
• how to problem-solve in real time
• how to deliver consistent service
• how to communicate with all personality types

Skills I now use every single day with contractors, APs, bookkeepers, and team members.

Fifth Third Bank

This is where I learned the inner workings of commercial banking and client services.
My role included:

• supporting 150 commercial clients
• setting up treasury products
• assisting with loan closings
• coordinating documentation
• managing relationships with executives
• performing detailed administrative and financial tasks

It was high stakes.
Fast paced.
Demanding.
And I excelled.

But there were politics.
Hurtful rumors.
Moments of being underestimated and misunderstood.
A promotion granted and then taken away based on lies.

What I learned there?

I will never lead in a way that causes someone else to feel small.
I will never run a business that rewards toxicity.
And I will never participate in environments where competition replaces humanity.

Those lessons shaped the kind of mentor I am today.

This was one of the roles that could have become a long-term home.
I loved the people.
I admired the owner.
The work mattered.

I handled:

• accounting for multiple companies
• daily cashbooks
• reconciliations
• payables and journal entries
• HR onboarding
• benefits
• unemployment claims
• payroll support
  

Then one day, I discovered something that didn’t add up.
Literally.

The controller had shown me how to run financial reports while she was away on vacation.
What I saw told a different story.
One that didn’t align with what she had been presenting to the owner.

I talked to my husband.
I did the right thing.
I gathered supporting evidence.
And I told the truth.

It cost me my job.
I was walked out.

Some years later, she was caught during an internal audit, and arrested for grand theft.

That moment taught me something I still hold as a personal and professional standard:

Integrity comes with a cost—but losing integrity costs far more.

At CFE FCU, I thrived.
I took on work that challenged me creatively and technically.
I supported business loan applications, maintained files, trained branches, and even took courses for various internal roles.

I loved that job.

But then came the knee surgeries—
and the complications—
and ultimately the severe femoral nerve neuropathy.

This is where Part 3 will pick up emotionally.

From a career standpoint, here’s all you need to know:

I lost my job because I physically could not return.
Not because I lacked skill.
Not because I lacked dedication.
But because my body gave out.

This moment marked a turning point in my professional story.

But that chapter belongs fully in Part 3.

EvDevo was a commercial real estate investor, run by the owner of 24/7 Protection.
I stepped into a hybrid role:

• bookkeeping
• invoicing
• sales tracking
• month-end closings
• HR functions
• newsletters
• inventory tracking
• closing coordination
  

It was the first time I saw construction-adjacent accounting at scale.
The first time I understood the financial heartbeat of the trades.
The first time I realized:

I love this industry.
I understand how these people think.
I have the skill set to support them.

When the company closed after selling its final lots, it wasn’t a painful ending—
just a natural one.

And then something life-changing happened:

I found out I was pregnant.

Which created new priorities, new emotions, and a new chapter of life.

But the emotional depth of that journey belongs in Part 3.

During pregnancy, an old high school friend hired me for a temporary management role.
LRA became a bridge for me:

• flexible
• supportive
• meaningful
• necessary

It wasn’t glamorous.
But it gave me stability when everything else in my life felt unpredictable.

When motherhood arrived, I stepped away to stay home with my son.

This year wasn’t a professional chapter—
but it was essential to my professional identity.

I learned:

• patience
• prioritization
• resilience
• balance
• clarity
  

And when I was ready to return to the workforce, I returned differently.

More grounded.
More intentional.
More aware of what mattered.

This is where Grennan Fender enters the story.

Grennan Fender became the place where everything I had learned finally aligned.

I started as a bookkeeper supporting a subcontractor.
Then trained their internal team so well that my bookkeeping role was no longer needed.

The partners didn’t let me go—
they promoted me to Office Manager.

Here I learned:

• leadership
• HR processes
• firm operations
• budgeting and forecasting
• staff management
• administrative oversight
• professional confidence
  

This was the role that told me:

You are capable of more.
You are ready.
You can build something of your own.

And in May 2015—

I walked out of Grennan Fender and launched my firm, EOB/B4C.

This is where Part 3 hands off into Part 4.
But before we go there, Part 3 needs space to tell the hardest part of your story.