Her Story
About Billie
I work two part-time jobs as Executive Director for the Central New Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, a position I took over in March, and as Operations and Marketing Manager for Cottage Place on Squam Lake in Holderness, New Hampshire. I'm also working on a little project of my own, getting a small side business up and running - my trade name was just approved with the state, which is really exciting. It's a little fun creative studio side project where I'm getting back into photography, event support, and restoring furniture, all of the creative side of me that I missed for such a long time. Previously, I was in early supports and services as an educator for three years. Prior to that, I was a district executive for the Boy Scouts of America, and before that I was a behavioral aide, parent aide working with families with the Department of Family and Child Service involvement. When I worked in social work, I kind of burnt out, and COVID hit, and it was kind of the perfect time to pivot. I've lived in a lot of different states, but I'm actually originally from New Hampshire. I went to school in South Carolina for four years, spent four years in Georgia with my husband, and then we had my daughter and I spent two years taking time off to be a mom in New Jersey. I realized that I could not be a stay-at-home mom - it was not for me. I had a really hard time only just being a mom, and it was a big realization for me that it was my time to reinvent myself, because I wasn't who I used to be and I have now become somebody else. I moved back to my home state and I kind of found my passion in hospitality and back in the arts. I'm very much a jack-of-all-trades - I'm not a fit-in-a-box kind of person. I just knew at a young age that I just didn't fit into one mold. I was never in one friend group, I was never gonna fit into one job or one class of people. I just never fit in anywhere, and so I knew that my career path was gonna be the same.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Billie
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to having gone through so much change in my life and being open to learning with everything that has occurred, whether that be professionally or personally. I've had the ability, and I've been fortunate enough to have not stayed in one space very long, and because of that I've experienced a lot of what life has had to offer me. I'm very fortunate to have lived in a lot of different places other than my hometown, to have traveled, and to have experienced things outside of what I once knew. I would not be the same person if I were to just stay where I was at, you know, having left and moved down south and having had that culture shock, having met new people - that was very pivotal for me. That changed me as a person, and I'm very, very happy and grateful for that.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've been given is to just do it. Whether it is quitting the job that doesn't make you happy, making that big leap that you're unsure of that makes you scared - just do it. Go ahead and do it. There will be people around you to catch you and to help guide you in some form or capacity. Take that leap to apply to that job - you never know. When you actually do get it, it's kind of a shock. You just have to try it, you just have to do it.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
As somebody in their 30s, I think it can be very scary to think about starting your career over again, especially as a mother, and I think that there should be no fear in that. Just because you have a degree in a certain field doesn't mean you have to use it, and you shouldn't feel like a failure, because that's what I felt like. To reinvent yourself is very empowering. I wish more women in my situation - whether you've moved to different locations, you don't live near your family, you're moving back to your hometown, you have a kid, you're getting back into the working class after being a stay-at-home mom, whatever the case may be - that you embrace that. Whatever that career path is that makes you happy, you don't feel forced to take on a career that isn't fulfilling.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say time. I think that is the balance between work and play. I am a workaholic. I care about what I put out to the world, and so I will always, as a person, struggle with balancing my work and the time I put into it and the time that I put in at home. I feel like a lot of people probably in my same situation struggle with that too.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Consistency and honesty are very important to me as a person and as a professional.
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