Her Story
About Cori
I've always loved art and art history, which is what I got my undergrad degree in. From there, I took an internship in painting conservation at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and after that, continued to work for that department for 3 years. I then moved to the Smithsonian Institution, where I worked for the American Art Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. I was in DC working in the museums for 14 years. I got homesick and moved back to Iowa, where I worked for nonprofits and a historic mansion, entertainment venue, and art gallery as the collection manager. About a year and a half ago, we moved to Arizona just to warm up, and I briefly worked for a gallery in Scottsdale for about 5 months until I was approached by Freeman's Auction to come on board as the Director of Trust Estates and Private Clients, which I started in July. I work with a lot of trust and estate fiduciaries and advisors to help families when they're transitioning or going through life events, helping them navigate what to do with their collections, with fine art, jewelry, and all the collectibles that belong in those estates. I help with appraisals, liquidating assets, and equitable distribution. Day to day, I'm definitely out in the field a lot, doing a lot of driving, looking at collections, meeting different people, doing walkthroughs of homes, and applying value to those collections. I'm completing my master's in art business from Sotheby's Institute of Art, so I've kind of gone from the museum world into the more commercial art market.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Cori
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to a handful of key players and mentors that have been in my life that have pushed me in different directions that I ended up finding success in. One example is my high school art teacher, who was fabulous and put in a lot of her own resources to make our art program phenomenal. We had a huge walk-in closet where we could just stretch canvases, she had potter wheels, everything was accessible. We were doing screen printing, painting, throwing pottery, and we had a Raku kiln in the back of our school that she built, so we were firing our own pottery. In high school, I thought I was going to go into physical therapy, but she advocated for me to go into art education and gave me a scholarship. She really wanted me to go in this direction. And when I got to college, I fell in love with art history, and that kind of drove me into that world. Being in museums, just a handful of women were supportive and really worked alongside me, inspired me, kept me on this path, or inspired me to change paths. I think mentors is huge, a great inspiration.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think it's important to always make connections and to establish trusting deeper relationships with your network, it's the most important thing. But then also just to not be afraid to go outside of your comfort zone and to gain experience in other things, because it influences what you're doing, even though it's not related, and it can just give you a different perspective.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · Arizona
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.