Sonya Adams

My career in procurement spans close to 25 years, though I never expected this path when I started. As a young mother who had to leave college after two years, I got my first job at Kohl's Food Store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin around 1987 or 1989, working in purchasing. I worked my way through various departments and companies in Milwaukee, using the knowledge from my college years in the business world and watching everything grow - my kids, my skills, my knowledge base. What could have been a setback actually propelled me to be a better person. When my oldest daughter decided to attend Texas Christian University in Dallas, my family relocated to Houston, and I knew I had to work in oil and gas because Houston is the hub for that industry. I successfully landed a position and worked in oil and gas for many years, experiencing the highs of bonuses and the lows of layoffs that come with that industry. After being laid off around 2015, I reinvented myself by starting an online business with my daughters called AsiaAnnMarie, selling trendy novelty items. We were very successful and even got our name patented because it's a compilation of all our middle names. Throughout this time, I maintained my work as a notary, which I've done for about 10 years. I served as a corporate notary for about 10 years in my current petrochemical position, then decided to do it personally as well. Now I'm a corporate notary, a loan signing agent, and a Virtual Online Notary. I really like interacting with people, and procurement is all about that interaction, negotiation, and using different skill sets for working with outside sources. Currently, I'm still functioning as a notary doing loan closings while working in procurement in the petrochemical industry, wearing several different hats at once.