What have you been doing in the past 20 years?
I was graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in political science in 1993. I thought I wanted to teach, or to be a lawyer, or to enter politics. But I was always in such a hurry. In 1994, I moved to College Station, Texas to work on my PhD in political science at Texas A&M. But, fearing how old I was going to be when I finally finished college - 25 - I quit, moved to Austin, and became a high school teacher.
I taught economics and geography at a few schools for about five years. When an opportunity came along to work with a team creating new textbooks, I jumped at it; I thought it would be a way to reach even more students. However, after September 11, 2001, my small publishing company had financial troubles and pulled the plug on our project, leaving me without a job.
At about the same time, in the fall of 2001, I had just begun working as an umpire on professional tennis matches. I started working as a line umpire at smaller, minor league events. As my experience and confidence grew, I began working more and bigger events, and when I was not on the road I would substitute teach or do other irregular work.
In 2005 I was promoted to chair umpire by the International Tennis Federation, and in 2009 I was promoted again. Since then, I have worked at ATP and WTA Tour events. The highlights of my career all came late in 2009. I officiated a charity tennis match that included Billie Jean King and Sir Elton John. I was the chair umpire for the men's wheelchair final at the US Open. And I was on the line umpire crew when Juan Martin del Potro beat Roger Federer in the US Open final in 2009.
It is not really a career that any kid grows up aspiring to enter. It is something that finds you. Anyway, you know what they say - "Those who can, play sports. Those who can't, officiate."
In 2011, I met my husband, retired from full-time sports officiating, and moved to Rochester, New York, where I work in admissions at RIT.