Celeste Barker:  

Life After highschool I went to SFSU and graduated with a BA in Painting and Drawing in 1970. Not wanting to be a starving artist, I returned to school and got a degree in Electrical Engineering Technology then went to work for PG&E where I worked for fourteen years, progressing through nine positions. The last position was Support Services Manager in the Napa-Vallejo Division. While working fulltime and raising two teenage boys as a single mom I got my MBA. Then got married and became the Operations Manager at SFMOMA until my husband took a job in Atlanta and I left as the trailing spouse for the "Southeast Experience". For 4 years I lived in the suburbs of Atlanta, anxious to return to my homeland of California, and then returned to the San Francisco Bay Area transformed into a computer geek. In the Bay Area, for the next fifteen years I worked as a Director of Professional Services and Technical Support for several software companies. That was an up and down wild rollercoaster ride as the dot-com bust, 9-11, and recessions took their toll on the high tech industry resulting in reorganizations and layoffs. I survived some layoffs and was impacted by others. The latest layoff ocurred in February 2009 just before my 62nd birthday. Well, doing a job search in a recession (hey, be honest it is a depression)at this age is not fun! Fortunately, during the period where I was working as a director of technical services in the software industry, I also became involved in dog agility training and started teaching dog agility classes part time at the local Humane Society. While I am unemployed in my true income-producing technical profession, I am still teaching dog agility training classes at the Humane Society part time. It doesn't produce much income, but is fun and coupled with the unemployment insurance and social security we are surviving and hoping that our lifelong 401K funds return to something close to their former state so that we can actually retire one day. My husband is building out an area of our house for my art studio - a place where I can be creative...and messy. So, I hope to resume my painting and photography work which I've set aside for many decades as I supported my family. Maybe one day I will be a rich and famous artist (RFA). Then my business cards can include the following letters - BA, MBA, CNE, and RFA. I am married, have two grown sons (very handsome!), four adorable grandsons, and one step-grand daughter. We love living in Marin County for the great weat...Expand for more