Elisabeth Andreason:  

Life Well, my career goal was to be a teacher... After a teaching credential program and graduation from Wellesley College in '93, I taught high school in the Boston area for about five years. The kids were wonderful but public school politics left something to be desired. After about eight years in Boston, I moved back to California for a lifestyle and weather change. Before a camping trip in Yosemite, I did a little shopping at a co-op named REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.) and was offered a job. At REI, I was able to apply my teaching skills by educating customers about how to choose and care for their equipment. I got the opportunity to do more teaching as they sent me to be a product trainer for five new store openings. At my own store I offered monthly free clinics for customers on how to use the technical equipment like GPS units, bike repair, custom boot fitting (again, more teaching, do you see a pattern?) After three years, the retail management responsibilities increased and time allowed for customer interaction and teaching decreased. So, I decided I was done with retail management and moved on to something that had been a hobby for most of my life. Now, I am a Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and loving it! Once again I get to interact with people and apply my teaching skills. It can't even be compared to teaching high school, but there is incredible reward in teaching people how to build and protect wealth so they can provide for their children's education, their own retirement, and most of all sleep at night. Life is good -- no life is very good. I share a home in Concord, Ca. with the love of my life, Melissa. We have been together since college – about ten years now. I fill my spare time by snowboarding in the winter and mountain biking in the summer. In fact, this will be the 4th year I've raced with a team in "24 Hours of Tahoe." What a race! Last year my t...Expand for more