What you see may be what is at that moment, but if you ask a few questions and genuinely care about the answer you'll be given you may see deeper colors in people and in the world.

At 14 I knew I wanted to be in advertising and marketing... after all the dream of being a veterinarian meant 8 years at Michigan State University was not an appealing option! By the age of 16 I was working in an advertising agency in Columbia City Indiana. This agency was a small show that did a monthly "What's up in..." community magazine and dabbled in tabloids for local businesses. Until one day the West Virginia hillbilly I worked for (and I say that with the utmost respect) came up with a plan to take to ACE Hardware Corporate offices as a build-your-own program started in 1987 for local hardware dealers. The agency grew, I grew, I became the art director by 20 and started dabbling in sales for the agency as well. I loved it!

Then what appeared to be a complete lack of respect towards me, because of my age and gender, I reacted to a comment made by a co-worker and quit! The next 2 years were huge in my learning curve. From pitching a national company to open an creative department in Charlotte NC to working as a clerk on 3rd shift at a gas station to moving 1200 miles on a Greyhound bus – I grew up fast!

I landed in Flint, Michigan. I pulled out the yellow pages (yeah remember the old 3" thick book) and started calling every advertising agency in town... My shtick was..."Hi, my name is Shannone Paul, I am a graphic designer who has just moved to town and I'm looking for a job...". Many "nice" people said "thanks but we have nothing available" until I came upon Christine who worked at an advertising agency, but had a friend in need! This friend was Tom Reynolds. The sales manager of the Flint Area Newspapers and Tom was a frustrated sales manager who couldn't get creative ideas from the art department so his reps could sell... I filled that position. Working there for 2 years in the art department I quickly learned where "starving artist" came from and moved to the sales department. Not without hurdles, but non-the-less moved into sales. My new newspaper territory was the Clio Messenger newspaper. That marked the beginning to today's end.