Shortly after graduating from Wilkes College with a BS in Marketing ’87, I took a job at Grasshopper Lawns in 1989. I originally thought I was going to mow lawns for a summer while I would continue looking for my niche. Instead, I found myself working in the lawn treatment industry! For the first 25 years or so, I treated lawns, trees, shrubs, and aerated our different equipment. Through that time, I also had duties in telemarketing, onsite estimates and service calls. Routing, equipment maintenance, mixing materials, and training were also a part of my responsibilities. With some co-workers, I had the chance to be a presenter at a winter LCAP training seminar on the topic of Turf IPM. I became Landscape Industry Certified through NALP and PLANET and the University of Georgia a licensed applicator with Dept of Ag in the categories we use to treat properties. My role has evolved into a General Manager position over the past 10+ years with duties in hiring, planning and administering in house and winter seminar training, keeping us PA Dept Ag compliant in pesticide licensing and registrations, and online sales/estimates. I have become involved in planning company outings and PR events, local news promos, marketing, job fairs and home shows, employment ads and making sure our employees are informed on our Simple IRA plan and other benefits. My biggest responsibility remains company sales and customer service (handling the big complaints). However, my role is growing to include coordinating the efforts between lawn servicemen, the office personnel, warehouse management, ownership, human resources, and the customers to make sure everything is moving along smoothly….and we’re just getting started!!