I’ve always believed life is too short to spend 40 hours a week somewhere that doesn’t inspire you. I’ve been lucky enough to build a career at places I genuinely wanted to be.

While working at Urban Outfitters in 1996, I discovered a little makeup brand called Urban Decay. It didn’t look like anything else I had seen before. UD had attitude, a sense of humor and a commitment to not testing on animals which resonated with me. I fell in love with the brand long before I ever worked there.

A few years later, while visiting with friends over the holidays, someone that worked in-house at Urban Decay casually mentioned she got promoted and they were looking to fill her role. I wasn’t looking for a career yet, I was looking for the chance to work for a company I truly believed in.

Joining UD was not part of some carefully planned out career path. It was just the next place that felt right. What I didn’t realize at the time was that walking through those doors would change the course of my career. Over the next 25 years, I found my place creating launches, events, partnerships and experiences that transformed products into stories people wanted to be part of.

That’s still what excites me today.