One of the greatest things to ever happen to us is we so happened to share a passion for local minor league sports. Myself on the management side and Kristen as a dancer. She has 3 teams under her belt and I have 2. Before we both dove into the realm of advertising, we worked for the Osceola Ghostriders of the World Indoor Football League.
Kristen's sister Danielle also worked for the team as the dance team coordinator. Danielle actually joined the team going into the 2nd season around the same time as myself. Kristen had already been a dancer for the team in its first season. Danielle coming into the picture was a huge blessing; she re-tooled the dance team which inspired Kristen to remain on the team. She questions whether she would have danced with them for a second season if Danielle had not come along.
One role that Kristen and I shared in common was networking event duty. I would go to the networking events around Kissimmee trying to sniff out potential sponsors and the dancers would come along to mingle with fans / local business owners and look pretty.
The first large scale networking event of the pre-season was at a Saturn dealership. Kristen and Danielle both happened to be on the line up that night. I arrived a little early to partake in the crappy food and get a lay of the land. I was also anticipating Danielle arriving with a dancer where we would rendezvous and plan our attack of the event.
I spotted Danielle walking with "the other dancer" as they approached the door. I went up to greet them and this is the moment where Kristen and I first met. We shook hands, smiled at each other and went into the event.
I immediately liked Kristen for several reasons. The most obvious being I thought she was gorgeous. Beyond that, she went on to really impress me at the event. She went around the room talking with the local business owners and really working the room. Later in the event she even intoduced me to the head of marketing for Saturn and ramped me right into a sponsorship conversation. I closed that deal for $10,000 cash a few weeks later.
I also used that as inspiration to hit on her. I told her that with the commission I make on the sale that I would have to take her to dinner to thank her....that dinner went on to be our first real date!
Looking back on the Ghostriders in general, it was a silly point in my life career wise. Aside from that, it was the greatest decision I ever made to come work there. Without that team, there's a chance we'd never find each other. Then again if you believe in fate, maybe we would have met her in some other way -- but I personally liked the way it happened.
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