Entrepreneurship is the Gift That Keeps Giving
Thank you to Kristy Snyder, Co-Founder and Chief People Officer of Enthuse Marketing and Co-Founder of the Enthuse Foundation, for sharing her entrepreneurial origins. Kristy was a full-time teacher specializing in special education until she received a phone call that would change her life. Below she describes her second career – business founder.
Have you ever received a compliment/gift that made you stand a little taller? A few simple words strung together that could melt feelings of despair and inadequacy and fill you with confidence?
Enthuse was that gift for me.
In 2016, I worked as a special ed teacher. I had finished up the school year and was celebrating two incredible accomplishments - two of my students who faced very different but significant challenges were able to move on to high school. I was beaming with pride over what we had accomplished together but faced the uncertainty of the year ahead as I would return in the fall to teach 12-year-olds in the 6th grade.
My biological children were growing. The time was right for recreation.
The gift of Enthuse first appeared as a compliment in the form of an unexpected offer. At the time, I may not have understood all the implications, but at the moment, it was a compliment. Nothing was noteworthy about the day, and the praise seemed to come out of the blue.
My friend and entrepreneur Kim (Lawton) called me and said, 'Hi, I am going to start a women-run agency, and I would like you to be my partner.'
The details may be fuzzy because I was in shock.
However, my greatest gift is my ability to say 'YES' without hesitation and without thinking things through. So that's what I did.
The offer so touched me, and Kim, the master connector, believed that I possessed unique skills to help build a particular niche for our company.
In that compliment, Kim gave me the greatest gift, an opportunity to shed my comfortable teacher skin to make a career change and begin a new adventure: Enthuse Marketing.
Our purpose was clear. Enthuse was to be women-owned and led. We were lucky enough to start with a client. We were able to build an agency around this opportunity.
Enthuse opened the doors to a whole new way of marketing, focusing on delivering programs that emphasized education and relationship building.
Maybe, I wouldn't need to shed my teacher's skin but allow it to evolve. Education gets us in the door, but our relationships make Enthuse unique. We empower each team member to leverage their strengths and lean into their entrepreneurial spirit to take individual businesses to the next level.
As women, we take on many roles and may battle societal stereotypes of who we are supposed to be – daughter, wife, and mother. Can we reinvent ourselves? Are we allowed to explore different opportunities?
I'm permitting you to say 'yes.' I never imagined myself as an entrepreneur. My degree is in elementary education. My life was in the classroom, but when presented with an opportunity, I said 'yes.'
It isn't always easy, but sometimes the most significant risks produce the sweetest results.
Enthuse has been a gift from day one. A scary, daunting, anxiety-provoking present. It's been quite a ride, and it is still the gift that keeps giving.
Kristy Snyder is the Co-Founder and Chief People Officer at Enthuse Marketing, a purpose-driven, women-owned experiential agency created and run by a collective of industry experts and entrepreneurs. As a lifelong educator, Kristy has taught children of all ages and across the educational spectrum –from academically gifted to those with learning disabilities. Kristy's skills as an educator align perfectly with her role as Chief People Officer at Enthuse, where she is responsible for developing opportunities for employees to grow personally and professionally. A voracious reader, Kristy lives in Connecticut with her husband, Jeff, and Boston Terrier, Nala. She is the proud mom of Kennedy and Nate and loves challenging herself physically, mentally, and spiritually.