If we’re going to spend time together, there’s a few things you should know.

One of my earliest memories of my mother was when I was about 10 years old. We were standing in line at the bank, and she ran into someone she knew. The woman was smiling, happy to see her and before they parted ways, my mom handed her a business card — she was a real estate broker.

Then, the same thing happened at the grocery store, in a restaurant, at the movie theaters and on the sidewalk watching a parade on the main street of my hometown. This continued for years. We couldn’t go anywhere without my mom running into someone she knew. I was a typical, indifferent teenager, but I did finally notice something that changed that: my mother’s deep sincerity.

I realized the reason why people repeatedly sought my mother out to list their home was because she was honest and hard working. She earned their trust and didn’t waver. She was kind and equally important, she was consistent.

Moving forward twenty years.

I’d worked for Starwood Hotels and Resorts for 5 years in Revenue Management and was conducting my final training in London before moving to Paris to work for one of our flagship hotels.

There were a dozen Directors of Revenue Management from Europe attending the training and I knew all of them. Having either conducted their full software training and installation or running a workshop like the one I was in London to teach, each of them was someone I had forged a relationship with. This final week in my training role felt like I was spending time with family.

Becoming a presentation design consultant was not my objective.

But all the training roles I’ve held, a full career along a corporate track and the years of self-employment that followed have prepared me for this work.