I grew up in a traditional family in Montana. My father was a key to my open thinking growing up: He influenced me as a teacher in the school I attended, being my teacher, or as the superintendent in my school. He made sure I couldn't get away with anything!
Education — the ups and downs, ins and outs of it — were always a topic of discussion. My father has always been my hero. He is curious, well-read, open-minded, and he opened doors to my creativity to make change happen!
My mom kept all seven of us kids on the straight and narrow. She taught us to be open-minded about all of the people in our towns. We learned early on to appreciate individuals for their own strengths. We were very fortunate to have a mother who could stay home and care for all of us.
We were from two small towns — Brady and Opheim, Montana. These were very small towns: both of my classes had 26 kids. And in small towns you learn early on that you get along … or you’ll get kicked to the curb. Small towns are precious: in towns of a couple of hundred you are family … and you take care of each other as family.
After graduating from school, I hit the highway and came to Colorado. Here I graduated from business school, then Metropolitan State College. I worked in design and marketing as a consultant.
I then began Colorado Executive Continuum. Colorado Executive Continuum was an inspiring series of seminars where corporate executives were briefed by national business authors and speakers about cutting-edge strategies. We were inspired by these speakers: many men and women were able to "see the light" and understand the basics of working with others after years of being bogged down in corporate mumble jumble.
I met my husband, Dave Akers, through the Continuum. Five years later we married. Three years after that we had baby girl #1 , Anna Isabelle, and three years after that we adopted baby girl #2, Lexi Leigh from China.
One year later, in 2000, we moved to Europe where we lived for five years. We moved to Europe because Dave was offered a position with Hewlett Packard. Dave retired last October after 28 years with HP. He has been enjoying putting our home back together after the time we were gone. Now he can actually enjoy his time, our time, and time with our babes.
Instead of joining my husband in his retirement (besides he has tons of hobbies and projects!), I am choosing to bring Common Sense, Logic, and Values to our government. I WILL NOT sit by and watch big business, oil companies and cronyism destroy OUR America.
The Point: America belongs to us!
