It’s that time again. Time for your Monday morning cup of joe with another one of our team members, Erika Conard. We sure hope that you are enjoying these glimpses into the lives of our team, because we definitely enjoy sharing them with you! So grab your coffee and meet Erika, one of our writers.

I wasn’t sure on the approach I wanted to take when talking about myself, so, in a nutshell, here goes!

Favorite Quotes: I believe that “God doesn’t give you anymore than you can’t handle”, and that is definitely a quote that I live by these days. But I cannot stand the quote, “It is what it is.”  I believe that attitude is EVERYTHING!!!

Likes:I love my husband and our 3 kids, substitute teaching and my SJC team!!! I also enjoy being around positive, fun people; gardening, travel, running/walking, wine and I also LOVE horses and plan to have one in Heaven someday!

Dislikes:  People who gossip, social climbers, people who don’t have any pride in themselves or their property.  Quitters and lazy people do not impress me either.

Work History:  My first job out of college was at Franklin Templeton Investments in             Ft. Lauderdale, FL and I was fortunate enough to meet Sir John Templeton before he passed. After that I started my most important job, staying home for 10 years and raising our 3 children while we moved around the country with my husband’s career. I started substitute teaching in 2004 and taught First Grade in 2005-2006.  Now, I am very blessed to work for SJC Copywriting and have a wonderful, positive, fun group of gals to work with!  I also love to substitute teach and do that as often as my hectic schedule allows.

My DREAM is to one day own a new 2012 VW Slug Bug and drive it around with my husband’s head sticking out of the sunroof (as you may have noticed in the photo, he’s a little on the tall side)…and to have my horses in Heaven someday.

Susan’s take on Erika –

In case you’re wondering, that horse Erika will have in her next life will be that of the warrior horse. Erika is a constant ball of fire with passionate ideas, dedication to a quality life for her family (and I don’t mean the kind of quality that has anything to do with money) and pouring out love on those around her. She is one who will quickly go to battle for those she cares about – and will carry the biggest stick.

I invited Erika onto our team in a point in her life where she needed a change, and a challenge. I’m not sure you could get more challenging than to ask an elementary teacher at heart to write about enterprise resource planning and telephony solutions. My phone would often ring after her assignments were submitted, with Erika calling to make sure her blogs made sense. Her passion for wanting to do a great job, coupled with concern over this foreign topic, made for some fun conversations.

Rest assured, Erika does a great job for us, dedicated to getting her work in early and sharing a positive note for those receiving the completed assignment. She’s a champion for the team, always offering support and encouragement to others, even when things are more than challenging in her own life. We are definitely blessed to have Erika on our team and in our lives.