Nancy Hayes was born in a small town in rural Illinois, called Avon. She says, “Our town joke, “Ding! Dong! Avon calling!” According to Nancy, Avon was a VERY conservative town, about 99.9% white, with one store, one gas station, and a few churches. She grew up on a farm with three sisters and three brothers, and they knew all about “chores”; in fact, that’s about all they did from morning until dusk. “We shared chores such as ‘slopping pigs,’ bailing hay, and taking care of our Angus cattle, pigs, and three horses.”
Nancy first had ideas of working as a veterinarian, which isn’t surprising considering that she was surrounded by animals. “I loved all animals, especially horses. Jackie, Suzie and Tony – they were my transportation when I was young. I often rode my horse to town to visit my friends and classmates.”
She just missed making it into veterinary school, but nevertheless realized an affinity and great interest in science. Her favorite high school teachers taught science, plus she enjoyed it, and she knew that some kind of science education would give her the jobs skills to pursue a future career.
But things don’t always go as planned. Halfway into her science degree, she met her future husband, whose father was a Superintendent of Education. She says, “It was THEN that I decided to go into teaching and education administration.” She loved teaching kids and landed a job as a junior high school science teacher. But this did not hold her back from pursuing even further education. So – while teaching! – she earned her Masters in Education Administration.
Soon she found herself as Assistant Superintendent of Education, helping other teachers become better teachers. As she says, “I wanted to have a bigger impact, and was now able to continue putting KIDS FIRST – provide them with the BEST resources, BEST teachers, and BEST LEARNING ENVIRONMENT!”
Many people would have felt their careers to be complete at this point. Not Nancy. A voracious learner, she not only went on to get an advanced degree in education and teach at the local university, she took her remarkable knowledge of teaching skills, organizational skills, and people skills, and jumped into TWO additional fields: Personal Fitness Training, and Social Media marketing on the Internet. Now she does business in both fields, plus never hesitates to consult in areas of elementary and advanced education.
In her years of watching who succeeds and who fails, she can give these hints to those who might be embarking upon new territory: “Do what you love … then it won’t seem like work!” “Learning IS about making mistakes. It’s okay to make mistakes. That’s when I learned the most.”
Practical advice: “The world around us will be constantly changing. Those that survive and have the jobs will be those people with ‘problem solving’ and ‘critical thinking’ skills, in addition to strong communication skills. THOSE will be the skills that will help you in ANY job.” Finally, Nancy says, “NEVER EVER let ANYONE tell you ‘IT CAN’T BE DONE’! I entered my first figure competition after 45 years and my first bikini competition after 50 years of age.” Wow … a sharp mind AND a youthful body!
Learn more about Nancy and her fascinating optimism and career trajectory.
www.bodybynance.com
www.twitter.com/bodybynance
www.moshenet.com
And don’t be afraid to give her a shout out at her personal email address: bodybynance@yahoo.com.