Moving On

August 17 will be my last day at Systems Contractor News (SCN). When I joined the SCN team four years ago, my goal was to modernize the magazine—and I believe I have accomplished that goal. From hosting the first-ever SCN Think Tank and turning that into the modern version of the AV/IT Summit to redesigning the magazine to creating diversity initiatives, I'm proud of the work I've done at Future.

Like anything in life, my goals were not achieved on my own; I had an amazing team behind me at SCN. Katie Makal, managing editor, is always there to make every piece sound 10,000 times better or to answer my never-ending questions about style guides. Nicole Cobban, managing design director, makes the pages of the magazine look beautiful and she never fails to make my half-baked design ideas come to life in an amazing way. Tony Savona, VP of content creation, has never-ending patience to help me problem solve and he does it all while making me laugh. 

On a personal level, I will never forget the kindnesses the Future team has shown me. During my time at the company, my brother was diagnosed with and died from lung cancer. It was a very unexpected diagnosis, as he had been healthy and went to the doctor for back pain. I was in Amsterdam at ISE 2019 when we got the news; the team held me up while I spent days crying my eyes out. My brother lived in Hawaii so caring for him was not an easy task, and my family rotated who was with him. "Just go" was a phrase I heard frequently from my team during this time. There was no hesitation, no complaining about the extra work they'd have to do, they simply handled everything for me and allowed me to focus on my family. I could never put into words how grateful I am to them for that.

The last four years have been a happy adventure for me, and I'm so thankful I was able to spend them with such an amazing team. But it's time for new adventures and challenges. 

Stay tuned on Twitter and LinkedIn to learn more.