Shanti Landon was a stay-at-home parent and blogger in Northern California when she and her husband came in for aptitude testing at our San Francisco office. She wasn’t necessarily looking for a big career change, but her test results encouraged her to try something new:
“Almost six years ago, my husband and I took your aptitude test and eagerly awaited our results. I was a stay-at-home mom at the time, blogging as a side income with no thoughts about changing my trajectory.
When we sat down with the staff person to go over my results, she said, ‘Have you ever been involved in politics?’ My answer was no. She went on to say, ‘Well, with your aptitudes, I think you would not only enjoy it…I think you’d be GOOD at it!’ With a combination of Ideaphoria, Foresight and Graphoria apparently I had a good combination for public service.
Well, within a week after that conversation, I had researched different local offices and decided I was going to run for County Supervisor. I reached out to my County Supervisor (who I had never met), told him I was considering running for Supervisor and asked if he might be willing to hire me. ME. Someone with ZERO experience and no idea what I was doing. I figured what better way to learn the job than to essentially apprentice for it?
After having a few conversations with him, he hired me. Initially, he gave me a six-month contract, and then continued to renew it for the next five years. I have learned so much in these past five years and was ready to run for the job.
Well, guess what?
After a long two-year campaign, a primary election and a general election, I just WON! I will be sworn in at the end of December to be the first female Supervisor to ever serve in our district and the first person I’m aware of to ever do such a thing as this in the manner that I did. AND THAT’S BECAUSE OF YOU.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for helping me discover my aptitudes and planting a seed of encouragement in me to jump in and do something I would never have imagined doing. You opened up my world in so many ways, and now I get the honor of doing something that challenges me, fulfills me, and is something I truly believe I was made for.”