🎉 Follow-up to yesterday's post on tattoos in the workplace! 🎉 Let me take you back to 2014. I was 24 and working as an administrative assistant in the grounds department at the University of Arizona. After a year or two as a temp, I was thrilled to be hired permanently, earning around $30k/year. At that time, I thought this was the peak of my career. Feeling invincible, I decided to get my knuckles tattooed with "PLUR LIFE." For those who don't know, PLUR stands for Peace, Love, Unity, Respect—a mantra I try to live by daily. Within a week of getting my tattoos, I was laid off. Suddenly, I was unemployed and struggling to find another office job that would accept me with my new tattoos. After a few tough months, I landed a temp job at an MSP. I had no idea what an MSP was and barely knew anything about the industry. My task was simple: data entry of sales leads into TigerPaw (anyone remember using that??). To my surprise, the company liked me enough to hire me full-time as a help desk assistant. I answered phones, triaged and routed tickets, and learned on the fly about servers and firewalls. From that humble beginning, I grew into various roles at the MSP, managing backend operations and eventually moving to another MSP for more growth opportunities. One of the projects I am most proud of was migrating from TigerPaw to ConnectWise. I loved being part of that project and optimizing our processes. After six years in the MSP world, I took a leap and became a ConnectWise consultant, eventually venturing out on my own. My 24-year-old self would have never imagined owning my own business. Those tattoos, which I once thought were a career setback, led me to where I am today. They brought me to the right place at the right time in my life. I have "no ragrets"! #CareerJourney #TattoosInTheWorkplace #PLURLIFE #NoRagrets #MSP #ConnectWise #CareerGrowth
John Helms
3mo
The conversations about tattoos has definitely come up at the office, but... Always in a good way. (which was a surprise for me) Family conversations about tattoos, totally different story 😁
Tara Rummer
3mo
I absolutely love this story, Cassie! It's pretty amazing how one change in our lives can send us down a completely different path. 💙 Funny little tidbit, I used to go to VooDoo Music + Arts Experience every year in New Orleans, and they always had a Le Plur stage. I never knew what that meant. 💜 TIL that PLUR has one of the best meanings ever.
Bobby Nahoczki
3mo
Gotta show out to EDCO one of these days 😂
Cassie Kerr Seems like if you are NOT a celebrity, tattoos seem to be an issue. Sad to hear that U of A did that to you just for that after you had just been hired FT with them. While AZ is an at-will state, seems like this is not fair at all, especially because I see plenty of people here that have tattoos. Glad that is led to where you are today!
It blows my mind every time you tell this story. We're lucky, we know the brilliant, hardworking, and generous person you are. It's wild to me that so many companies lost out on an opportunity to hire a phenomenal asset because of their inability to look past a little ink. However, to echo Eileen, their loss has been our gain as a community and industry. Thanks for always living that PLUR LIFE and sharing it with us!
Matthew Bryan
3mo
Thanks for sharing your story! Candor and vulnerability in public are too rare today. The bottom line is that there will ALWAYS be those who are biased against you...for a myriad of reasons. It is inevitable! Right, wrong, or otherwise, you simply can't control other people's hearts and minds. You can't eliminate it via religion, HR rules, legislation, or even by becoming a people pleaser. The one thing you can control is you...your own values, thoughts, and reactions. As long as you're staying true to yourself, you will typically be able to weather the storms that will come.
Alexandria Boyd
3mo
Aww I’m a PLUR baby tooooo! I have it tatted on the inside of my lower lip LOL 🤪 I had to have two girlfriends hold my hands on either side.. that one deff hurt the worst haha
Eileen Wilson
3mo
First off, wow, i cannot believe they let you go for that! Makes me mad but hey, it lead you to that first msp, then to cw then to meeting me and Kathy and eventually creating Pivotal Crew!!!! Definitely NO RAGRETS! I think there's a T-Shirt opp in there somewhere?? 🤔
Managing Partner at KBOtek
3moWhy did I always say "no ragerts" 😂 It's funny because husband and I were discussing your other post this morning and I had to give him the BOMBASTIC side eye 👀, lol. When we first met I loved to dye my hair all the colors of the rainbow and I had a lip piercing. I also have two dermal piercings on my neck where my clavicle bones meet and I drew the line with those. He was concerned about how I was going to be perceived by potential clients. I was too, if I'm being honest. I also hated that society made us feel that way. The truth is when you are able to be your authentic self, you feel more confident. When you are confident, others have more confidence in you. Thank you for shining a light on this issue. I also have a half sleeve on my forearm, a wrist tat, a small spade behind my ear, a full side piece and and ankle tat. It has never affected my ability to connect with others and perform my job. Let's celebrate everyone for who they are and how they express themselves! P.S. I might just get my lip redone and get my purple hair back 😜