I'll back up a step and tell you how I got here first...My fabulous husband and I got married directly out of college. Our wedding was precisely 1 month after my graduation day. And I moved into my new husband's apartment in the Twin Cities without a job in site. I, of course, was convinced that the mere sight of my flashy Cobber ring would immediately land me the perfect job making at least $45,000 per year. Why wouldn't that happen? Alas...I spent many, many, many days cleaning the apartment until it sparkled and then spreading the want ads on the living room floor and attacking them with a red Sharpie. (yup - I'm dating myself here...this was the last of the days of actual newspapers and resumes mailed out on fancy resume paper)
I had met Chris working at a summerstock theater in my hometown. I was the business & box office manager for the theater for 2 summers. When I ran across an advertisement for an entry level job in the Target Center Box Office, of course I sent in my resume. We were in Arizona for my Mother-in-Law's funeral when I got the call that I had the job. When we returned to Minnesota, I became the Ticket Operations Finance Coordinator. The paycheck was precisely half of what I expected to be making with my fancy schmancy college diploma so, of course, I expected that I would be moving out and on to bigger and better things in no time as I continued to look for a "career". And I was right - I did move on to bigger and better things pretty quickly but I certainly didn't move "out".
Xcel Energy Center was being built across the river and would be opening soon and they were cherry-picking employees from Target Center pretty quickly. First our Director of Ticketing left making me Assistant Director of Ticketing as we all shifted. Then the NEW Director of Ticketing left making ME Director of Ticketing in short order. I was 23 years old, had just doubled my salary and had a staff of 4 fulltime and 30some part-time employees. I won't completely underestimate myself by saying that I was solely in the right place at the right time, but that was most definitely a big part of it!
I had a distinct love-hate relationship with my job as Director of Ticketing for Target Center. Mostly love. I loved my fellow employees. I loved my staff (mostly). I loved the thrill of a lobby full of people. I loved the heady excitement of an anticipated onsale with customers lined up around the block (yup - dating myself again...there WAS a day when a box office saw some real action at an onsale before internet was king!). I loved the challenges of 'figuring it out'. Loved the talent that I quickly discovered for turning around an unhappy customer. I hated the hours. Hated the fact that what we did was made to feel as important as saving lives. Hated missing holidays, birthdays, weekends because Cher or Elton John or the Timberwolves waited for no man! But mostly I loved the gig. 
When I started at TC, we ticketed Target Center events and single game sales for Timberwolves. We added a WNBA team to that mix (Go Lynx!). Then the company I worked for was bought out by SFX Entertainment...who was then bought out by Clear Channel Entertainment...and we got into "other" stuff. That's when things got really interesting. Now I was working for a promoter. And we were promoting shows in North Dakota and elsewhere in Minnesota pretty regularly. I was now travelling to fabulous Fargo and Decadent Duluth and the Great Grand Forks to manage ticket inventory for our shows outside our doors. We also started promoting club shows. Lots of 'em. My staff was working the door at The Quest, the 400 Bar, etc. which meant many nights of going to sleep on the couch with my cell phone on my chest waiting for a 2-3 am phone call saying "we're done and everything is OK" or worse - standing in a smokey, dirty, DEAFENING club selling a little piece of paper to very drunk people. Not my favorite. 
Then CCE pulled out of Target Center management. A handful of employees went with the company, moving the promoter responsibilities out to an office building in St Louis Park and leaving the rest of us to go back to our core business. I felt left behind. I took it personal. I know I shouldn't have, but when you put as much of yourself into a gig as I did...as we all did...I took it personal. I wanted to go too. I felt like I had mastered the skill of box office management and wanted to learn more about this promoter business. But I was left behind and found myself working for the Timberwolves organization. Which was not at all what I wanted. I certainly don't know if working for the MN Timberwolves is indicative of what it is to work for professional sports teams in general...but I don't want to do it again. I dug in and tried to find new challenges where I was but I was definitely restless. I stayed on for roughly another year until I saw the post for CCE's Regional Director of Ticketing...and that adventure is for another day!
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