Reflections After Saying Farewell To Our First Employee
Yesterday was our first employee, Elle Josten’s, last day of work. We hired Elle as a part-time legal assistant, offering her the flexibility that she needed to take care of her young child. Elle was a fantastic employee from day one. She handled the idiosyncrasies of a new law practice that was operating with minimal staff with grace and tackled new tasks with enthusiasm. Now, Elle and her family’s needs have changed. She has a background in title work and was offered a full-time position with Lennar that was too good to pass up. While we are sad to see Elle go, we are thrilled for her new opportunity and know that she will do amazing things in her new position. Our door will always be open to Elle if she needs it, but we have full faith that she is going to keep moving forward to new and exciting adventures, which we hope she will keep us updated on!
For Elle’s last day yesterday, we had a little celebration. We ordered lunch from the restaurant she chose and got her a farewell cake and flowers. While I was speaking to Elle yesterday, she told me about the mixed emotions she was feeling. She felt sad about leaving a job she had come to love and nervous about pursuing a new opportunity that was intimidating and unknown, but ultimately she felt that the opportunity was best for her future and her family. I did my best to reassure and encourage Elle, and I couldn’t help but think back to my own mentors and the farewell cakes they had given me. Today, I want to take a moment to discuss and recognize them.
In 2014, I left my job as an assistant manager at Thornton’s, Inc. for law school, and my general manager, Tina Meiman, called my mother to find out what cake I like (Baskin Robbins fudge roll, chocolate chip ice cream). Tina ended up with two cakes because the first store made the cake incorrectly and gave her Oreo instead of chocolate chip, and rather than just dealing with what she got, she proceeded to go to multiple different Baskin Robbins stores to hunt down the exact perfect cake. I still cry thinking about everything she went through just to let me know how much she cared, and I have the deepest love and respect for Tina to this day. I could not have asked for a better boss, or a better friend. I know she was sad to see me go, and I know she never found a replacement who she trusted and relied on the way she trusted and relied on me, but she wanted what was best for me.
Three years later, I found myself at the Dispute Resolution Awards Celebration in my final year of law school. I was a few weeks away from graduating and a few months away from taking the Florida Bar and I still didn’t have a job. I had also just finished competing in the Vis International Arbitration Moot, which is a famously grueling competition with competitors from law schools in every country that required traveling half-way around the world to Hong Kong and competing for a week straight, so I was beyond exhausted. And to put the cherry on top, the awards ceremony was set to be on my birthday. Despite all of that, I was devoted to the Dispute Resolution Board, so I was determined to go to the award ceremony. We had made it to the end of the ceremony, I had gotten my gavel for the Honorable Mention we managed to win at Vis, and I figured that was the only thing I was going to get. It was something, and I wanted to be gracious, but I confess that I had started to feel a little bit of disappointment about not being a recipient of one of the special awards. As it turned out, however, my mentor, Professor Kristen Adams, had saved the best for last. Not only was I receiving an award that was being given out to a student for the first time that year, but she had called my husband ahead of time to figure out what type of cake I like (no ice cream this time, just red velvet) and had bought me my own personal birthday cake in celebration of my birthday. It was the best send off I could have asked for, and a memory that will remain with me for the rest of my lifetime.
Partner Kara Rogers, Esq. (far right) with the competitors from the 2017 Vis International Commercial Arbitration Team and Professors Stephanie Vaughan (far left, plaid dress) and Kristen Adams (left, brown skirt and pearls) at the Dispute Resolution Banquet.
Tina Meiman and Professor Kristen Adams helped me to get through some of the most difficult transitions of my life. They are my role models, have been my shoulders to cry on, and have been my sounding boards when I needed to work through things. Above all, they are fantastic women who I admire, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. So, Tina and Professor Adams: thank you both for the cake. You probably had no idea what it meant to me at the time, or how it would shape me in the future, but it meant more than either of you could have imagined, and I have been incredibly blessed to have you both in my life. For what it is worth, I am trying to pass down the cakes that you have given me.
To all of you employers out there, I urge you to pass down the cakes that you have received in your lifetime. Cultivate good relationships with your employees, and celebrate their achievements. Be sad when they leave, but be happy for their successes. None of us can do this on our own.
Elle, good luck and congratulations! We were beyond lucky to have you on our team, and we will be rooting for your continued success.
#passdownthecake