Study math and see the world! At least, that's what worked for me. When I was in high school, I was bitten by the travel bug. I've been lucky enough to use my career in the computer industry as a way to achieve my dreams to travel, and a degree in mathematics is the way it all started.

While in high school, I developed an interest in mathematics as well as in travel. I continued to enjoy math courses in college, and I began to realize that jobs in mathematics and the hard sciences are more plentiful and more lucrative than those in the social sciences. In many math classes, computers are used as a problem solving tool, and this got me interested in computer science. I thought that some knowledge of computers could help my aftergraduation job prospects, and it did.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) recruited me from college for a position marketing computers. I was responsible for supporting and training sales people. After my first three years at HP, I went back to school for an MBA. After graduating from business school, I was re-hired by HP in Germany and then transferred to Lyon, France to a start-up division. During my three years living overseas, I traveled constantly on business and was able to enjoy the sights of Europe. I returned to the United States with HP, but, after several years, the travel bug got the best of me again.