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Now: Architecture-firm president
Then: Gas-station attendant
Current position: P: president and CEO, Wattenbarger Architects, a Bellevue architecture firm that designs homes and communities for older adults.
First job: Gas-station attendant in Bellevue.
What I learned: Valuable customer-service skills and the ability to work with people's different personalities, because our customers came from all walks of life. I also learned how to multitask. When I was the only one on shift, there were moments of sheer terror as customers often arrived in droves, causing me to run back and forth between the self-service and the full-service islands. That experience taught me that you can't possibly do it all yourself — teamwork, support and collaboration are requirements for running a successful business.
