Family influence is always an important ingredient in our career choices and decisions.  This ingredient couldn’t be more evident in the accounting business of Denise Full.  The oldest daughter of two and a father who was an accountant became the background piece for Denise’s business.  Long before Denise and her sister were adolescents her father routinely gave them big 20 column pads, a monthly bank statement, and asked them to create a financial statement for some of his clients. This was part of ‘entertainment’ as they grew up. Denise says she had planned to be a forest ranger when she grew up, but these early experiences of doing accounting with her sister became a powerful influence on her accounting career.

Later Denise became an assistant for Sheryl Rainey who worked at a Division of National Life.  Denise defines Sheryl as her business hero because she “showed me how to thrive in the corporate world of the 70’s and 80’s” which then was dominated by males. This mentorship was one of her most valuable influences on her career.

Every business endeavor has its challenges and the May 2010 flood event in Nashville proved to be her biggest business challenge so far. “We had four feet of water in our office from the floods. We moved the entire staff to my home.  People donated used computers and office supplies to us. Several NAWBO members came with cleaning supplies and helped us move everything from the office to a storage pod. It took over a year to recover, but we learned that we can survive anything.” Through this experience Denise learned the immense value of her NAWBO network membership. She had previously consulted with board members about business issues and received referrals from other members, but the help from her NAWBO family during the flood event was way beyond what she had expected. “NAWBO has been one of the best networking groups of my entire career.”

When asked what her most current business concern was she said “keeping my five staff members happy so they will want to stay.”  She described an office staffed by people who do exceptional work and have a good working relationship with each other. “I want them to keep enjoying coming in to the office for work.”

Interviewed and Written by Patsy Hatfield Lawson, Front Porch Presentations