Let me tell you about the woman who remembers my meetings before I do.
If you’ve stopped by the Lakefront office in the last year, you’ve probably met Cyndy. She’s the one who knows where everything is, who’s expecting what, and what I was supposed to be doing fifteen minutes ago. She’s also the reason I show up to those meetings on time.
But here’s the thing — I almost didn’t hire her.
The Resume That Stood Out
When Cyndy’s application came across my desk, it was a standout immediately. A well-organized resume with clean, professional formatting. Two letters of recommendation from former employers — not asked for, just included. Before Lakefront, she’d worked as a paralegal. Before that, she served in the military.
Paralegal precision. Military discipline. On paper, she was exactly what our growing office needed.
And then I hesitated.
The Small-Town Honest Truth
Here’s what I don’t think people talk about enough when you run a business in a small town: sometimes the best candidate is someone you already know. Cyndy and I had sat next to each other at our kids’ basketball games. Our families ran in the same circles.
And I worried about it.
What if it got weird? What if I had to have a hard conversation at work with someone I’d see at the next school event? What if she had to have a hard conversation with me? I went back and forth on it.
Andrew, in his Andrew way, brought me back to earth. Look at the facts. Interview the most qualified applicant. And the most qualified applicant — by a wide margin — was Cyndy.
So I called her in.
The Interview Where I Was the Nervous One
I’ll be honest — I was more nervous than she was. By the end of the interview, I was clammy one. Cyndy, meanwhile, was completely composed — answering thoughtfully, asking sharp questions, not rattled by any of it.
Looking back, that calm under pressure should’ve been the first thing that told me she was right for the job. An office coordinator gets pulled in fifteen directions a day. The ones who can sit in the middle of chaos and stay steady? Those are the ones you want.
What She Brings
One year in, I can tell you without hesitation: hiring Cyndy was one of the best decisions we’ve made at Lakefront.
She runs the office. She keeps the bookkeeping tight. She relays messages, preps us for meetings, and reminds me about personal appointments and family events. Her former boss told me Cyndy “anticipates needs before you realize you have them,” and I remember nodding politely at the time. Now I know exactly what she meant. Cyndy sees the thing coming three steps before any of us do, and by the time we look up, she’s already handled it.
Give her something new — a process to build, a project to take on, a curveball — and the answer is always the same: yes, I can. No flinching. No fuss. Just done.
She is the calm our office needed.
Cheers to One Year, Cyndy
A year in, I can say it plainly: we’d be lost without her. The hesitation I felt before that interview now feels almost funny — like worrying about the weather on the best day of the summer.
Turns out the woman I used to sit next to at basketball games is the same woman who keeps this whole office on the rails.
Cheers to one year, Cyndy. Here’s to many more!
