by Aspen Lundeen
Imagine 10-year-old me sitting on the floor drawing up extremely average sketches of leggings, sports bras, tank tops, and sweatshirts. “I want to have a fitness wear line,” I would tell my parents. And then I would proceed to tell them that I want to design restaurants and I’d also tell them I wanted to engineer rollercoasters. Needless to say I was always a dreamer, however, I never saw them as dreams. I figured they’d all come true. I figured I would have my own fitness wear line, while creating a rollercoaster as I am eating in a restaurant that I designed. I can thank my mom and dad for this elaborate mentality that I can accomplish anything I could possibly think of. Growing up with parents that started their own very successful company from the ground up instilled something in my brother and me that I’m not sure everyone has – the mindset that anything we put our heads and our hearts into, we will accomplish.
From the start of college, my newest dream was to love my job every single day. It was to work at a place that made me a better person, and to grow with the company I was with. When I was in college, and even after college, many of my friends were accepting jobs that maybe were not exactly what they wanted to do. “You have to start somewhere,” they all told me. But I never believed them. I never took that answer, because I truly believed one does not need to settle when it comes to anything in life. I’ve always been a very passionate person. And you can easily tell if I am passionate about something or not. I would not decide on a job until I found one I was excited about, because life is too damn short to hate what you do every day.
Coming from being on athletic teams my whole life, I was starving to be a part of something once I graduated. I needed that community that supported me, and to be around people I connected with. I remember specifically sitting in my car and talking with my mom in August. I was between two job offers. One was full-time corporate with a stable salary, the easy choice for most people my age. The other was Alchemy. I was offered less than part-time with hourly pay. The process of the decision was not easy, but the answer always was – Alchemy was my home. My mom gave me that last small push I needed when she expressed my grandpa’s best line, “make a decision, and then make it the right decision.” Since that day, two months ago, I’ve had the opportunity to become a full time employee and the retail lead at Northeast.
Here’s the deal – things are simple when you have passion. Things fall into place when you follow those passions. When you love what you do, things work out. I never forced something that shouldn’t be. I never settled for what I “thought” I should do based on financials or other people. I followed my heart and it lead me to exactly what I wanted – and more importantly – what I needed.
Aspen Lundeen is the retail lead at Alchemy Northeast. In her free time she enjoys being on the lake, hanging with her family, and traveling as much as possible.
