Raised by a Teacher, Trained as a PM: Here’s What Stuck

Autum is passionate about cultivating positive, collaborative environments where teams thrive. She specializes in creating environments where people enjoy their work, and brings a leadership style rooted in openness, confidence, and mutual respect, driving successful outcomes across programs and projects.

  Agile   Education   Leadership  

My mom is a retired educator of 30 years—acting as the consummate, ever-memorable substitute teacher and teacher assistant. Growing up with an educator is not only filled with your own tailored lesson plans with homework and summer workshops (I’m very serious), but it shapes you in ways that you will never realize until well, you do.

I’ve been in project management for over 15 years, and spent the last five years working as a scrum master. I have a PMP and Scrum certification, and I love helping teams stay organized and focused while keeping things flexible and collaborative.

Lately, I’ve been pondering how I got here. It has nothing to do with her arming me with my very own Big Book of Tell Me Why by Arkady Leokum at the age of 6, but mostly around the intangible skills that have molded me in my career and given me tools in my belt that I’d like to pass on.

1. The Power of Patience and Process
Growing up with a teacher mom, I learned early that mastery takes time. Whether it was watching her grade papers late into the night or hearing stories about students who finally “got it” after weeks of struggle, I saw firsthand how patience fuels progress.

As a PM, I’ve carried that into stakeholder management, scope creep, and team development—knowing that clarity and consistency often win over urgency. I am a huge…

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