LeslieJ.net

Business Analyst by trade, collaborative entrepreneur at heart; I have over 10 years of experience in information technology and digital business strategy.  My diverse experience working in a start-up, small business, Fortune® 500 & Fortune® 50 organizations across a variety of industries partnered with my passion for high quality analysis and process optimization makes me well suited for assisting organization and individuals with embracing Agile. I am a constant student of the art of software development and have a firm believe that IT organizations are the undercurrent of any business and are the key for achieving success in an economy where technology investments and processes can cultivate or kill a company’s competitive advantage and  profitability.

My attention to detail, engaging personality, strategic insight & communication style allow me to work across all levels of an organization building rapport and driving engagement with individual contributors as well as executive leadership.

My Story
What you see is what you get – at least that is what I’ve been told…

I’m South Carolina born n’ bred and my blood runs garnet. If you would have asked me in high school “What do you want to be when you grow up?” IT Professionalwould not have been anywhere on the list.  The beauty of it is that I could not be a single bit happier with where I’ve ended up.

I attribute my journey into the IT profession to three distinct events.
1) Meeting a very talented graphic designer and front end developer.
2) Admission into the University of South Carolina Technology Incubator.
3) A generous investment from my grandmother.

While attending the Moore School of Business at The University of South Carolina I co-founded a web development company. We presented our business plan to the admission board for the University’s Technology Incubator program and received funding and assistance to get off the ground. Those early years fostered within me an extreme passion for small business and an intense curiosity about how IT solutions can be used to gain efficiencies within business processes and give entities a leg up on the competition.

After about two years we came to a crossroads – push the company to the next level (which would take some operating capital), or allow business to relax and  treat it as a hobby. As I already hinted, raising money was the choice we made and we went to the same place many entrepreneurs go – Friends, Family, and Fools. The investment in our young company from my grandmother was without a doubt the single most influential thing that catapulted me into a profession I love.

Needless to say, it was not a typical college career, but by the end we had managed to build a stable client base and found ourselves looking at an opportunity too good to be true. We had taken the money and invested it wisely, built strong relationships with people in the Columbia, SC IT community and ended up merging with a boutique data warehousing and software development company.

I spent a handful of years doing project management, business analysis, and general administrative work for GraySail LLC. While there, I gained an appreciation for the importance of proper requirements gathering, analysis, and solutions planning. Back then you could have asked me, “Leslie, do you ever see yourself working for a large company?” and you would have gotten a resounding, “No!”

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

After GraySail I did a brief stint in digital marketing strategy for SCANA, a utility conglomerate, and was fortunate enough to spend 3.5 years working at Lowe’s Home Improvement, a Fortune® 50 retailer, on their eCommerce team leading a team of 20+ BAs and doing analysis on enterprise level solutions. Corporate cultures have their positives and negatives and I would not give a day of work at Lowe’s back, however my roots are in small business and the entrepreneurial sprit took over in the later part of 2011 and I was again out on my own before joining the ranks of what I believe are the ‘Agile Elite’ at Davisbase Consulting where I am an Agile Coach & Trainer.

Life is More than Work
When I’m not swimming in the water of business analysis and agile…

• Cooking – I was fortunate enough (or some may say unfortunate enough) to spend a lot of my childhood in a restaurant with my father. As a result I really enjoying cooking and entertaining people and often have some sort of culinary adventure going on. The highlight being my selection as a finalist for the 2010 Great Garlic Cook-off at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, CA.
• Reading – You couldn’t pay me to read a book as a kid, but now I truly enjoy a good fiction novel and have even started a Book/Supper Club with a few friends. I’ve also been known to attempt broadening my horizons with some non-fiction novels even if lots of them are business related books, and of course spend time perusing blogs and articles online.
• Music – Shh, don’t tell but I was a band geek. More than a good marching band performance give me goose bumps though. Sometimes you just can’t beat the composition of 20th century symphonic band music with intricate woodwind lines and soaring brass melodies. I was on music scholarship in college and occasionally play bassoon with local community bands and orchestras.