A NEW DAY WITH Candace Purvis

– I think being in sales, it’s natural that you are just pretty competitive in nature. In this business you often get to see the results of your hard work immediately. That “instant gratification” is motivating and pushes you to the next level. I am always inspired by the outstanding group of colleagues here at Cellmark. Their professionalism, success and encouragement are such sources of motivation. They make you want to be your best every day.

Outside of work, my daughter is without a doubt my greatest inspiration and source of energy. Being a single mom is the hardest job I do any given day but she is my reason for everything and what makes the world so beautiful to me. I hope through mine and other amazing family members’ example, she grows up knowing the value of hard work but also how important it is to find something you love to do, and do it well.

I’ve been in the paper business now going on 17 years, but I was really born into the business. Or as we second generation paper traders say, “paper is in our blood”. My late father had a successful waste paper trading company that my mother now continues to run.

It was my father who introduced me to Tom Curran, my boss, after I had spent several years in retail management (my first job after graduating from the University of Arizona). That introduction set me on a career path that has been better than anything I ever dreamed.

I’ve been so fortunate because what I do for a living allows me to visit so many places in the world, and learn so much about other lifestyles, meet so many great people that I can now call friends, yet I’m still able to call Southern California home.

When Dad passed two years ago, on a personal trip overseas, a long-term business partner of both CellMark and my father’s company took the most amazing care of my parents in his country until we could bring Dad back home. I’m always deeply humbled and grateful for the relationships all over the world that I have made because of CellMark and being a second generation paper trader.