As the daughter of a pastor, relocation came with the territory. “I was born in Idaho, but then lived in Washington state for five years before moving to Minnesota (best state there is).” 14 moves later, she has finally settled herself into her current Orange County residence.
Attending Concordia University in Irvine, Anna graduated in 2012 with a degree in elementary education. Realizing she had no desire to teach, she switched gears and decided to work for a friend’s pizza company up in Northern California, “It was pretty much the best job I’ve ever had. If you’re ever in Rocklin, look them up! http://www.bellafamiliapizza.com/). “
After moving back down to Southern California, Anna joined the Crescent family. “About 2 weeks after I started was the annual Christmas party,” Anna recalls. “Right before we left to go there, Eugenia gave me the present all Irvine people got that year—a flask that says “TGIF”—and said, “The alcohol is under the sink to the left.” HAHAH I’m sure my jaw hit the ground!!” Day to day, Anna handles all of the general administrative duties and any event planning that happens in the Irvine office. ”Anna is one of the happiest people I know,” says Dave Etnire, Senior Recruiting Partner. ”That woman always has a smile on her face – I think it’s because she doesn’t have to deal with 3 feet of snow on the ground like she did in Minnesota! It’s either that or this boy that she calls every day at lunch! Either way, she is a pleasure to be around – so nice and fun! She is also a great co-worker; she has helped me out so many times. She makes everyone feel welcome and at home at Crescent.”
“I keep the riff raff out,” says Anna jokingly. But co-worker Jenn Espinoza wholeheartedly agrees with Dave, “Anna is honestly the most genuine soul I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She is the first face I see when I walk into the office each day and her smile and greeting alone makes for a GREAT day!”
A driving force for Anna’s workplace happiness is the unconventional nature of the Crescent office. “It makes me laugh how non-traditional Crescent is,” she says. “We have a keg and the guys often have a beer on Friday afternoons (as well as the other days of the week), we sometimes have dogs or children running around, and the guys are constantly hitting golf balls around the office. This is so unlike any other office!”
Outside of the office, she has been known to be a bit unconventional herself, “I have successfully wedding crashed twice, gone to an Ostrich farm up near SLO, and I’ve been out of the country four times by myself, including when I went to South America at 21 for 6 weeks knowing no Spanish at all. I had a blast!” says the optimistic adventurer.
Aside from the escapades, Anna really enjoys being with people, eating, relaxing, and spending time with her “main squeeze” Brendan. “I seriously crave doing out-of-the-ordinary things, but learning about and loving other people are where I get a lot of joy,” admits Anna. “I find genuinely funny things funny – i.e. I do not do sarcasm very well! Hah!” she adds. “For example, there are multiple hilarious events that happen in the office but yes, they usually do involve daring someone to eat weird/gross food for money.” You have to love an unconventional office.
