One of the questions I’m asked most: How’d you get to be the governor’s personal assistant?
It’s a valid question. I have an amazing job, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants his social life replaced by work. But how a person would go about getting a job like mine is tricky. In all honesty, getting my job in the governor’s office is the reason I began believing in God again.
After four years of attending Oklahoma Baptist University in my hometown of Shawnee, Oklahoma, I started to doubt my faith. It wasn’t really anything God did that made me question His existence; it was the way so-called “Christians” behaved. College students, who were just like me, would judge and belittle anything I did. I would be reprimanded by my peers for making stupid jokes, but then would have to listen to their stories about how they got super drunk, or how they did some other immoral deed. It was this hypocrisy that made me realize I didn’t want to have anything to do with these people.
After OBU I worked part-time at the Shawnee News-Star, Shawnee’s local newspaper. I helped layout the pages and wrote short stories about the smaller towns’ sports teams. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t pay the bills. So I took a full-time job working at Shawnee’s ExxonMobil polypropylene factory. Polypropylene is plastic. That’s right, I made plastic wrap. It was terrible, and I will probably die from cancer caused by inhaling melting plastic 12-hours a day, four days a week, for a year.
Realizing I was not suited for factory work, I applied to graduate school at the University of Oklahoma. I was admitted into the landscape architecture program and loved designing landscapes, but I hated everything else (why do I need to know the shear strength of different kinds of concrete?). I was still living in Shawnee, driving back and forth to Norman every day while still working part-time at the News-Star.
After a semester of being told I wasn’t very good at landscape architecture, I decided to drop out. This was easily the worst part of my life. I didn’t have a full-time job. Instead I worked two part-time jobs. One at the News-Star and the other at Abercrombie & Fitch (which is the worst place on this planet, but I won’t get into that here). After a few months of hating life and knowing that I was capable of more, I quit A&F. I just walked out – the first time I had ever quit a job without giving two weeks notice.
That warm, spring afternoon, I drove around Norman. I went to a Barnes & Noble (That place always make me happy), and grabbed a coffee and sat staring out the window, thinking about what went wrong in my life. I was a college graduate, a failed grad student, and I had no direction in my life. The only thing I enjoyed in life was performing stand-up comedy at open mikes. But Oklahoma is not the place to make a living doing comedy, and I didn’t have the means to move to a city that would facilitate a career in comedy (or the guts to actually move).
The same day I quit A&F (easily the most depressing day of my life), I got a call from a friend I hadn’t talked to since graduating college two years prior. She told me about an opening in the governor’s office. It would be for an administrative assistant position. She heard I dropped out of grad school and might be looking for something.
“Send me your resume, and I’ll pass it along to the chief of staff,” she told me.
As I drove to Shawnee from Norman, I prayed. It was the first time I had talked to God in a long time. I simply asked if this call was for a reason.
The next day I sent my resume to Leslie, and a week later I interviewed for the administrative assistant job in the governor’s office. I couldn’t gauge how I did. I had never had a job interview where I had to wear a suit (the only suit I had was the one I had worn my junior year in high school for a dance – the stupid thing still fit).
I waited a week before hearing anything. Nelda, the governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff, called me back to have another interview; this time with her and Gerald Adams, the gov’s Chief of Staff. I donned the exact same suit I had worn a week ago and went back in. In a twist of fate, I learned that the house where I had grown up, in Shawnee was the same house where Gerald had lived while he was a student at OBU.
It seemed like too much of a coincidence for all these things to be happening. It was the first time that I’ve been aware of a power bigger than me at work. I can’t explain it, but it was something I can only attribute to God.
Two days later, Nelda called and offered me the position as an administrative assistant.
Now, I realize you want to know how I became the governor’s personal assistant. I’m getting there. I thought you might like to know how I got my foot in the door first.
Working as an administrative assistant is a thankless job. When people call, wanting the governor to solve all their problems, or to blame him for something, they are first greeted by an administrative assistant (me). I got yelled at a lot by angry citizens and it was a very stressful job for the $25,000 salary that came with it. But it’s not to say a lot of good didn’t come out of it; I also got to meet a lot of really nice, grateful people. Around my one-year anniversary of this job, I started volunteering for the governor’s re-election campaign. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. I worked at the office. Nights I would spend my time helping with the campaign. I used a week of vacation to tour western Oklahoma on the campaign. Over that first year in his office I started to see how the decisions of our leaders affect the lives of citizens, and I believed in Brad and his vision of Oklahoma. It was the main reason I campaigned as hard as I did for him (well, that and I wanted to have a job for the next four years).
Governor Henry ran a clean race and beat former Congressman Ernest Istook by one of the largest margin in our states history.
After securing my job as an administrative assistant for the next four years, I settled back into the swing of things at the front desk of the office, working during the day and going to classes at Oklahoma City University at night. One of my class projects was to interview someone I respect. I decided to ask the governor if he could spare a few minutes for this interview. I received an email almost instantly from the governor asking if I could stay after work for the interview.
When I went into his office, Gerald was already seated on the sofa in the back of the governor’s office. The gov told me, “Have a seat. Can you save the interview for later? There’s something Gerald and I need to discuss with you.”
I went from being nervous about the interview, to being terrified that I was in trouble. The gov and Gerald told me that Luke Martin, the gov’s personal assistant for the first four years, was leaving, and they wanted to know if I would be interested in the position. I didn’t hesitate.
“I’m honored that you would consider me for this position! Of course I’ll do it.”
The governor smiled and said, “I want you to start shadowing Luke and I tomorrow.”