As a life-long competitive dancer, Annemarie goes to weekly practices on weekends – sometimes with additional ones on week days.

👸 On top of dancing, she's been competing in pageants for about ten years. Most recently, she competed in the International Junior Miss Pageant.

While her extracurriculars can be a lot, Annemarie handles it all with grace with support from her community of dancers and pageant participants, an athletic mindset, and strong self-care routines. 

➡️ But what can all of us learn from dance and pageantry? While both are great ways for Annemarie to connect with others, they also translate well into life as a staffer.

"I have gained so many skills from dance - whether it's through my presentation skills, my confidence skills, or my creative skills ... Sometimes with my schedule, you just gotta go with the flow and you just have to adapt. The show must go on kind-of mindset," says Annemarie.

💅 And it's not just dancing that's taught her some Hill-relevant skills. She credits her communication, leadership, confidence, and social branding skills to pageantry.

Does that mean you, reading this, should pick up pageantry or brush up your Irish dance skills? Not necessarily (although that may be entertaining), but it does mean to try something outside of work!

Annemarie encourages everyone to find something they are passionate about – whether a hobby or a sport – to keep themselves busy. You never know: It may lead to something useful to your career. If not, that's fine too – not everything has to be about work.