25 Year Reflections: Katy Booth’s Story
As we celebrate 25 years of building community, we asked our team to reflect on their own growth from 1999 to today. In 1999, Director Katy Booth was using dial-up internet to chat with friends on AIM and hoarding Gelly roll pens to write personalized locker notes. Now, 25 years later, Katy leads our Boston office after working as a CPA for several years. Read the full interview below to get an inside look at Katy’s transformation from preteen movie-goer to Bridgepoint Director.
Reflect on where you were 25 years ago and your career aspirations. What would you tell that person now? I was in 7th grade in Colleyville, TX. My focus was primarily on school and sports. I consistently made the Honor Roll and participated in soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross-country, and swim team. I certainly did not know where my career path would lead me, but I would tell myself to keep working hard and follow my passions personally and professionally.
How does your career progression align with or differ from your expectations 25 years ago? I don’t think 12-year-old me would have said I would be a CPA and lead an office for a management consulting firm in 25 years. My 7 years at EY in Assurance and Consulting in DC set a great foundation for my success in Bridgepoint’s NetSuite Implementation team in Austin and now in leading the Boston FinOps team. While I didn’t know my career path, I think I landed in the right role for me!
What was your biggest work tech headache 25 years ago? Some of my friends had pagers that their parents would message them on to organize movie theatre pick-up.
What was your dream office perk in 1999? Papa John’s pizza days in the school cafeteria!
How did you collaborate with colleagues? I mostly used dial-up internet to chat with my friends on AIM.
What office supplies did you hoard the most back in 1999? Gelly Roll pens in glitter colors. I would write notes and stick them in my friends’ lockers.
What was your biggest work disaster 25 years ago? I was presenting a “how-to” presentation on making Peanut Butter Cookies for Speech class. In the middle of my presentation, I realized that I had forgotten the eggs from the fridge at home, and I was so thrown off that I could barely get back on track. Public speaking was incredibly scary as an awkward preteen.
What skill did you use the most at work in 1999? Writing! Very little was done on computers in school in 1999, so there were a lot more textbooks to carry around and writing done with pen and paper.
Looking back, what surprises you most about how work has changed from 1999 to 2024? Technology has played a major part in the evolution of how we work ‘smarter, not harder’ and created a lot of efficiency.
