You Reap What You Sow

As the new editor-in-chief of the EA Journal, I wanted to introduce myself. I didn’t initially plan on working in tax. In fact, I dropped my accounting courses in college and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Industrial Psychology and a Master of Science degree in Public Personnel Management. But I’ve been an enrolled agent (EA) since 2007 and I’m sure this is exactly where I should be.

I joined the National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA) in 2007, became an NTPI Fellow® in 2010, and attended the Schuldiner/Smollan Leadership Academy (SSLA) in 2015. Throughout my career, teaching has been a passion. Although I had experience teaching classes for military family members, I began teaching tax classes at Jackson Hewitt in 2004 and have been teaching taxes ever since. I currently teach classes for the NAEA and their affiliates on practice management, cryptocurrency, and other topics. I taught a Special Enrollment Exam (SEE) preparation course at the Northern Virginia Community College from 2014–2017 and through that was able to get many new EAs involved in their respective state affiliates, and the NAEA. In 2022, I was invited to join the SSLA instructor team where I lead sessions on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

My involvement with the association in various leadership roles began as a chapter president and state president of The Virginia Society of Enrolled Agents (VASEA). I am now an active member of the Texas Society of Enrolled Agents (TxSEA) since moving to Texas in 2022. I’ve attended several NAEA fly-ins and just completed a two-year term as a director on the NAEA board. I led the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force and chaired the DEI Committee. I’ve written many tax articles and have appeared on many podcasts including on CNN. Helping the next generation of tax professionals remains important to me and in addition to teaching the SEE course, I edited and updated the Basic Tax Course for the Income Tax School (now part of Surgent), and I am currently updating the EA Review Course for Surgent.

I’ve operated a private virtual practice since 2007 with a focus on military taxpayers. For the past three years, I have been a tax project manager for Token Tax which specializes in cryptocurrency taxation. I am a firm believer that you get out of something what you put into it. I’ve put a lot of my time and energy into the NAEA over the years and I have seen the fruits of that labor. As I complete my 21st tax season, I reflect on all I’ve learned and all I’ve forgotten, and how much more there is to know. This field keeps us active and keeps us learning, and my goal is to make the EA Journal part of the learning journey for all of our members.