I was born and raised in Santa Rosa, CA. I am the second child of a black mother and white father. They were divorced and my mother passed away all before I was 7. My father remarried and I’m grateful that my stepmom is a woman I called my friend. My older sister is an amazing woman, successful in career and family, yet lives too far away. Thank goodness for Skype.
When I was little, I wanted to be an actress and a writer. I was conscious of how difficult entertainment was as a career and I thought it was slightly odd that I didn’t want to be famous, I just wanted to be able to have a job I thought was cool and exciting. I spent every year of my childhood on stage via the band (cello one year, saxophone the next…Dad wasn’t having the drums), chorus, dance, drama or speech. Almost everyone in my family performs in one capacity or another. So I went to business college.
My grandma was the first person I knew to have a computer. In the early eighties she was rocking the Commodore 64 and told me that computers were the way of the future. At the ripe old age of 8, I just rolled my eyes in an early onset of “Iknoweverything-itis”. When I decided for myself that no matter what job I took, I would need to know computers proficiently, I realized how accurate her prediction was. I double majored in Computer Office Administration (software) and Computer Business Administration (business with emphasis on technology) and got two A.A.S. degrees concurrently, was salutorian of my class, and maintained a 4.0 all the way through. (If you are interested, my LinkedIn profile.)
After graduating, I spent a year as a technical recruiter but when I could smell in the air that no one actually was making a viable product, I left. Just weeks later the tech bubble burst. By then, I had decided to follow my childhood dreams of becoming an actress. Four strikes in six years was painful to endure but I did have fun. Getting paid to jump on a trampoline in a business suit, learning to snowboard on camera, being able to say I was in a Michael Jackson video, winning a game show, being in the very first Apple software product point of sale film*. All the things I did were fun and are great stories to tell. The uncertainty was difficult.
Kerry on the left in the Original Apple iMovie Point of Sale Film
After I met the man who was to become my husband, I had had enough of the industry. I decided to use my education to support myself and the family we wanted to have. We moved to Indio, CA, which is very close to Palm Springs and is the home of the Coachella Music Festival, because my husband is a scratch golfer and was able to play in that golf mecca 12 hours a day 7 days a week. Jobs, marriage, baby, and we moved home to Santa Rosa. When we decided that I needed to go back to work after having my child, I sat on my porch for a month to figure out what I was going to do. I had barely fit into the corporate mold before having a child and I definitely didn’t fit now. After working through at least two business plans, I crafted Kerry Rego Consulting. My strengths: technology, training, communication, organization, efficiency, and process streamlining.