Three careers taught me to look for the same thing first: evidence.

I grew up in a family that relied on food stamps. At 38, I made a career move that cut my income roughly in half. For a while, I needed help from my mother and two close friends to cover groceries and bills. Going through that changed how I think about career decisions. Salary and title matter. So does the life a job makes possible.

At 47, I moved into B2B tech sales, where my background didn’t look like an obvious fit on paper. I’ve since closed seven figures in B2B tech deals.

At 51, I’m building Sammie Cooper Advisory while continuing my full-time work as an account executive. I’m learning what it takes to turn my experience and ideas into a business, and sharing some of that as I go. Careers and sales are part of it. So are the people I care about, the things that make me laugh, and what I’m still figuring out.

One reason I moved into tech sales was the chance to work remotely. Working remotely meant I could spend the final six weeks of my dog Atia’s life with her. That time with her made the value of remote work very real to me.

Across law enforcement, higher education admissions, and B2B tech sales, I kept coming back to the same discipline: find out what is actually true before acting. Getting it wrong has real consequences.

In policing, the stakes were immediate. In higher education, they included someone’s tuition and years of their life. In sales, they include a buyer’s budget and internal credibility.

I bring that same care to my advisory work. I help people examine what is true about their situation, draw on what they’ve learned, and explain their thinking to the people who need to understand it.