When I graduated college, I knew I wanted to be in international trade, but I didn’t know how I’d fit in…So, I moved to Manhattan and got a little apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. I looked in The New York Times classifieds the first day I arrived, and went to the heading of ‘export.’

I got a job in the mailroom of a Fifth Avenue food service exporter. They kind of questioned me about whether I wanted that job, because nobody with a college degree – or whose first language was English – had ever taken it….

A year later, the entry-level move had paid off, and I was in Manila, working as director of sales for a large trading company and traveling to capitals throughout the Far East. Seven years later, I founded Asbury Worldwide.

Julia Neyman of South Florida Business Journal recently interviewed me about exporting and international trade, and its affects on businesses.