Presenting

my BEST life rooke Evans spent the early part of her childhood in New England, with deep roots in Vermont. Her mother's family still has a farm up there, where you' ll also find her si x aunts and uncles, and most of her 23 first cousins. Her parents divorced when Brooke was just a baby and remarried—one another!—when she was 10. At that point the family moved to Florida to start a new life together…again. Brooke attended Florida State, though she somehow always had env isioned going to a smal l col lege somewhere like Boston. Serendipitously she ended up at FSU and says that in the end, she wouldn't have it any other way—it was meant to be. Starting of f as a computer science major, then sw itching to engineering , she quick ly discovered those weren't the right fit for her. Just before her junior year, while literal ly f lipping through a book of majors, she found herself draw n to t wo fields: accounting and interior design. With the ultimate goal in mind of getting out and being able to secure her financial f uture independently, she chose the numbers route…and then blazed a path of her ow n. She talks w ith us about the chal lenges she faced along the way, how her family shapes who she is, and what she now defines as success. What was your first job out of college? I started my career with A rthur A ndersen in 1997. At the time, the accounting field was definitely a boys club. Only in 1996 did the office even allow women to wear pantsuits! ere were a lot of women in the firm, and a few in really visible, significant positions, so it's not that women couldn't excel. A nd I wasn't shorted opportunities or passed over necessarily, but I noticed that I wasn't recognized as much as some of the guys. One day I just sort of woke up and realized that if I was going to go, I would have to do it now. So what happened next? I went to Deloie & Touche, where I learned so much. ere were so many champions there—more visible women in leadership roles who took me under their wing, advocated for me when it was time for promotion, and were flexible when I had my children. Actually, in the Tampa office there was a woman who was the very first partner to have a flex work arrangement, nationwide. She knew what she wanted in life, and knew that a woman can have it all. She was extremely commied to the firm but also extremely commied to her family. So working at a company with those kinds of values was magnificent. What made you decide to leave? I had this intuition that it was time to go. I was on the partnership track, but I saw the economy changing—this was 2007. I realized that things were going to come to an end right before it was my time. I thought, what am I doing as an auditor? ere's not a compliance bone in my body. I realized I couldn't do that for the rest of my life. I wanted to be a CFO. So I went online, went to the one recruiting firm I knew and saw an available CFO position. A er a three-week interview process, I got the offer. I scheduled meetings with two Deloie partners to resign. Keep in mind I'm nine months pregnant at the time. I resigned at the first meeting, but before the second meeting that aernoon, I had a doctor's appointment. I found out I was five centimeters dilated! I couldn't finish resigning, I had to have my baby. I actually accepted the new position on my way to the hospital. What are the secrets to balancing a career and family? "Balance" is a misnomer. I think it's just about having purpose and intent. As I thought about this "My Best Life" inter view, I got really excited. I feel like I get to live my best life ever y day. is is it. Ever y day is a gi. Since I was a lile girl I've had this vision of Brooke Evans Owner, CFO Alliance By Jules Lewis Gibson B 28 | GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com

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