Tracey (Engstrom) Brownlee

Hello everyone! Am I really the first to complain about that horrible senior picture? I looked like a dork! Unfortunately a couple weeks ago I happen to be looking at pictures from 10 years ago and I still looked like a dork. Maybe there's something I'm missing here... Anyway, my life doesn't look as interesting in print as some others, but here it goes.

I started college at UC Santa Barbara. I had wanted to go to Santa Barbara since I was 12, but unfortunately, it turns out I was not the same person at 18 as I was at 12. Imagine that. Needless to say, I found that the California lifestyle was not for me and I transferred to Arizona State University in my sophomore year. When I first transferred I roomed with Jennifer (Fox) Kennedy for a semester, and mostly kept my nose in the books in college to make up for changing schools in the middle of my degree. I emerged four years later with a degree in Accounting and a CPA. Woo hoo! What a crazy ride!

Before I graduated I tried to get a job in Colorado but they saw through my thin veil of deception in trying to get someone else to pay for my move. I ended up getting a job at Motorola in Scottsdale, AZ. I spent the next two years focused on getting two years of experience so I could get a job in Colorado. Guess what - I'm still at Motorola in Arizona! That's mostly due to meeting Paul, but more on that later.

Yep, this will be my 16th year at Motorola, spent entirely within (gasp!) a cube of some sort. I spent 9 years in Finance, and the last 7 years in a job that can only be described as a "jack of all trades". I'm mostly involved in project management, but I'm also a business systems analyst so I have also been immersed into the world of IT and software development among other things.

The reality is that I've had a good career at Motorola with some very unique experiences along the way. I currently work for a great manager and with one of the best teams I've ever known, so I keep staying there. I have struggled through the Corporate world to achieve the highly coveted position of lower level management. However, in the last 7 years Motorola in Arizona has gone from 20,000 people strong when I was hired to barely 1,500 with lay-offs actively occurring. I know my time at Motorola will end soon and I'm ready for the change.

Outside of all that crappy job stuff, I met a wonderful man, Paul, in 1993 through (shock!) Motorola. We were actually set up by a mutual friend through the guise of helping her move. One week later I went to his birthday party and found that his living room was permanently set up for a band (guitars, amps, microphones, a keyboard and two drum sets; oh yeah, and a keg). Ok, it wasn't completely love at first sight but I moved in within a year. We married in 1998 and continue to live in the Phoenix area with one dog and no kids. Paul is originally from Nebraska, is involved in designing military radios, and now works for General Dynamics. Nope, the living room isn't set up for a band anymore but we still own more instruments than we play.

In all seriousness, I have been very fortunate to find a great guy and to have the opportunity to pursue our interests. I have had plenty of adventure but just don't feel comfortable disclosing all of that in a public forum that my mother will be reading (remove stories of Irish pubs, sweat lodges, and drunken cactus encounters here). We enjoy traveling, camping, hiking, and otherwise mucking around in the outdoors, along with sports, music, family, wine tasting, and good friends. We're also well-versed in several popular TV shows.

My father retired in 1999 and my parents moved that day (literally) to Arizona so I've only been back to LA a couple of times since I graduated, but I still keep in contact with several friends from there. We haven't firmed our plans yet but we probably won't make it to the reunion. I hope everyone has a good time and good luck in the next 20 years!

Tracey