Written by Debbie Shannon | 05 March 2010

Heather McDonough has done something most CPA’s only fantasize about – she auditioned to be a New York City Rockette.  While this Berman Hopkins Wright & LaHam senior tax manager did not make the chorus line she did have the experience of a lifetime.  “I was 25 and it was nerve-racking, but the coolest thing,” said McDonough, who has been a ballet, tap and jazz dancer since she was a toddler. “I still love to watch them.”

That adrenalin rush that McDonough felt at Radio City Music Hall is still with her today.  Tax season is in full swing: March 15 is the first deadline for corporate work and 30 days later personal work, partnerships and trust returns must be filed.

Written by BrevardCounty.com | 22 February 2010

Company: Exceptional Dentistry (Melbourne)

Position: Owner

Background:  University of South Florida undergraduate degree in biology and doctorate from the University of Florida College of Dentistry.  She has been in private practice in the Melbourne area since 1996. 

Why so many women are entering dentistry: “You can have a solo practice and work as many hours as you want.  But there are also a lot of great opportunities out there for a woman who wants to have a family and only work a few days a week.  That can be a hard thing to find in the corporate world.”

Advice to others who might follow in her footsteps: “I think it’s pretty straightforward: Follow your heart, do what you love and work really, really hard.”

Written by BrevardCounty.com | 22 February 2010

Company: Beachside Performance & Health Studio (Indialantic)

Position: Vice President of Operations and Director of Wellness

Background: A licensed massage therapist, assistant in physical therapy and pilates instructor, she spent six months aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy off the coast of Sierra Leone.  She has been at Beachside about three years.

Greatest challenge faced by her company and field: “Instilling ideas of how important health care is.  Your fitness and health are the most important things you have.”

What she believes about the future of her industry: “Our future must include creating a healthier environment to keep people away from (things and activities that may be harmful) and expanding knowledge of fitness and health.”

Advice to others who might follow in her footsteps: “Your field needs to be your passion and you need to practice what you preach."

Written by BrevardCounty.com | 22 February 2010

Cynthia Bryant wasn’t going to be a physician.

She took a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin and then prospered in her own business, selling Mary Kay cosmetics.  But something about medicine still appealed to this daughter of an orthopedic surgeon and a registered nurse, and so, at the age of 28, she returned to the university in order to fulfill prerequisites for medical school, and then enrolled at the Medical College of Wisconsin.  She now practices radiation oncology, a specialty she never thought she would practice, at Space Coast Cancer Center.

“When I went to medical school, I was going to be an OB/GYN.  I remember telling my mother that I would never do oncology, ever,” she says.  “Then Beth Erickson (a much-respected radiation oncologist in Wisconsin) came down and I thought she was the coolest person I’d ever met.  That was the first time I’d ever even thought about radiation oncology.”