Three Floridians reflect on the decisions that shaped where they are today.

Kevin Padgett

At 18, Kevin Padgett was certain his future pointed in only one direction: racing dirt bikes. “Racing was the only plan I had,” he says. “Race until I couldn’t, then move to repairing bikes and managing riders.”

Turns out that racing bikes wasn’t a very stable course and Padgett instead ended up in a series of entry-level jobs in food service and manual labor, spending several years as a carpet cleaner. Hoping to open some new doors, Padgett steered himself into trade school, where he earned several IT certifications. That was the ticket for him.

The Ruskin resident has built a satisfying career in IT, specifically in asset management with financial services company Raymond James. “It took a couple of years, some additional training and more certifications,” he says. “The most important step was finding something I liked (IT hardware) then going all-in on learning about it.” It’s the perfect track for lifelong learners like Padgett, especially those with mechanical and organizational skills.

Dalia Colón

If you live in the Tampa Bay area and are interested in its rich history and food culture, you probably already know Dalia Colón. She produces and hosts the popular NPR podcast “The Zest” and co-hosts and produces WEDU Arts Plus for PBS.

“I’ve always been fascinated by true stories,” Colón says. “So around middle school, I set my heart on becoming a journalist.” She graduated from journalism school and immediately parlayed her undergraduate internship into a full-time job as assistant editor with Cleveland Magazine.

These days, Colón is a busy mom who loves the schedule flexibility afforded by her public TV and radio gigs. She also does lots of freelance writing, wrote “The Florida Vegetarian Cookbook,” judged the James Beard Awards and recently collaborated with Florida Humanities and the Smithsonian Institution on a series of food exhibitions across the state.

“The turning point for me,” Colón says, “was working as an intern at WUSF radio.” She accepted the informal position as a way to learn audio editing skills, but it ended up being a bridge to a whole new career. “It opened doors that I never knew existed,” she explains. “Keep learning!”

Tiffany Dahlin

Orlando resident Tiffany Dahlin, RN, BSN, CPN, had her heart set on becoming an attorney — until her second year of law school, when she was hit by a drunk driver.

“I couldn’t get my head back in the game after that,” Dahlin says. She took a leave of absence, then another. “One year turned into two, into three, and I just really didn’t know what I wanted to do.”

Dahlin had been working at the Rainforest Cafe in Denver and transferred to the Disney Springs location for a change of scenery. That’s where it dawned on her: “Several people I worked with went to nursing school. My grandmother and aunt had been nurses. I had always been the caretaker in my friend group,” she laughs. “None of this was clicking with me.” When it finally did, she jumped in with both feet, knocking out her pre-requisites at Valencia College, then applying to nursing school.

Thirty-five years old and with a six-month-old daughter at home, Dahlin started on her nursing degree. “It was a lot,” she admits. But she soon met a group of three other second-career women in her Nursing 101 class, and they formed a tight-knit support system that helped them all get through. Dahlin is still “super connected” with them to this day.

Now a charge nurse at Nemours Children’s Hospital, does Dahlin still think she would have made an amazing lawyer? “Absolutely,” she confirms. “But I am so fulfilled every day. There are moments that make you so aware that this is what you’re supposed to be doing.”