Shirley Moulton and grand-nephew Joseph Moulton-Condiotti. - Contributed

After 22 years as chief executive officer (CEO) of a multimillion-dollar information technology (IT) firm, Shirley Moulton packed it in and began working in the field of wellness. She was one of the presenters who flew in from the United States of America for the Shakti Love Fest launch, at which she addressed the topic: 'How to Find Peace in the Midst of all the Chaos.'

Moulton is originally from Grange Hill, Westmoreland. Her parents were Enid and Headley Moulton. At age five, she moved to Savanna-la-Mar where she attended Mannings School for a few years, completing high school at St Hugh's in St Andrew in 1970. After a year as a teller with Scotiabank, in 1971 she left Jamaica to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, USA.

Her career began at Atlantic Richfield Corporation in Philadelphia in 1977 as a staff auditor in the area of corporate finance and accounting. In 1979, she joined Sun Oil Company in that city as a senior financial analyst in the corporate finance division.

In 1983, she founded Universal Solutions Inc (USI), an IT firm that garnered multimillion-dollar status in a short time. Two weeks after she opened the doors, participation in their first computer trade show in Detroit landed them their first million-dollar account with General Motors. After serving as CEO at USI for 22 years, she sold the company and took a year off to enjoy life. By then she had enough money to live on for a few years, plus a beautiful apartment in New York City and membership at the tennis club. But after about one year of enjoying her new-found freedom, she was bored and sad.

UNSURE

"I was unsure about who I was without my multimillion-dollar company, without the constant media attention, my title, the honours and recognition from my peers and community. The things that defined who I was were no longer there," said Moulton.

She realised that she had spent her entire life until that point focused on improving her body and mind.

"I call these things my physical/external accomplishments. But I had spent little or no time tending to my inner self, my spirit and my soul. I also realised that I spent my life busy and not enough time just 'being' or being introspective," she added.

With all that in mind, Moulton set out on a path to figure out how she could feel happy and fulfilled without it involving something physical.

After numerous discussions with friends and family, her sister suggested that she take up meditation. So, she began researching meditation and its profound effects on personal well-being and health. She soon realised that this was exactly what she needed at that time in her life. She began practising meditation, and after about two years had found her balance and got some clarity about her life and future.

Different path

"I then decided to follow a vastly different path. I wanted to have a peaceful life, to be healthy and to build a company that delivered products and services to make the world a better place."

In 2006, she started Tuck Shop LLC, a well-being company. She is the CEO and president of the company and her job is focused primarily on sales and marketing strategies.

The most challenging aspect of her job is finding appropriate talent and resources to grow the business in the time frame required. She says most of the sales and marketing strategies are in the new world of social media and networking which is changing rapidly, so trying to keep up and finding 'real experts' in the space is difficult.

Nonetheless, she finds her job very rewarding especially the idea of helping to make people happy and making the world a better place.

Moulton is currently working on several books: How Big Business Can Save the Lives of Their People: A Guide to Authentic Leadership and a series for children, young adults and teens on Self-Mastery ... The Path to a Happy Life.

keisha.shakespeare@gleanerjm.com