Alex Schonauer

Background

About Alex Schonauer

After getting my bachelor's degree in finance with a minor in economics at Illinois State University I found it very difficult to get into the financial services industry due to my criminal record for selling cannabis as a young adult. Thanks to the legalization of cannabis in IL and MI I have been able to grow my career in an area I am passion about. Having received punishment for my past actions I was able to realize there are boundaries in my actions and the reflection of such has indeed built an ethical backbone to abound to matters of which I may not agree with. I feel the path that has lead me to Harvest Manager today has served a greater purpose. In the early days of getting my degree I thought I would be a financial advisor and help people find better ways to grow their wealth and establish sound financial habits, but had to start out entry level at a bank. After 3 years I realized the cubicle life wasn't really my calling although I enjoyed the customer service and the challenges of solving operations problems. Since getting into cannaibs I've been able to experience a best of both worlds between solving people problems as a leader and solving on the floor problems in a factory type setting with more mobility. Balancing the middle ground of agent needs and upper management expectations has been my true calling. Everyday is a new challenge of motivating folks to get along, put their best foot forward, and collaborate to achieve common goals. Personally, I can't imagine working in any other industry and look forward to seeing how Cresco Labs and myself grow together!