I am the Vice-President of English and Continental Furniture at Doyle New York. The primary hat I wear at Doyle's is general appraiser of furniture and decorative arts, but my specialty is 18th Cent English & Continental silver and decorative arts, and I'm one of Doyle's primary auctioneers. I also do charity auctions, and am a Featured Appraiser on Antiques Roadshow.

EDUCATION | GED

HOW TO GET STARTED | Try not to immerse yourself too heavily in the academics, there's just as many successful people in this industry with zero academic training as people with Master's Degrees, and everyone starts at the bottom. Attend a lot of auctions, there's so many that are free to the public, and unlike in museums, at auctions you can actually pick things up and touch them. I learned so much from the ground-up, after all, you don't know you're looking at something valuable if you haven't seen a lot that isn't valuable. Hands-on experience is very important, it's a touchy-feely business. Doing internships and volunteering are wonderful for starting out, and you'll learn so much from attending seminars, lectures and auctions. There's nothing holding you back in this industry but your own perceived limitations. Consider my beginnings, no university education, started out hauling furniture and driving the truck, but I devoured everything that could give me knowledge and provided myself with ample opportunities for experience.

MUST HAVE TRAITS | Confidence and trust in your own valuations. Outgoing. Team-player. Willing to roll up your sleeves and drive a truck or rummage through a dusty attic. Passion. A love of history. Good eyes and hands, and a good memory.

how I got started | My dad worked for an auction house and my mom was a textile restorer, so I grew up in the business. I got my foot in the door as an "art handler," which is basically moving around furniture and art. Then I went to work in an antique shop in Washington DC, and afterward landed an entry-level position at an auction house where I was an assistant to appraisers and was given the opportunity to learn and grow. After absorbing the fundamentals, I moved to Sotheby's as a Cataloger, which was a great proving ground because the references and information at my disposal were endless, and I was learning from the best of the best.

why this job?| My dad and my god-father really inspired me. They've both done so well in this industry, and I realized that knowledge and hard work were more important than a formal education. I like to do things my own way, and in the art world, I can.

why I love this job!| I love the diversity, sometimes I'm working with 0-million collections, other days I meet some little old lady who didn't realize she had a hidden treasure in the attic. I love having so many options in the industry, it's multi-faceted, and you really do learn something new every day. There's a wonderful cast of characters that you meet in this business, they're all just so fascinating.

my typical day| My typical day can vary on if we're having an auction, but on an average day I often travel to clients' homes or businesses to do appraisals. I spend time viewing and inspecting items for auction, cataloging and conducting research in our warehouse, where I closely examine any item that will be sold. If I'm doing an episode of Antiques Roadshow, I'll spend some time preparing for an upcoming location shoot.

what they are | It's quite competitive and there's no fast track in this business. Your career will be what you make of it, but to me, that's a good challenge.

all about growth | Limitless. Your career growth is much as you want it to be. And with so many historic periods, and categories of art (furniture, paintings, silver, etc), there's many facets in which to specialize. Plus, there's quite a lot of diverse positions, antiques dealers, appraisers, auctioneers, buyers, so you can move up as well as laterally into different positions within the art world.

my website| http://www.doylenewyork.com/