{"id":597,"date":"2026-02-16T17:44:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T17:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/?p=597"},"modified":"2026-02-16T17:44:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T17:44:52","slug":"trusting-the-detours-lindsey-brooks-24-and-her-path-to-operations-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/2026\/02\/16\/trusting-the-detours-lindsey-brooks-24-and-her-path-to-operations-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Trusting the Detours: Lindsey Brooks \u201924 and Her Path to Operations Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When you meet Lindsey Brooks<\/a>, you immediately sense someone who is both grounded and in motion \u2013 a person who thrives by doing, learning, stretching, and stepping into whatever the moment demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lindsey graduated with a degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from the Lacy School of Business in May 2024, and today, she\u2019s the Operations Associate at King Lou Pets<\/a>, a fast-growing, real-life-inspired pet nutrition company that makes super treats for dogs and cats. The Butler alum oversees warehouse flow, fulfillment, inventory, packaging, and anything else that keeps a young, nimble business running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnything that would affect how we go about our day-to-day is what I handle,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then some other overlap things. I help with our live streams, a little bit of marketing, whatever the business needs.\u201d It\u2019s the exact kind of environment she\u2019s always quietly gravitated toward: hands-on, human-sized, and full of things to figure out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her journey to that spot started long before graduation \u2013 back when she was just a high schooler in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she heard about a small, private university in Indianapolis. \u201cI knew I did well in 30-person classes,\u201d she remembered. \u201cBut a 500-person lecture hall? That sounded like the death of me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LSB checked every box she didn\u2019t know she had: intimate classes, a campus that felt big enough but not overwhelming. \u201cAnd it was super dog friendly, which \u2013 huge animal person over here,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even still, it wasn\u2019t until she was invited to the Lacy Business Scholars Day that everything clicked into place. \u201cThe sessions, the alumni, what the program offered \u2013 everything aligned.\u201d She came in as an Exploratory Business major, drawn to business but not yet to a single lane. And then she won the scholarship. \u201cThat was the difference between me needing student loans and not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once at Butler, she didn\u2019t just join campus life \u2013 she dove straight into it. Honors. Lacy Scholars. Entrepreneurship & Innovation Club. Stencil. Dawgs Serving Dogs<\/a>. Club soccer. Coaching. Volunteering. \u201cI\u2019m someone who works better busy,\u201d she said. \u201cThe more I have to do, the less I procrastinate. And everything I joined gave me an outlet that wasn\u2019t academic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the classroom, she found the professors who helped shape her path. Early on, it was Professor Kristi Mitchell<\/a>, lecturer of entrepreneurship and innovation, in First-Year Business Experience. \u201cThat class made me realize I wanted to do entrepreneurship and innovation,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI loved problem solving \u2013 that feeling of having a million obstacles and figuring out how to get through them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, in Operations Management with Professor Matthew Caito<\/a>, lecturer in operations management, something even more surprising happened. \u201cI\u2019m very black-and-white, type A \u2013 and operations just made sense to me. But it still had room for creativity. That balance felt right.\u201d Professor Caito would also become one of the first people she turned to when she realized her first job out of college wasn\u2019t for her. \u201cHe helped me think through what I liked, what I didn\u2019t, what to look for, even what to say in interviews. That openness \u2013 it changed everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brought her to the pivot she didn\u2019t see coming. \u201cI always said I didn\u2019t want to do supply chain,\u201d she admitted. But during a rough stretch in a sales role, she knew wasn\u2019t the right fit, she reached out to Professor Caito.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told him, \u2018I like talking to people, but I don\u2019t like hounding people.\u2019 I had no idea what was next.\u201d He asked questions she hadn\u2019t considered. What did she enjoy? What parts of her last job did she want to keep? Was she willing to trade the comfort of stability for the learning curve of a small business? \u201cHe basically said, \u2018Worst case scenario, it\u2019s not glamorous. Are you okay with that?\u2019 And I realized\u2026 yes, I am.\u201d She smiled. \u201cSmall business is exactly what I wanted. And he helped me understand how my experiences fit into that world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She took the leap \u2013 from an almost Fortune 500 company to a startup \u2013 and everything changed. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to find your perfect fit first, second, or even third,\u201d she said. \u201cJust getting into an area or company you like is already a win. I was freaking out back then, but now? I\u2019m 24 and I love my job. That\u2019s already such a blessing.\u201d Her advice to students feeling the pressure to have it all figured out: \u201cTake the pressure off yourself. Be open to risks. Don\u2019t worry what it looks like from the outside. Every step is a steppingstone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, she sees a future rooted in operations. \u201cI love the raw materials side, I love relationships, I love the backend,\u201d she said. Her long-term dream is clear: Director of Operations. Not just running the systems, but shaping them \u2013 sourcing new farms for ingredients, managing teams, building structure, being the person who keeps everything moving. She knows she\u2019s ambitious. And she knows she\u2019s in the right place to grow. \u201cMy old job had a clear track,\u201d Lindsey said. \u201cThis job has a clear purpose. And that matters more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she reflects on her time at LSB, one thing stands above the rest: the power of a network. \u201cThey emphasized it so much \u2013 and now I\u2019m like, okay, I get it. The bigger your network, the more potential you have.\u201d She remembers building a LinkedIn profile in class, talking to peers in Real Business Experience<\/a>, meeting guest speakers, and staying connected with professors. \u201cAfter speaking at an event recently, my LinkedIn was flooded with requests. That wouldn\u2019t have happened if LSB hadn\u2019t taught me how to show up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her final words to current students are simple, honest, and lived: \u201cKeep your mind open. Be willing to take risks. Every internship, every job, even the ones you don\u2019t like, teaches you something. You\u2019re not going to know what you want out of a career until you test things out. And that\u2019s okay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When you meet Lindsey Brooks, you immediately sense someone who is both grounded and in motion \u2013 a person who thrives by doing, learning, stretching, and stepping into whatever the moment demands.<\/p>\n

Lindsey graduated with a degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from the Lacy School of Business in May 2023, and today, she\u2019s the Operations Associate at King Lou Pets, a fast-growing, real-life-inspired pet nutrition company that makes super treats for dogs and cats. The Butler alum oversees warehouse flow, fulfillment, inventory, packaging, and anything else that keeps a young, nimble business running.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2812,"featured_media":784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[38],"class_list":["post-597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions\/785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}