Meet Kim Illum
- Tell us a little about yourself and your family. Where is your hometown?
My family is originally from New York. I was born in Queens, New York but moved to Florida when I was about 3 years old. My aunt and uncle on my mom’s side of the family bought a house in the small town of Ruskin back in the early 1970s. When my grandparents came down to visit them, they liked the area so much that they decided to have a house built in Ruskin as well. My parents then followed suit and had a house built in the late 1970s. I spent almost every summer, spring, and winter breaks back in New York to visit my family and friends. Today, a majority of my family still lives in the northeast, but now mostly throughout Long Island. I still try to head up there when I can.
- Tell us three things that most people do not know about you.
1) I am partners with a friend and we have a 501(c) non-profit turtle/tortoise rescue called Turtle Rescue USA. My partner handles the rehabbing side of the rescue and I handle the adoption side of the rescue.
2) I am a huge animal lover. I have 1 large size dog, 3 cats that started off as ferals but now are friendly (and I consider them mine now), 40-50 turtles/tortoises that are my personal pets (all which have been rescues), 20 different types of ball pythons, and 1 pacman frog. While snakes, and most bugs don’t bother me, the one thing that I am really afraid of is spiders.
3) I am a very quiet person at first, but once I get to know you I am a very outgoing person.
- What kinds of hobbies and interests do you have outside of work?
I like to do adventurous things, which have included zip-lining in Belize and even skydiving!
I like going to the beach, snorkeling, boogie boarding, attending car shows, riding motorcycles, and traveling, mostly taking cruises.
- What do you like to do on your days off?
While I try to relax on my days off, I am usually approving people looking to adopt new reptiles, contacting people back to help surrender their reptiles they no longer wish to keep, and setting up times for people to pick up their new pets once they have been approved. Sometimes I have to pick up turtles and tortoises that have been injured and either take them to vet if their injuries are too bad, or get them to my rehab partner.
- What is your role at Legal Shred?
I am the office manager at Legal Shred. When I first started, I was their first full-time office person! There were two other ladies that were working part-time.
- Before working at Legal Shred, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?
One of the most interesting jobs I had was when I was working at a jewelry store in the mall. It was interesting and scary at the same time to see the different ways on how people would try to steal from the store. I loved seeing the mall decorated at Christmastime, but I didn’t love the traffic getting out. Loved seeing the newly designed jewelry that came in to display.
- What do you like the most about Legal Shred?
There are several things that I really love about Legal Shred. I love that this is a small business and that we all work closely together. The owners, Sean and Jason, are wonderful guys to work for and are the main reason I enjoy working here. You can work for a good company, but if you have bad owners, it tends to trickle down, making it a stressful working environment. The owners really make you feel like you are part of their family, no matter how long you have worked for them. They will do just about anything to help their employees if a situation should arise professionally or personally. They also keep the employees in the loop of certain business decisions being made, and also ask the employees for their input on making things run smoother in the office, like ideas on getting new leads, and other things that may come up. Legal Shred is growing and I am very excited to be part of this adventure!
