Brandon Rea

I’m from Orange County, California, born and raised. I grew up in Buena Park in Anaheim. I went to Catholic grade school, St. Pius in Buena Park, and then went on to a Catholic High School, Servite in Anaheim. After that I went to Cal State Long Beach. Yes. I've been pretty local my whole life. 

I was always interested in business and doing business. One of the reasons I picked this field of work is because it's a pretty broad degree, and you can do a lot of things with it. But my mom says differently—and she will never let me forget this—"you wanted to be the boss and give everybody orders," she says.

While I was attending Cal State Long Beach, I was also working at Marriott. I started on the phones just like here at OTA and worked my way up into management. Eventually, I was running an entire sales team. We sold timeshare and timeshare packages. Marriott actually paid for my education, and all my books, for I am grateful. I worked for the Marriott for eleven years. It’s ironic, but literally the week I graduated, I got laid off because of the economy. It was 2009.

I was unemployed for a year, until one day the Vice President of the Marriott approached me with a job offer. He had come to OTA earlier as a student and ended up starting the Online Trading Academy call center. Knowing my skills, he brought me over with him. In December, it will be nine years at the company.

In March, I became the Global Territories Manager. I get to travel and check out the presenters, and the ECs on the road. I try to be the best manager that I can for them. If I'm not, they tell me, which is awesome because then I know what I need to do better.

I love to travel. I try to go on one cool vacation a year. This year, it's Hawaii. I am going with my mom. To be honest with you, I love to travel with my mom, dad, or friends. Last year, I went to San Antonio and brought my dad out there for Father's Day. Sometimes I'll go to Vegas with my friends to play poker. I also travel with my roommate, who I have known since grade school. We have gone to places like Thailand and China. It’s pretty awesome. And I am a big sports fan—Lakers, Raiders, Dodgers, and Kings—all the LA teams.

I always want to do what I can to be the best person I can be. You should never settle for anything less, really.