I was fortunate to have two parents who gave the two things you need which is unconditional love and self worth. But I was a person who is pretty subject to peer pressure, and so I would define myself far too much by what other people thought of me. So, the approval of others for a long period of my life was more important than it should be. And so I knew I had loved my family and I was certainly blessed to do that. And they were good in all the ways one would hope for. But I think my own personal development took some time before I could say, actually, I needed to find myself internally, not however, if you define up by how other people via you, you're not gonna be happy person, right? Cuz you get ping pong balls around by you like me, you don't like me and this is not a healthy way to live, so it took me a longtime to realize it that wasn't way that happiness came from. Is what other people thought of you, it's really what you think of yourself, and how you define yourself. 

Work for a great social entrepreneur as their assistant, even if it is a job you think you are over-qualified to hold. You will do and learn a bunch of interesting things, get great exposure, and make some awesome contacts.

Financial challenges have a way of focusing the mind. In my case, I vowed that I would get myself out of debt and was pretty focused on achieving that. Once I did that, it was a lot easier to turn my attention to fully serving others.

Half my time is external with donors, corporate partners, and other key stakeholders. The other half of my time is spent internally on culture, strategy, management, and people.

CEO 

Family

Pressure

Self-Reflection

Happiness Comes From Yourself Not Others

How do you balance out every aspect of your life when it comes down to professional then personal, and even making time for friends and family? &gt;&gt; It's tough, but I try my very best to leave my family as a top priority for me. So I actually see my grandparents every single week. I'm super connected to them and we don't do much but just being physically present to them is enough. And I work that into my schedule. So whatever I do, I see my grandparents. If I got to travel, I see them on a weekday. If I don't, I see them on a weekend. So I do that and then for friends and family I usually leave like the weekends for that. My weekends are free of just any work related items. And even Fridays, I try my very best to work from home. So that Fridays is that one day where I sort of transition from, wow, I had a lot of work to do. But the weekend is almost here. So I really get excited about Fridays. Fridays are like my favorite days. And I usually ask that question also when I'm going into a job like, hey, what's your work life balance? Because honestly, if a manger doesn't believe in that, you can be the best worker. If they want you to be in the office, they're gonna want you to be in the office. So I usually tend to want to work for managers that are more flexible. &gt;&gt; Do you ever take time for yourself? &gt;&gt; All the time. Once a week I get a massage. It's rare that I don't make that appointment. So that appointment is sort of said. It's that Thursday from 12 to one, I don't have any meetings, I want to get a half an hour massage during my lunch hour. So I do that and then I do a lot of like, mental awareness where I'm just writing things down. And whatever I want to forget, I write it down and then I just burn that piece of paper. I think being aware mentally of where emotionally you are. So I'm very mindful about that. And then sometimes I take time to cry. Just to feeling sad about everything that I can feel sad about, and I just go, okay, yeah, my grandfather, he's sick. Okay, I need a moment where I wanna really feel sad about that. I had a really tough argument with somebody that I really didn't think it went well. Let me really be upset about that now. So, I schedule that time. Take it all out. If I have to watch a sad movie in order to get myself to that time frame, I do it. And then I kind of move on after that. But I do pay attention to how I feel about things and I force myself to experience those feelings, even if they're sad or whatever they are. Because I think I'm being very honest with who I am. It's important and I'm very comfortable with that version of myself. 

If you haven’t figured out what your passion is yet, make a point to try a lot of different things to see if any of them really spark your interest. Take note of the things you spend your free time doing and which things you gravitate towards when you’re stressed to try and figure out what you could be happy doing as a career.

As a child, I witnessed the immense stress that my mother had due to her finances. She would even struggle to buy food. I decided to become a career woman and really manage my finances in order to avoid that same stress.

I came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic when I was 12 and didn't take classes in English until I was a junior in high school. I was very uncomfortable with English as a second language and ultimately steered away from majors heavy in it.

I was bullied in school because I didn't look like everyone else. I was an immigrant, overweight, and didn't fit in. I became depressed and wouldn't even go to the lunch room. I eventually decided that I needed to just push through and move forward.

My family are immigrants and I'm the first to go to college. They didn't understand dorms or going away to college, so I had to stay close to home. They also couldn't advise me when I struggled because they didn't know what it was like.

I have faced a lot of doubt and criticism as a female in the technology field. A lot of people assume that women can't be successful in technology. I worked hard to prove them wrong and try my best to help other women facing that discrimination too.

I manage a team of 1 (myself) in process improvement initiatives to either save money or time. I use technology to create new models, functions, and tools that more teams can continue to use in the future to improve our processes. My day-to-day responsibilities include utilizing technology and speaking to people.

Vice President of Global Technology, Engineering & Operations

You will never be successful in technology. You should do diversity inclusion or HR instead.

Keeping A Balance And Taking Time For Yourself

There were many managers who saw me as being too disruptive or aggressive or loud or whatever you wanna call that, right? And sometimes even too opinionated, it starts coming in and looking like noise when you do it too much for every little thing, and there's no convention or conviction about you. Remember a particular manager who he told me what was being said about me when I wasn't in the room. And that was life changing too. Because once I understood that I was coming across as nowhere at all and snobbish, I started thinking of, well, what can I do to change that mindset? So I started to stay a little bit more quiet. But then I would say this matter to me because of x, y and z. I see that it matters to us well, but we see differently can we pull off so that I can understand what you're saying? So I took it upon myself to learn the other person's reasoning and also caring and care a lot about making sure that the same way that I wanna feel included I want the other person to feel included too. Because it's not fair because I have an opinion, you have an opinion, you have an opinion, and you have an opinion. Why should my opinion be the one that matter just because I feel really strongly about it? 

Conflict

Being Outspoken In The Workplace

Can you tell me about times where you felt disheartened or a little disappointed, and you're like what am I doing? Am I not doing the right things to help as much as I can be from my seat? &gt;&gt; All the time, and I think you have to be reflective about what you did right and what you did wrong. And try to fix those things that you did wrong almost on a daily basis. And if you don't do that, you're so full of yourself that it just doesn't allow the organization to progress, right? I remember right after 9/11, the stock market tanked. &gt;&gt; Yeah. &gt;&gt; And we were relying heavily on foundation support. And I got a call from two foundations, almost within 20 minutes of each other that said, we can't give you this grant this year. And at the time our budget wasn't big. And it had a huge impact, I thought, in our ability to remain in business. And then you sit there and you sulk. And I did that for about an hour. And I said, no, great, it's not gonna happen. Now we need to go back collectively and figure out how we're going to take that hit, absorb it, and move on. And I said to myself, for the people that are in that training class, I got to figure this out. And so, There are days when I'm really tired. There are days when I am not convinced that we might be doing the right thing. But then I suck it up. And as an organization, build on that grit to keep moving forward. 

Don't be afraid to say no to the things that aren't going to work for you. We need to realize when something—an educational program, a rule, an opportunity, anything!—doesn't work for everyone, say no to it, and come up with better solutions.

I grew up in a rough neighborhood in the South Bronx. It was difficult trying to navigate being a child in an environment like that. However, it instilled in me the desire to succeed and give back to the community. Never forget where you come from.

There was a point in my childhood when my mom, sister, and I had to go door-to-door asking for money just to be able to eat. It was at that moment that I decided to strive to make sure that never happened in my family again.

I wake up early in the morning to go to the gym and think about previous and upcoming tasks while I work out. I get to the office before other employees start coming in so that I can answer emails, read reports, and analyze data. I then spend the rest of the day planning what the next iteration of the organization will look like. These are ideas like what city we should expand to next and what new training program should we launch. I also spend time traveling as president of the organization.

CEO & President

Determination

Money & Financial Security

Stay Determined To Keep Moving Forward

The ocean, a lake, a huge body of water like that reminds me of how big and how small I am all at the same time. And I think it's important when things feel overwhelming, that there is something much bigger than you. And that I think being at a body of water helps remind me of that like actually, this feels huge to me but I'm really tiny thing in the grand scheme of things. Or this problem is really tiny like in the grand scheme of things and so it's a helpful reminder of that. It also reminds me that this world wouldn't be what it is without me in it. We each individually contribute something really amazing to it. And so every organism matters. And I think the water is just a great reminder of that, like we all play such a significant role in this world. And we're also insignificant all at the same time. And that's, it's necessary I think to have that perspective when things get a little bit crazy. 

Shadow someone in the field through an internship or summer job. Talk to people and network. Remember to be polished and professional.

I struggled to adapt when I moved away for college. I ended up dropping out, moved back home, and got a job but knew I didn't want to be stuck there. I eventually went back to school and worked hard to graduate at the same time as my former class.

I serve as the face of Per Scholas in the National Capital Region, representing Per Scholas in regional conferences, meetings, and media opportunities. I develop and lead our local fundraising strategy as well as the implementation of our annual operating plan. I lead a team and facilitate regular performance management, professional development, and team meetings. I also prepare, manage, and grow the annual program budget.

Managing Director

Are you sure that's what you want to do? There's no way you're going to succeed at that.

Water Puts Life Into Perspective For Me

What kind of personality traits do you have that make you a leader? And what do you define a good leader as? &gt;&gt; My dad gave me some good advice before he passed, and one of the things he said is, you have two ears and one mouth, which means you're supposed to listen twice as much as you talk. And I think that unfortunately, some folks don't do that. Whether they're leaders in politics or leaders in business, or whatnot, they think that they always have the best idea. I've learned that I don't have the best ideas. I have made a habit of surrounding myself with absolute best people I can. I hire people that I think are smarter than me, and know more than me, and have the same work ethic I do. And I wanna hire people that are gonna be honest, they're not gonna tell me what I wanna hear. They're gonna tell me what they think the actual truth is, and I'm not afraid to change my mind, or to adjust, if that's what I think is appropriate after listening to various people. And that's really helped me a lot to get to where I want to go to. 

Set your goals and then keep your options open as best as possible. Not everyone can reach a certain goal sometimes because it's just not possible. For example, 10 people may have wanted to be governor but all 10 can't get elected. Do things that will direct you towards the goals you've set so that you give yourself the best chance of achieving that goal, but keep your options open because things change along the way.

I ran for State Senate twice and lost, which was disappointing. However, I persevered because I still wanted to serve the public, so I found a place that was a better fit for me to get started.

Governor

Character

Traits Of A Good Leader

Skills you need to be the director of the DOT. So it was interesting very before I walked over here I was talking with my team members about the fact that we're in meetings all the time cuz I tease them. The office down here that I work in Has just a handful of people in it, and every time I go in there, there's like, instead of like the seven that are in there, it's like one. Maybe it's three yeah, but it's never full. And we were talking about the fact that your degree is spent learning math and science and an application of math and science to solve problems in civil engineering. But ultimately, in your career you spend a lot of time communicating and so I would say that is yes, if you're gonna be a civil engineer. And to be the DOT director, you don't have to be a civil engineer, you can be a planner, you can be a politician, there's lots of different versions of being the director of the DOT. But if you're a civil engineering version, which is a much more linear path to that role, and you certainly have to have the ability to apply math and science to solve problems. And have that curiosity and be willing to ask questions and explore new things and constantly learn and be a lifelong learner is a huge part of that. But you also need to be able to communicate, you have to have strong communication skills, written verbal, how to lead and run a meeting. All of those things need to our critical skills. Terms of personality types, that's a fun one because I think a lot of times people think that senior leadership folks have to be extroverts. I'm an introvert, you still have to be able to communicate so even if you're an introvert doesn't mean that you're shy necessarily. It just means that the way you recharge, the way you build your energy is you have to have downtime to build your energy, you don't build it off of other people. But I know how to turn it on when I need to turn it on, I know how to engage when I need to engage and that's not a personality, that's just a skill. And I know how to manage that, the energy drawer and so like I go to bed really early, but I also get up and I run in the mornings, and I take care of myself in that way. And build my energy as much as I can before I get to the office. 

Meet with an engineer and ask what they do and why. Then meet another and ask the same questions. Our career is very broad so while one area may not be interesting to you, another might exactly line up with your passion.

I think the key to work-life balance is realizing that you can do it all over time but you can't do it all at once. I've sacrificed relationships in order to pursue my interests, but that's a choice I made because I wanted to pursue those things.

My day includes a lot of meetings and preparation. The issues being discussed are largely big picture policy items and not the tactical day-to-day decisions, though some of those happen too. The focus is on how to best spend the limited resources we have (primarily human and funding) to ensure that the state's transportation system is best meeting the needs of everyone using it.

Director

You switch jobs too frequently. You're intimidating.

Talent

Skills Needed As The Director Of The Department Of Transportation

I believe that leadership has to be urgent. And there's literature that talks about urgent leadership, which is, you need to provide a vision. But that vision needs to be discussed in a way that the listener understands that, this isn't a vision for 30 years from now, this is something we need to work on now, it's urgent. The weakness is that I tend to be a little bit impatient, and not everybody moves as fast as I do. And I've had to learn how to be more patient, how to try to be more relaxed about things. Not to be so relentless about something, but to kinda just let it go. To try to take a deep breath and try to give folks the time to come along with me on that journey toward that vision. And so every leader is different, every individual personality is gonna go about things in a different way. And for me, the other important element of being a strong leader is reflection. The willingness and the ability to reflect on one's personal strengths and on one's personal weaknesses, and to guide one's practice. To be willing to change and to adapt behavior to fit the best outcome in a situation, is also really key. 

advanced-degree
first-gen
2019 Nevada Roadtrip

Take advantage of the more mature mentors you have access to, especially in a college environment. They have a lot of experience and are usually very willing to give advice and help you succeed.

I’ve faced numerous occasions where a male counterpart has explained a concept to me in great detail assuming that I don't have knowledge of or experience with the concept because I'm a woman. It's a peeve of mine, but I try not to let it affect me.

Working in college administration means that no two days are the same. As president of the college, it's my responsibility to make sure our faculty and curriculum are setting students up to go into the world, adapt to the changes in technology, and make an impact.

Self-Reflection

Happiness Comes From Yourself Not Others

Happiness Comes From Yourself Not Others

Gerald Chertavian

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