It takes time, but I have learned to understand that I am where I am in my career, because I have earned my place. Nothing was given to me. I exude that confidence all the time, because I will almost always be the only woman of color in the room.
Julie Felix
Rocio Cardenas-Martin
Travis Benjamin
Araceli Fernandez
Javier Castellanos Jr.
I can imagine how uncomfortable it might be to ask a person of color how they feel or what they think about things that are happening in this country every day. I can even understand that people might not want to have those conversations at work out of fear of saying the wrong thing. But I believe that we can only begin to address those issues through mutual understanding, which requires open and honest conversations.
Emma Gutierrez-Rodriguez
Working in industries where there are very few people of color has often made me experience Imposter Syndrome. I would look around and longed to see more people who looked like me and shared similar upbringing or experiences. I felt like I didn’t belong and that I was given the job by mistake... It was thanks to a Career Coach who helped me address these feelings and gave me perspective that I was able to turn things around.
Christina Chavez
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned thus far is that you are never 100% ready for any role. I think the best roles are those where you have roughly 50% new skills to learn and ~50% where you can draw on prior skills and experiences. If there is a role where you already have more than 50% of the skills or experiences required then you are probably not pushing yourself hard enough.
Israel Rojas-Moreno
Your career is your professional reputation. My first job post college was not intellectually challenging. As a result, there were days when I definitely slacked off and would commit careless mistakes. My boss called me out on this and I’m glad he did. His point was simple. If I wanted to be trusted with the bigger things, I had to do the little things right first.
Naeem Muhammed
Introspection and self-reflection are critical. If you can’t motivate yourself to ensure that your career is progressing then there’s a serious problem. No one can make you hungry. Hunger is innate. I’m motivated by knowing that my career is still a work in progress and I have not yet mastered my role.
Davi Miller
Alexa Abbott
"My grandmother always tells me to enjoy the phase you’re in and I didn’t really grasp the essence of what that meant until after I graduated from college. I look back and am so appreciative of my 4 years, but I know there were times where I didn’t appreciate experiences and opportunities as much as I could have."