This was not something that was natural for me early in my career. I was someone who thought that the most important thing was, for lack of a better phrase, allegiance or a long term commitment. And that stuck with me even as I've moved through different roles, it's just this sense of feeling really, almost obligated a little bit to people. But what I've learned over time is how important it is to be able to wake up every morning and be excited about what you get to do that day. I also think it's important to really think about the mission and the purpose of the team and how closely aligned that is to your own values or your own interests. So that way you can truly lean into it and you can feel like you're at your highest, best use as a person because you likely are the greatest asset that a team or an organization can have.
I started my career with PWC in San Jose. There wasn't a black partner at the time in the office anywhere, and there weren't very many black women in, I think above the senior associate level that I saw in the external audit practice. Maybe there was a manager that I had just somehow not crossed paths with. I remember there were a couple of directors. There wasn't a black partner in the San Jose office at the time that I was there. That was interesting because, and it was like, "Oh yeah, maybe that's why you spend all this time here." It's like, "Maybe I can be that. Not the first, but I can be one of the first," which is an exciting opportunity and all of that. But then I also, you got to do what works for you.
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