#womenshistorymonth This dedication post is for young women just getting started on the treacherous and long path of their careers. I started my transportation career in 2000 when I was barely old enough to buy a drink. Before and after that I have had many jobs.
Many of my co-workers and friend know my "how I got here" story. I'll share for my LinkedIn folks. I was unemployed for 18 months before the temp job at Access Link found me. When I started working, I was determined to keep working. By this time I was a college dropout (shout out to NJIT. It showed me that I did not want to be an industrial engineer and that I was not ready to go to college. I had no clue what I wanted to do professionally). The job paid $8.00 an hour. Oh and did I mention, I was the proud mom of 3-year-old twin boys too?
The message of encouragement is that a setback is a setback; it doesn't have to be an end. Those setbacks will be tiny blimps, pivots, or detours in the grand scheme. Sometimes knowing what you DON'T want is more important.
Today, I have degrees in Finance, Management, Business Administration, graduated Summa Cum Laude with very impressive GPA, a bunch of other credentials, 4 sons, a pretty good career, wonderful opportunities, a great network of friends (many I met at work), a ton of other blessings, and the best part is I am still enjoying figuring it out.
While there is value in improving your weaknesses, I also subscribe to fully capitalizing on the strengths. There is a reason why you are good (even great) at "that".
I am extremely encouraged by the young women of today who keep showing up as themselves, not cloaked in "shoulds" or pretending. The ones that ask my favorite question "..But WHY?" get two gold stars. It is your job to keep challenging the status quo to do better, even when we don't want to. Thanks and I cannot wait to keep working with you and eventually for you.