Abria Franklin Perry

I attribute much of my professional growth to having an exceptional manager early in my career. True leadership stems from having someone in your corner who will pull you aside to celebrate your wins, but who is also brave enough to pull you aside and say, "Hey, you need to change things up a bit, and I know you can improve here." Having a leader who provides real-time, constructive feedback throughout the year—rather than staying silent and waiting for an annual evaluation to tell you that you missed the mark—is a game-changer. That continuous mentorship is what truly accelerates success.

The best career advice I ever received came from a mentor who looked at my trajectory and told me that I should be own my own space. You will never get a seat at the table by "accident"; you earn it through capability, insight, and hard work. You have to shift your mindset and tell yourself that you belong because you bring value.

My primary advice, especially for anyone looking at the K-12 education space, is to walk through any door that is open to you. If an opportunity is presented to you, do not let fear talk you out of accepting it. Once you establish yourself within a school district, it becomes significantly easier to move around, transfer schools, or transition into entirely different departments. Getting your foot in the door is the hardest part; once you are in, the ecosystem offers immense stability, allowing you to find your niche, grow comfortable, and build a lifelong career you can retire from. In any industry it is always

The primary challenge I see right now is the need for more clear, structured rooms for upward growth within our department. It can be frustrating when professional advancement feels capped or stagnant in a localized environment. However, this challenge highlights a major opportunity to redefine how we view career progression. By advocating for internal development tracking, skills-clearance pathways, or cross-training initiatives, we can transform the department into a launchpad for long-term retention. The opportunity lies in building the very framework that allows talented team members to see a long, viable future right here.

My foundational team values are honesty, motivation, and a deep commitment to collaboration. I look for people who genuinely want to work together and who adapt easily to a team dynamic. Because hard work deserves recognition, I also place an immense value on cultivating a positive, rewarding workplace culture. I love celebrating milestones with the team—whether that’s hosting pizza parties on Fridays or actively calling out everyone's hard work to say, "Fantastic job, we closed 300 tickets this week." Acknowledging effort keeps morale high and connects us to a shared purpose.