Alexandra Skinner Walsh

I would say it's probably a combination of consistency and determination, doing the same thing again even when I don't want to. Many of the greatest lessons I've learned about myself personally as well as professionally have happened when things were really hard. It's less about the hard things that happen to you and more about how you respond and how you handle those. Responding to the hard times in a way that is in alignment with the business I want to have and the person I want to be and learning how to navigate that instinct gut reaction that can be defensive or guarded has been big contributors to my success.

I think the best career advice I've ever received is that in business no matter what, it's incredibly important and helpful to be open to other people's feedback. They might have suggestions for you that are going to be really helpful and useful. But I think it's also just as important to be able to take that feedback and think critically about it. Does this feedback actually apply to me? Is this feedback really for me? Or is somebody else giving me feedback that was based on something they really needed to hear themselves.

I think it kind of goes back to being open enough to fail to begin with. Women in general are often told to stay small and so we fear getting larger. Oftentimes the first hurdle is to be able to be brave enough to try to fail and to take that leap. And then when they do, my next advice would be get adaptable, be willing to learn and grow and change course. And again, going back to learning to discern what feedback is for you and what isn't. I would encourage them to also be open to the feedback but critical enough to discern what's really for them because they're going to get a lot of it and some of it isn't actually for them at all.

I think the biggest challenges in the mental health field in general is we still face a lot of stigma just due to that lack of education around mental health. A lot of people still think that I have to have some severe disorder to seek treatment and that's not necessarily true. If you have a brain, you have mental health and you deserve to be able to have somebody walk alongside you witness your story and help you navigate the challenges of life because life is hard for everyone. In terms of business in the mental health realm, I think insurance companies and venture capitalist companies can be a major contributor and stumbling block for therapists out there as they try to dictate treatment for people.

In my professional life I would say a strong work ethic being able to keep going even when things get hard as well as integrity being able to stay in alignment with who you are and with the things that matter to you and be able to act in a way that's respectful and kind even in the face of hard times is important as well as advocacy making sure that we're speaking up for what's right and having a voice when something injustice is happening as well as being able to just educate people more on things that are important. For me that's narcissistic abuse and unhealthy toxic relationships to help people better avoid them in the future. Personally, I would say my values go back to my family my kids my friends my loved ones as well as making sure I'm taking care of myself because if I'm not showing up for me, I'm honestly not able to show up for anybody else.