Alexandria Ferron

What I attribute my success to is just a positive attitude. Always having a servant leadership mentality of how can I serve people best, and how can I help the next person to find success, and truly being invested in others' success. And having a positive attitude while doing it. You know, that'll take you to the moon. And of course, having strong work ethic, showing up every day. Giving 100%, even on the days when you don't want to. That's what drives things down, that's what drives the nail.

The best career advice I've ever received came from my past leader, Julie Gordon (J-U-L-I-E G-O-R-D-O-N). It's exactly what I just stated - a servant leadership mentality. That was my biggest takeaway from her, is to be pulling the cart alongside of your employees, and always coming from an approach of how you can best help them. She was just such an influential woman in my life and really helped to develop me for the time that I was able to work underneath of her. So, yeah, just that servant leadership mentality.

Get a mentor. Get a mentor. Get somebody who is going to coach you. And look for somebody who has ideals that resonate with you. So, somebody that you look up to and you say, she's got something and I want it, and get yourself close to that person. And ask. Don't be afraid to ask questions in the room. You know, a lot of times as women, especially in the corporate world, we're hushed. Oftentimes, and especially when you're in a room full of men, or even people that may be older than you, sometimes you can be looked down upon, and I just want to say, never, never be afraid to share your ideas, ask your questions, because they may just be so impactful, and so helpful, the things that you inquire on or add to the discussion, that it may take the company in a completely different direction, or take the company leaps and bounds, all because you did decide to speak up and be authentic to yourself.

I would say change resistance - people generally are quite change resistant. Also, just the changing times. It's a very heavy... insurance is a very heavily regulated industry, so you're always working with new regulations, new ways that the government wants you to do things that you have to work with, and parameters to meet those needs, as well as the stakeholders' needs. So, those would probably be some challenges.

Personally and professionally, self-control and self-discipline. Those are all things that I hold very close. To be disciplined is to be a disciple of self, and you have to be a good disciple to yourself to show up in any facet, whether that's fitness, work, or having that lifelong learner mentality. Sometimes you have to bring yourself down a peg and do the hard things. And then obviously, honesty, rigorous honesty, compassion. I like to try to be empathetic as well. Those would be some things that I hold pretty near and dear to me - more empathy than sympathy, because sympathy makes people feel lesser than.