Amanda Pabon

I attribute my success to being a woman and a mom who is making her mark in the automotive business, which isn't super common, especially for people on the backend doing what I'm doing rather than sales. When my husband's business started taking off and people asked how we did it so quickly, he gives me the credit, which is really meaningful. This has been especially important during this interim period after I was laid off - it's been good to be doing something productive and contributing. Growing up I saw my Dad grow his business and enjoy the success that came with it, it was so fulfilling for him to accomplish things that no one in his family had ever accomplished and I think that’s very inspiring. My kids are also a huge part of my motivation. I want to be doing something positive and setting a good example for them, having them see what a working parent is like. I want them to know that discipline and hard work will contribute to creating a good life, and these qualities will serve them in all aspects of life.

I had a boss when I was working in a genetics lab at Harvard who was talking about fellowships, and he told me that if there was an administrative fellowship, he would make me do it, because we can never be stagnant. That really stuck with me. I think a lot of times admin and operations work is looked at as a dead-end field where you can only go so far. But knowing that there's always more out there has shaped my entire approach. Ever since I was in that position, I've looked at my career from the science and medical perspective - just to do more, no matter what field you're in. You should never be stagnant.

For business operations, I would say to be confident and own your work. Don't let men or women that have been in the field for a long time overpower you or make you feel like your opinions are less than. In human service work specifically, it's really important to take in the whole experience and get involved in every aspect that you can, because that's really the way to learn the industry best. You can't just look at the business side of it. There's so much divide in human services between the people that are doing direct care, or teachers, or whatever it may be, and then the business operations side of it. So I would say just to get as involved as you can in all aspects of it, so you can really learn the business and learn the industry as a whole and be most effective.

I think the biggest challenges are budget issues. I know that the economy as a whole is not great, but in the nonprofit world, there's so much fundraising and work that needs to be done to stay out of the red. You have to do the work to keep the money coming in, and sometimes it can be really difficult and result in a lot of layoffs and restructuring, and that's been happening a lot lately. The financial instability and constant need for intensive fundraising efforts creates a challenging environment for those of us committed to the nonprofit mission.

I think having integrity is most important to me. In operations work, there's a lot of confidential information and behind-the-scenes stuff that you deal with - or not necessarily just operations, but admin support in general. Just being trustworthy, and being the person that everybody can rely on is crucial. Knowing that you're always going to be honest and have integrity with whoever you're working with - that's what matters most to me in both my work and personal life.