Angelina Navarro

I want to make my mom proud, even though she's not here. That's what drives me. Being able to take care of myself is number one to me - I don't like the feeling of not being able to do something when I know that I worked hard enough to get where I want to go and what I want to do in my day-to-day life. Those are my two driving forces: I want to make my mom proud, and I want to take care of myself. I'm trying to instill that in my daughter too, because I have a daughter, and I want to be the prime example of what she needs to be. That's how I carry myself.

Stay authentic in your personality and who you are, but realize to read the room. In a corporate presence, you can be your authentic self, but if you're reading the room, you can carry the acumen and still be your authentic self. My store manager, Joshua Stanbeck, told me that my personality was absolutely everything, but in a corporate presence, remember your acumen but don't lose who you are. That was some of the best advice I ever got. He told me that we're chameleons, that we adapt to the room well, and I never forgot that.

Set goals that are not insurmountable, and focus. Have a plan - not 5 years, 2 years. A 2-year plan, because every 2 years you'll evolve, and it's not always going to be the same. If you set yourself up for 5 years, that's like, oh, I'm not gonna make it. But 2 years with surmountable goals is what I would give advice to. And focus - have a deeper focus on what you want. Not what your partner wants, or what's best for everybody else, but what do you want. That's what I told myself at Vans - in 2 years, my daughter will be in school, and I want to be a floor suit. That's what happened. Always have a plan and stick to your strategy. Lead with logic and strategy, is what I would tell young girls.

The biggest challenge right now is sourcing the right people and retaining them, because it's so competitive out there in the market, especially with pay and the overall benefits. I want to say Aces in the right places - that's a term we used at Vans. Another challenge is that I'm so rooted in the Vans culture that I carry it with me, and I have to translate what I grew up in to my current role. The SCATOR acronym - smile, greet, know your want to me, add-ons, tie-ons, end with the smile, and replenishment - that's every day in retail, but how do you translate that to a boutique where I'm at now? That business model works, but how do you reiterate it in the terminology that I'm in now?

I feel like my values eclipse each other between work and personal life. Integrity is huge - I try to teach my kids that if you feel like it's wrong, you have to be able to stand up for yourself and have integrity in what you do. I feel like integrity's getting lost globally. Family is always number one, but it's okay if you disconnect because you know your limits. Boundary setting is one of the bigger values I teach to my kids too. At work, you always want them to leave feeling like they did something. Coach with how you would want to be coached. Setting the example at work is a big value to me, and I try to coach that to my other leaders. Those are the bigger pieces for my inside and outside: integrity in what you do every day, being your authentic self, your family, and definitely the karmic seeds that you put out in the universe.