Anissa M. Alvarez

I definitely attribute my success to the woman who raised me - my grandmother. I always think about how I have a 5am wake-up time to go sit in an air-conditioned venue, versus my grandmother had a 5AM wake-up time to go pick cotton in a field. Her father would put all 9 kids in one car and drive them up to North Dakota to do various farming as the crops turned over in the year. I always remind myself that sure, I'm tired, but I actually have a very cushy job compared to what my grandmother grew up with. Later in life, she was a school bus driver, and I think, well, at least I don't have to drive a school bus with a bunch of screaming children like my grandmother did. So I kind of just do it all for her, and she always tells me how proud she is of me, and it just keeps my cup full and keeps me motivated to want to provide for her, too. She recently had a really bad back injury and was hospitalized for a couple weeks, and once she got home, I was able to get her a new recliner and a new TV. That was just really a rewarding moment for myself to know that I can do this, and it doesn't cause any extra financial strain on me. She couldn't even get her own high school diploma - she stopped going to school in about the 7th grade. So she just always emphasized how important it was to stay on top of education.

The best career advice I've ever received is about the difference between trying to prove yourself versus having more faith in yourself and letting your work show for it. Don't always try to impress people. Just know that if you're doing your best work, then people will recognize it. You never need to overachieve or really show that you're a try-hard. You don't need to do that, because if you're talented and you're good, then your work ethic will speak for itself.

I would say not to let others weaponize their incompetence. I think that was something I learned early in my career, especially working with men. They'll often say, 'Oh, I don't know how to do it, can you just do it? Because you know how, you're so good at it.' Don't just always let them weaponize the fact that they don't know how to do something just because you do. Take the time to be like, 'Okay, great, I can show you also,' or 'Here, I did it, and I recorded how I did it, so you know for next time.' Because people do weaponize their incompetence in a way that a woman might see as, 'Oh, I'm needed here, they need me for this moment,' but really, it's them almost taking advantage of your kindness.

The biggest challenges right now are definitely the fact that everyone is wanting you to work faster and do more with less - like, create the same experience with $10,000 less next time, or work faster using AI, but still keep your creativity, and don't do anything bad with AI, but we want you to use it. These are just the common things that I think everyone's dealing with across all industries. It's this sign of the times that we're in, having so much be expected of you because now everyone has access to this tool that's supposed to make your life easier. The question becomes: are you using the tool to think better, or to think less? I feel like the biggest challenge is that I want to use all the tools in front of me, but I want to use them correctly and ethically.

I would say kindness is the most important value, really. Kindness shines through when you're under stress, and kindness when you're working with new vendors. Just because you coordinate everything with Timothy doesn't mean Timothy's gonna show up that day. It might be someone you've never met, and they're the person that showed up, so you need to treat them with as much kindness as you would have anyone that you've had a long relationship with. You always catch more with honey, and it'll take you a lot further being kind to someone than it would be acting as if they're beneath you or treating them poorly.