Annie Bowles Welch

I attribute my success to hard work and staying focused on my goals for the next few years. I think it all comes down to those really good values for doing the hard work and always being responsive. There's a lot of things that can easily get in the way, but I keep focused with what my goal is for that next few years, because I think that is really important. Keeping to my true values for myself is so important, and not giving that up or compromising that for anyone else. I also had great mentors, most of them women in these types of roles that I'm in, and they really spoke to me. I was proactive about seeking out mentors early on because my parents didn't go to college, so I saw in others that were really prepared that they had mentors. After having a mentor, you see that it's super valuable, and you kind of just look for them in every direction that might change in your career.

The best advice I ever received came from a female mentor that I had after grad school, and I share this with everyone. She told me to have a mission statement for yourself, for your career. This is such good advice, because your mission in your life is so important to stay true to yourself. That mission should match a mission statement for whatever organization you work for. And when that mission statement no longer aligns with yours, because of many different reasons like leadership turnover, or a company gets dissolved or bought, when the missions no longer align, that gives you the best tangible excuse to leave or to change course in your career. I think that was just the best advice I've ever had, and I'll always keep it.

Follow your dream. That sounds so corny and probably overused, but do what you like to do. That's what I did. No matter what it pays, just continue down the path of what would make you happy in your life, for your career. Your career is very important, so understanding what you thrive on and how you thrive is really important. I would really say do some inner assessments or self-evaluation. You really have to do some self-reflection before you go to a job and look for a new direction. It's so important that you reflect every few years on your life, and if you're happy and all the things that bring you value, because it changes, right? In your life, you change so much in just a couple of years. My best advice is just to do some self-reflection and see what would bring you value, what would give you your worth just in the next few years. No one cares about the future. The future will always change. But just in the next few years, wherever you are, do some self-reflection to find out what would bring you the most joy to your life.

Unfortunately, there are always challenges for women in my field. I currently work for a woman and I've worked for women bosses for the past few jobs that I've had, and it's really inspired me, but there are many limitations to women being in leadership roles. I can't put my finger on anything specific, but I think it's just really changing the conventional path where a lot of the roles are men-led. It's one of those sensitive topics right now when it comes to inclusion and diversity, and it's a really difficult time. I think change is always important. I think having different opinions is important. It's even more difficult for women to straddle that line of being a very strong leader, but also still having a very positive influence. Being direct and being in a strong leadership role can be perceived differently depending on who is at the end of it. I can't put my finger on it, but there are always going to be these challenges that women have to navigate in the workforce. But yes, it is changing, so opportunities are also arising.

In my work life, honesty and transparency are most important, but I would actually even put communication first. I've been on a lot of roles where the work might not be so hard, but it always comes down to the relationships with the people you work with. It's so important to be a very good communicator from the very beginning. You have to understand not only what you're saying, but you have to understand how it can be perceived, what you're saying. If you can support your communications by being honest, by being transparent, by being truthful about your ask or whatever it might be, I think that value brings what you want in not just your position, but what you're offering other people that you work with. When it comes to family, our family values are the traditional core values that most people have. It's being honest and true to each other. I have really little ones at home, so we have the usual values of home life, spending time with each other, putting all of the things that bring us too much stimulation these days out of the home, just so we could be in the moment. I think it's really important, just be in the moment.