Her Story
About Aquene
I actually went to graduate school to get my master's in real estate development, and my first intent was to work in new development, maybe getting involved in community revitalization type projects. Getting out of graduate school, I did go work for a new development company for a couple of years where I was a project coordinator, and then an individual that was starting up a company wanted me to come on board and basically help them shape their departments. With it being a startup, they didn't really know exactly how they wanted things to be shaped or run, so I came on board to really develop that out for them, and at the time we didn't call it Capital Projects Department, but that's eventually what it transitioned into. I really built that out, and eventually decided to go into senior living when the opportunity was presented to me. I've really moved up the corporate ladder so quickly in what's been a predominantly male environment, or it was in the very beginning. I have a lot of opinions and I like change, and when I like for things to be better, I'm very vocal at understanding how to make things run better, how to make change within an organization. Now that I'm at Sunrise, which has roughly 22,000 employees, I meet with our C-suite leaders, and the fact that they listen to me and call upon me and bring me in meetings and ask me questions, ask my opinion, and let me run with things when I say I think we should do this, is incredibly meaningful. Last year I went to them and said I really feel like our department could be stronger, and at that time I was just director of capital projects, and I basically vocalized everything that I felt we needed to be stronger in our capital plan, and they agreed with me, gave me senior title, gave me the promotion, gave me a raise. I was also given a job offer for a VP-level position at another company. The fact that I have so many people that believe in me and are willing to put me in these leadership roles just lets me know that I'm doing something right, and it's just a huge achievement knowing my background and where I've come from.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Aquene
01What do you attribute your success to?
I really think it's my power to influence. I've kind of amazed myself in just how well I've done, because I've really moved up the corporate ladder so quickly in what's been a predominantly male environment, or it was in the very beginning. I have a lot of opinions and I like change, and when I like for things to be better, I'm very vocal at understanding how to make things run better, how to make change within an organization. Now that I'm at Sunrise, which has roughly 22,000 employees, I meet with our C-suite leaders, and the fact that they listen to me and call upon me and bring me in meetings and ask me questions, ask my opinion, and let me run with things when I say I think we should do this, is incredibly meaningful. Last year I went to them and said I really feel like our department could be stronger, and at that time I was just director of capital projects, and I basically vocalized everything that I felt we needed to be stronger in our capital plan, and they agreed with me, gave me senior title, gave me the promotion, gave me a raise. I was also given a job offer for a VP-level position at another company. Just the fact that I have so many people that believe in me and are willing to put me in these leadership roles just lets me know that I'm doing something right, and it's just a huge achievement knowing my background and where I've come from.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
If you're interested in senior living, there are so many different avenues that you can go. First, I would say spend some time speaking to a lot of different people in various departments just to get an understanding of what type of work they do and see if that fits your interest. That's the biggest thing. That was something I felt like I didn't quite realize - I didn't realize the different types of job opportunities that there are out there within a particular industry. So just make sure that you're exploring what are all the opportunities, what's available to you. Don't feel like you have to fit into one particular box. You can start in one place and aspire to go somewhere else. It's totally fine.
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