Ashley Santiago GRCP, GRCA, IPMP, Project Manager, Scrum Master

I attribute my success to people who gave me a chance. For example, I worked at a magazine once, just an internship, and then I got invited back to help with a few events. I'll never forget, her name was Jawanda Thacker. She was a great mentor to me, and I didn't realize it at first, but everything that I needed, she kind of had a backup. She let me make mistakes, and then when certain things didn't go well, or something fell through the cracks, like we had a vendor that couldn't make it and we had to pivot right away, and I had lost some information, thankfully she had the backups, but she taught me a lot throughout the process of making sure that you have your Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, and a Plan D in case all of the above don't work, and make sure that you're taking advantage of your resources. It's those mentors who didn't even realize they were mentors to me, or even those who did and wanted to do it on purpose. It's not just a mentor, it becomes someone who sponsors you and stays in your life later on, where you can just say, hey, I'm going through something, and I need a little bit of advice on how to deal with this professionally. You kind of make those lifelong friendships and keep those bonds intact.

One time I was up for a promotion and I didn't get it. I had met all the metrics, I did all the things, I thought for sure, without a doubt, this is mine. When I got the news that I didn't receive it and asked for feedback, it was basically, you got it all, the only thing is, you forgot to teach. You did all the things, but you didn't teach anybody else how to do it. You were an example, you had an opportunity to share how you got there and bring people with you, but you didn't take it. They named people who were in my vicinity and did not get what I had. I was so focused in the zone on what I needed to do to achieve it that I forgot to bring the rest of the team with me. I think ultimately, you're just as strong as your team is. You're not alone. You have to do your best, and you know that when you are doing well, you're setting an example for others, whether you're realizing it in the moment or not. There are other people looking up to you, needing what you have to give, so you've got to make sure you're giving it.

I would definitely say, if you want to enter it, don't be shy. Don't hesitate to put yourself out there. You probably have a lot of experience that lines up with just the frameworks. You've had moments where you've had to be ethical, you've had moments where you've had to comply, you've had moments where you had to govern. A lot of times you had to do that in your daily life. How many times do we make a decision in our daily lives not to do something because of principle, or to do something because of principle, or we understand certain core values? There's definitely something about every person - within you, you have your own principles, your own core values, your own beliefs, these things that you've learned over time. If you just can connect what you're doing just in your daily life and what you've done in your past experience, whether that's just college courses or your internship or a prior career experience, you can always take what you've done and plug it in somewhere and connect dots that will help you get into this field in any industry and be able to be successful. You just gotta know how to plug in, how to make those connections. There's lots of ways to do that. You can plug in with mentors, and these days we've got AI. Ask AI to help you - I've experienced this, how does this connect to that?

I would say the changing regulatory environment. For example, I just mentioned AI - things are always changing. You could easily get into a field and then start getting into things that feel intimidating. There's contracts where certain clients can receive this, other clients can't receive that. Some clients will give you pushback. You just have to know how to deal with things with grace, put yourself in their shoes, understand that things can easily get escalated. Every client wants to be your first priority. They all want the answer to their question yesterday, not the day they sent it to you. Everything feels very urgent. You just have to learn how to go with the flow. Don't treat it like it's not important, but also don't treat it like it's so important that you have to miss your lunch break or be up all night long. What you have to do is manage your time well, get into your resources, time blocks so you know, okay, at this time I'm learning, at this time I'm answering emails, at another time I'm learning what's happening in the regulatory landscape, I'm connecting with this resource, this department in my company to see if they've heard of it. It's all about the relationships, collaborating, and managing your time well. Don't panic. Everything is going to be okay. Use your resources and breathe. Stay calm. Know your stuff, but do it all calmly. It gets done. Eventually it all gets done. With the introduction to AI, for example, everyone was freaking out, and it's just one step at a time. That's why I like to use the project management methodologies, because you're able to set things in order and then just run.

I would say integrity is the top thing for me, so integrity and character - who you are when nobody's looking. For example, I work in compliance, so when I've got people letting me know, hey, this isn't working, I can't get the training done because of this or that, or I click the button, and they've tried to get away with something, and I can see what they've tried to do, or if they've attempted, or I sometimes have background knowledge that they don't know that I have. And then if they're not telling me the truth, I mean, that just, oh my gosh, it really gets under my skin. It complicates things. You want to live by example, but also you want to be somebody who, even when no one's looking, you're doing the right things and you're making the right decisions. It's something I really try to instill in my kids. My son, for example, letting him know it's still just as important when you're not around anyone else to still do the right thing, say the right things. Sometimes don't say anything and allow something to play out, don't necessarily get involved if you don't have to, but just know that you're setting the example for how someone else should behave. For example, with your baby sisters, you have to act a certain way, because if they happen to catch you doing what you're not supposed to be doing, then you didn't set the right example. I think really integrity and character are the most important to me.