Audrey McMillon

I think everything I've always done is very influenced by my father. He's always worked two jobs if he could at the same time, and I've done that before as well. Everything he's done was always to take care of his family, not just his immediate family, but his parents, his sisters, his brothers, and take care of everyone. I feel like I have that same kind of spirit. I do what I do because I want to be able to take care of everyone. I want everyone to be good. Especially my son, going through surgeries and staying at the hospital, going through different situations like feeding therapy and all the things. Those things are very hard, but I've thankfully been blessed with the ability to take off of work and have a support system and be able to afford everything he's always needed. That's a good contributor to my success. That makes me want to work harder.

The best career advice I got so far was at a women's conference where a speaker said that women need to show up knowing that we belong in the room. We need to show up as if this is a seat that we should be in, and we should not think anything less of ourselves. I feel like we always feel like we need to qualify for something, and it's not so much that we need to prove we're qualified, because we are, and we need to own that instead of trying to appease or figure out how we can fit into a position. Go into it knowing you are qualified for this position, and you deserve this seat, and show up with that sort of confidence as a woman in the workspace that's mostly dominated by men. Just being able to go in a room and definitely own it, and knowing that you deserve to be in that space.

I think advice I would give is to anticipate the needs of the person you support, but don't ignore your own needs while doing that. A lot of people can get caught up in being a great EA and being supportive to a staff or an executive to the point where they almost forget themselves, or forget that they need to do for themselves as well. I think that's really important, not to overdo it. You can be great, but you also need to have boundaries and need to make sure you're also taking care of yourself. You can't pour from an empty cup.

I think the biggest challenge I've faced has been having to train myself a lot. I obviously have tons of EA experience, but every company's different, so the ask is not always the same. No day is ever the same. I've had to take extra time out for myself to kind of get things down. I always have to take extra time on a weekend or after work to teach myself because I want to make sure that I'm up to par and I'm meeting the standards or exceeding them. That's a challenge sometimes, not having the right people around to train you. They might give you the basics, but I don't feel like training is what it used to be. In the EA world, you're kind of just thrown into things. My first week at this job, I was thrown into a conference that was happening in Dallas, and it's been like that ever since. I've been teaching myself about the business, about the company, about AI initiatives. As for opportunities, right now I was asked to transition into Chief of Staff. That's actually coming up, probably by the end of this month. My boss and our HR partner saw in me that I could handle so much, and they felt I'd be great for this role. I never even thought about it. I thought I was gonna be an EA for the rest of my life because I'm good at that, but they saw more potential in me and wanted me to follow this scope and do these new set of tasks.

In my career, I don't take anything personal. Dealing with different personalities is my job, so I'm pretty good at being able to not take anything personally. I feel like being kind to people is important. It doesn't matter what someone's going through, and kindness can always go so much further than being mean or feeling like you're entitled to things. I feel like being kind to everyone, no matter what their role or position is, I value that a lot. In my personal life, I feel like everyone's not gonna have a great day, we all have our days, but at the same time, I feel like kindness has always gone above and beyond. When I first started in this position, I was so weirded out by everyone in the office being so nice, and that's never changed. I've been here for 2 years, and everyone is such a positive person to be around. That really is why I would never leave the company, because everyone's just so kind, and they push you forward and want to see you advance and move up. Everyone's been helpful and great, and we have a mentor program and everything. I believe that kindness goes a long way, personally and professionally. That's something I value a lot.