Becky Sherman

I'm very confident in my skill set, so I think going in with confidence and not being shy is key. I let people know what I'm capable of doing and don't sit in the back waiting for my turn - I make my turn available. I give it all I got and explain to people what I'm capable of doing. Even when working in a male-dominated field, I don't let that hold me back from speaking up and showing what I can do.

There are a couple pieces of advice that have really stuck with me. The first is that it's not always what you know, it's who you know. Networking has always been a huge thing in my career. I've changed my work setting a few different times, but I've never burned a bridge because of it. I've never left a job without having great networking skills and building relationships with different people. That's been absolutely critical to my success.

This might sound silly, but I would honestly give the advice to fake it till you make it. Even if you don't feel confident, come off as confident. Even if you're questioning something or you think this is the way, give someone an answer and say, this is what I want to do. You don't have to have all the answers, but if you have a roadmap to get to the end, that's all you need. Not having all the answers doesn't mean that you can't do the job, because a lot of it is learned along the way. I also think having a mentorship is really beneficial - someone to call and text and say, hey, this situation came up, how would you approach it? We work really closely with higher-up administration like athletic directors, principals, and managers, and those conversations aren't taught in school. That's your interpersonal people skills and communication and building trust. It's always nice to have a mentor-mentee relationship with someone that you can call and say, hey, I had this conversation, how would you go about it?

Athletic training has been a very male-dominant career, and it is uncommon to see female athletic trainers in the sports medicine realm. I work with a lot of men, and it's very male dominant. However, I think there are amazing opportunities for women right now. Especially with athletic training in the sports world, you can see the first female referee in the NFL and the first female coach in the NHL. Those are the barriers that these women are breaking for those of us who are working behind the scenes, and that's just amazing. Every step along the way counts to breaking those barriers, so there's a lot of opportunities for women.

My emotional intelligence is huge - being able to really read a room and understand what is important to someone, and make that important to myself to make sure we're both working to the main goal. But honestly, just building trust and communication is my go-to. Those are the values I rely on most. Relationship building, empathy, and compassion are all part of what I do. When someone gets back to the sport or job they're trying to return to and they come back and thank me, that's what I need. I need that gratitude and knowing that someone's grateful that I'm here - that's what fills my cup.