Her Story
About Beth
Beth Luurtsema is an experienced operations and business development leader with six years in facilities management operations. She serves as Director of Operations for Kentucky and Elizabethtown Branch Manager, overseeing four branches and their teams. Her leadership emphasizes building leaders, creating structure and culture, and developing people so the organization can grow beyond any single individual. She attributes her success to perseverance, not giving up in the face of challenges, and a passion for caring about people and giving them opportunities. Prior to her operations role, her medical background taught her to work under pressure, and she holds associate degrees through the University of Kentucky and Elizabethtown Community College as well as a nursing degree. She advises that accountability and compassion can coexist and that confidence creates credibility.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Beth
01What do you attribute your success to?
Don't give up. I persevere. If there's a challenge, I work through it. If there's a goal, we try to achieve it. Failure isn't bad. You can learn from failure. So, we fail, we pick ourselves back up, we do it again. Caring about people, being passionate about people, wanting to lead them, grow them. A lot of times, they just want to be understood, and I love being able to give people an opportunity.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Accountability and compassion can coexist. And don't confuse being uncomfortable with being unqualified.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
When I first started in this industry, it was very male-dominant. So it just did require a lot of confidence and consistency, and at first, I thought I had to shrink myself to fit into the room, and I realized that I didn't have to be the loudest person in the room, right? That I needed to know my team, I needed to know my numbers, I needed to know what I was doing, and if I couldn't, if I didn't know it, that that was okay. But I can learn it. So, that's, you know, confidence creates credibility, and you know, I think that success is creating something that continues to grow beyond me, and just because you don't know it, doesn't mean you can't learn it. And you can get yourself into a field. And you can learn it as you grow.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think it's still the growth of learning people. You know, as you progress, and I had a small branch and grew that, and then I gained more responsibility. You have to evolve your leadership. Not everybody learns the same way. Not everybody's perception is the same. So, teaching people, leading people, talking to people, training people, that all has to evolve, so I think that's a continuous growth.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I am just big on accountability. Loyalty. And I love people, and I'm super passionate about it. So I feel like that you can give a clear expectation of what's needed. Also, hold that person accountable. But also be able to care about them and give them empathy as well.
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