Bianca Ables

I would say having influential mentors in my life. They have really shaped and helped shape who I am, and have opened my mind to different viewpoints, different ways to do things, the most effective way to do things. They've really taught me a lot about myself and how I can handle different situations. I just appreciate the time and effort that they have put into helping develop me as a person. Those mentorships have really become more of a friendship to me throughout the time that I've known these people. The president of my company, Kelsey Mesveskes, and my direct supervisor, Allie Wister - both of those women have just been incredibly helpful and incredibly influential to me in my life. I really attest that the things that I know now and the things that I can do and feel confident in my position come from their support and their leadership.

I would say never try to never lose hope in yourself. There can be times where it's hard, and you feel the pressures of your everyday job, and there might be moments where you feel the pushback, maybe because you're a female, maybe because of the position that you have. But always rely on yourself. Listen to your gut. Know yourself best. When you lead with confidence, it really shows, and people resonate with you more when you're confident in yourself and you're confident with what you're sharing with somebody. So, leading with confidence - even if it's a fake it till you make it, that's something I wholeheartedly believe. Faking it till you make it just shows that people can trust you, you know what you're talking about, and that's how you can continue to move from step to step and advance.

The biggest challenges in my field right now involve working in a very empathetic industry where the automotive brand I work with primarily puts big focus on leading with love. The stigmas you hear when it comes to automotive and the experiences that many people have - it's hard to sometimes work past, because you're trying to create an environment where people feel comfortable purchasing a car or bringing their car in for service, knowing that they'll be taken care of and have a good experience. Working past the stigmas of women in the automotive industry is particularly important - women sometimes feel like they don't feel the respect that maybe a male counterpart would have going into a dealership to purchase a car or get their car serviced. Those are stigmas that we try to address in my position, on how to best approach those hardships that some people go through and assume about what their experience is going to look like. We try to make sure there's an even playing field, and that each person that we're training for the customer experience knows the value behind why we do the things that we do, and why they should care in a way that will benefit not only them, but their customers and their guests as well. As for opportunities, I think there's a lot of opportunities. Working in the automotive industry, it's a primarily male-dominated field, so it's a big opportunity for women to start jumping in and kind of leading the direction. I think the next generation of what the automotive industry could look like could be very female strong. The brand I work with now focuses and highlights the women in industry and their company, and that's something I truly appreciate, because you can see the benefits behind it, and the recognition is important. Overall, I think there's a big opportunity to highlight females and women in the automotive industry, because we also bring value to the work that we do, even though it's a male-dominated field. The ideas that we bring are beneficial, and they could be altering to the already consistent messaging that you would probably hear with people in the automotive industry.

I think honesty is very important to me - being upfront and honest about any type of situation. Assuming any situation is quite a pet peeve for me, so having honesty and having an empathetic view on different situations is important. I have a very high standard, high expectation for myself when it comes to work ethic, so I really appreciate and value other people who match that type of work ethic for me, especially when I'm working with people in a professional setting. Having that same type of work ethic creates a synergy within each other.