Brittany Rose Smithee

I attribute my personal success to what I call a charmed home life. I very much value a work-life balance. My husband is a wonderful, supportive partner - he's busy as well, being a chef, and he's opening his own restaurant here soon. He just got his keys to the restaurant yesterday. Having that home-life balance is crucial. My family is wonderful, and just having a strong support network at home, with my family, my friends, and my life outside of work really contributes to my success at work. I always say that I'm very rich in love. When you have support in other aspects of your life, it just gives you that extra confidence to be able to get in there and accomplish what you need to for your day-to-day.

The best career advice I ever received was actually from one of our members, Brian Kady. He told me to block out parts of my day or week where people can schedule meetings with me instead of accepting meetings at any time during my workday. This allows for a better workflow and facilitates better focus and concentration. Compartmentalizing those areas is crucial to my role, especially because I'm dealing with different time zones when connecting with clubs around the world. One of the perks of being the director of membership at a membership club is getting to know a lot of influential people and very successful people, and I've been lucky enough to develop relationships with a lot of our members who've taken me under their wing, not just as members, but as professional advisors.

If I could speak to my younger self, I would say focus on school. Focus on what you want, and who you are, and figure out who you are before you develop your whole life. You don't want to make a whole life based on the partner that you're currently with, or your current interests. Take small steps today to take care of future you. Even small things like journaling, working out, developing healthy habits go a long way, long-term. I grew up in a very blue-collar household, and I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. When I was in high school and I wanted to do things with my friends or buy clothes, I got a small allowance from my parents, but that wasn't cutting it, so the day I was eligible for a working permit when I was 15, I went out and got a job at McDonald's to earn extra money to do the things I wanted to do.

As far as challenges, I would say the economy isn't really working in my favor right now. I talk to members all the time who are in between jobs and have to pause their membership. That's always a challenge. Another challenge has been navigating a membership demographic that isn't in line with what I grew up with. That has been challenging, but I have adapted and gotten a lot better at interacting with people in very high income areas. It can be intimidating dealing with the COO of a very big company, but I always remember that they need me, and that levels the playing field. Then there are just normal business concerns like cash flow and things like that. I work very hands-on cross-functionally with our finance department since I run billing and things like that.

When it comes to both my work and personal life, I would say transparency, honesty, and being realistic about commitments and how much of myself I can give are most important to me. I hate to over-promise and under-deliver. I would rather it be the opposite and delight someone with their experience, whether that is professionally with a member at the club, or even hosting a dinner party at my house. I also always assume that everyone is carrying some sort of heavy weight with them, so I always try to treat people in that sense. You never know what someone's going through, so I have that built-in empathy when I'm talking with them.