Camille Grayson

I attribute my success to my family background of educators, which instilled in me a strong respect for learning and mentorship, as well as to my decade of experience in human resources and talent acquisition, which ultimately guided me toward higher education. I also credit my authenticity in how I show up professionally, as staying true to my values has consistently shaped my growth and impact.

The best career advice I've ever received came from my personal coach who's on my executive team. He's someone I've worked with both personally and professionally, and also he's someone who's just been a good friend who knows me. He's someone who's more senior than me, he's got the executive career path, and he also has accomplished some things that I am interested in doing, as well as mentorship that he continues to do. So he really is just, as a person, someone who's a good role model for me. One of the things that he said to me is, Camille, I really want you to start looking at your career like an adventure. That was really profound. I would transcend that best career advice that he gave me and pass it along to the next person, and say, I hope that you don't look at your career so linearly, and really think about how are you creating an adventure for yourself and your next steps.

I think women have to think a lot about what it means to be in higher education. There is a lot of sacrifice that can come along with being in higher ed right now. It is murky in terms of what people think the impression is that, especially a traditional institution such as the one that I come from, where it's not just about whether or not you took algebra and got an A or B. You come in to be a better scholar within higher education and the institution that you select. I would just say, really look at the organizations out there that align with your values. Georgetown, for me, aligns with my values in a sense that it is a Jesuit school, and so it's really inclusive in terms of others and their faith. It also is very much about peace, and also wanting that not just for yourself and your environment, but wanting to create that for others. If you are aiming to make those sacrifices, just make sure that you get into a right size fit institution that never is gonna be perfect, but at least can come close to align with who you are.

I would say some of the biggest challenges right now are that people are really struggling to navigate the workforce. The opportunity within that for someone like me and my background is to offer someone guidance rather than really trying to put people in a one-size-fits-all career path. You can do and accomplish many things, but how are you translating your knowledge, your skills, and abilities across industries, across different sizes of organizations, or maybe even across continents. Maybe your organization is a U.S.-based organization versus relative to one that's not. How do you make yourself stand out as an applicant is really becoming more nuanced than what people are really able to see if they don't have that cross-sector or cross-industry experience.

The values most important to me in both my work and personal life are empathy and authenticity. I strive to approach every interaction with genuine understanding and to remain true to myself in how I communicate, lead, and support others.