Influential Woman · Manufacturing wholesale

Carmen Serrano

Human Resources Director, Evergreen Enterprises

Richmond, VA

1Award received

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Undergraduate degree in Human Services Counseling and Psychology Degree Master's degree in HR Cert DISC Assessment Certification Member SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) - National Member Richmond HR Member Aspire Her

Her Story

About Carmen

I got my undergrad in human services counseling and psychology, and I started out as a residential counselor for adolescent girls. But I didn't want to do that full-time, so I went to work at the police station in Virginia Beach while getting my master's degree. I was working in the HR department as their admin assistant at the time, and they showed me a little bit about everything in HR. I really liked it, so I got my master's in HR, and I've been in HR ever since - for over 20 years now. I've worked in different industries like Nationwide, Cumberland hospital, and others, but always within HR. My main area of expertise is as an HR generalist - I know a little bit of all of HR and never really focused on one specific department. I enjoyed the variety of doing a little bit of everything. Right now, I'm a director and I oversee the HR department in a director generalist role, so I have all the different departments that go under HR reporting to me. My typical day could involve meetings to strategize how to build our culture, develop our mission, vision and values, do employee relations, handle compensation decisions, conduct trainings, manage safety protocols, ensure labor law compliance, and work in our HRIS system building succession planning. Nothing is the same every day. I've been with Evergreen for a total of 9 years, though I left for 2 years to work at another company called TDBBS, where I went into a director role. The controller there was a mentor to me and really allowed me to grow and learn, helping me realize I already had the expertise and ability to do the job on my own. That experience opened me up, and now I like to do the same for my direct reports - giving them space to grow while being there to support, help, coach and mentor them. Since I came back to Evergreen, I've really seen how much my direct report has grown within the last year, and it's nice to see that I had a part in helping her grow.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Carmen

01What do you attribute your success to?

I think my success comes from the great mentors I've had throughout my career. When I left Evergreen the first time and went to work at TDBBS, the controller there was a mentor to me when I moved into a director role. I was new to it, and she really allowed me to grow and learn, helping me realize that I already had all the expertise and experiences and the ability to do the job on my own. She really opened me up to that. In return, I like to do that for my direct reports - giving them the space to grow and being there to support them, help them, coach them through that, and mentor them. Since I came back to Evergreen, I've seen that with my direct report within the last year. I've really seen how much she's grown, and it's nice to see that I had something to do, part of that to do with it, to help her grow as well.

02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I think the biggest challenge is getting out there and being seen. It's about networking and meeting other people, which can be challenging depending on where you live and what you're actually doing. That's my challenge - I need to network a lot more, and I have been. I'm currently taking a course with Aspire Her, which is another group that does courses for leadership and executive leaders for women to help them network and grow within their industry. It's been really great because there are a lot of motivational speakers that come on and talk about what they've done to get to their next level or to get to where they are - these are executive CEOs, CFOs, owners of their own companies, but they're all women. They give you that motivation of what it is that you need to do, what you need to join, how to join board meetings, different board memberships and stuff like that. I think that's my challenge - still learning how to network - because eventually I would like to grow, whether it's here or anywhere else within HR. One of my passions is I really enjoy mentoring. I think because of what I've gotten out of it from the great mentors I've had, I want to give that back.

Keep Exploring