Her Story
About Casandra
My career in HR spans about 11 years, with 16 years total in management and leadership roles. I started as a food service supervisor at a hospital where I had to work with the HR department. The employees reported directly to the hospital while the food service management team worked through a third-party vendor, which created completely different rules, policies, and procedures. Accountability became a major issue, and that's how I discovered my interest in HR. About 2 years later, I went back to school and earned my master's in HR, deciding that's where I wanted to focus my career. Training and development has always been a passion of mine because I saw it as a gap when I was in food service management. Businesses always looked at it as an expense versus an investment, but I've always felt there was a real, true return on investment for companies if they actually invested in their employees to make it a two-way street. You pour into them, they will pour into your business. My typical day involves navigating what the employee needs and what the business needs, finding the happy in-between, checking how to improve processes or overall initiatives to ensure that culture and the overall business is successful. It's about having that split between taking care of the business and taking care of the employees, and not dropping the ball on either one, because they're both equally important.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Casandra
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Don't shrink for anyone. If someone tries to shrink you, you're in the wrong room. This advice has been fundamental to my success and has helped me stay true to myself throughout my career in management and HR.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Definitely learn as much as you can. Do not put yourself in one box. It's essential to understand how point A affects point B down to point Z. I would say definitely educate yourself, don't wait for businesses to invest in you to learn. Always be your best advocate, and always be willing to teach yourself on your own time, on work time, and don't be afraid to take the chance. You only miss 100% of the shots that you don't take.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Some challenges that I see within HR overall is how much is being poured on HR, and it's not really clear as far as the expectations. We're just expected to get things done and figure it out, but not understanding the mental or emotional load that it may have. We are the ones that employees come to if they feel safe to speak to HR about what they have going on at home, the challenges they have going on at home, they can't afford to feed their children, or they are in an abusive relationship, and trying to make sure that that employee makes it to work the next day. We're trying to help them in avenues that we're not equipped to help them in. As far as management, I would say accountability is one of the big challenges, and people consistently holding people accountable, setting clear expectations. A lot of employee relation issues are due to lack of or miscommunications or misunderstandings. So effective communication is also one of the challenges that I see in leadership.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · Connecticut
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.