Cecilia Hansborough

I attribute my success to my fiance, my family, and my friends. My fiance Bill has been a tremendous support to me. I don't know where I would be without him. He has everything that a woman would want as a partner or a husband. He just made me breakfast, and he's been cooking me breakfast for the past 3 or 4 days. I've never had anyone cook me meals. He's done my laundry because I've been busy at work. When I have stress at work, he talks me down and talks my anxiety down. He's just an angel, literally a walking angel. Beyond him, my family and my friends, my girls, have been essential to my success.

The best career advice I ever received comes from Maya Angelou's saying: people are not going to remember what you did, but people are going to remember how you made them feel. Because of that philosophy, I have gained lifetime friendships through every milestone of my career path. For every job I've had, I've always taken away lifetime friends. We don't remember what we worked on, but we certainly remember how we were there for each other during times of crisis and lifetime challenges. It could be physical health ailments, being there for divorce, going through bereavement if a spouse passed away, or a coworker's child being sick. I think God gives us a reason, God puts people together for a reason, and everybody has a unique life story designed with its own scars. It can still be a beautiful story, and it's just up to us to really listen to each individual story. It doesn't matter what rank or what achievement anybody has. In the end, we're all humans, and we should all respect each other as humans and live a life of integrity and kindness.

The advice I would give is to always follow your passion and pray for guidance from God if you are unsure of your path.

One of the biggest challenges I see is the current climate under the Department of War. There has been a shift in priorities as far as where the United States would stand in emerging technologies within the military-industrial complex. Right now, the Department of War really needs to acknowledge that we have emerging technologies and innovative products that they need to absorb into the military environment. They have to be more cognizant that the federal government has to be up to par and needs to make sure that they're modern and relevant to the current threat environment and national security environment. I think there are some segments of the Department of War that are lacking in innovation and emerging technologies. While industry like Lockheed Martin and Boeing are moving ahead, we need the Department of War to adopt these new innovations and innovative products and technologies to ensure that we're always mission ready. Another important challenge is to continue to advocate in the workplace for the morale and welfare of families. We should allow remote capability, remote work, and flex time, and put things in place that would improve the morale and welfare of families. Whether it's corporate, federal government, local government, or state government, we all should collectively improve the family's morale and welfare by allowing flexibility in time and location and work location and vacation time. That way we can improve and increase quality of time for families with their children, with their spouses, with their elderly parents. We need to instill that understanding in the modern workplace for families to spend more time together.

The values most important to me are being empathetic, compassionate, and kind. I believe people need help and counseling, and you don't need a certification to be a counselor or a therapist. You can just be there as an empathetic listener and provide emotional assistance for those that need it. I think God puts people together for a reason, and everybody has a unique life story designed with its own scars. It can still be a beautiful story, and it's just up to us to really listen to each individual story. It doesn't matter what rank or what achievement anybody has. In the end, we're all humans, and we should all respect each other as humans and live a life of integrity and kindness.