Her Story
About Christy
I've been an executive assistant for 12 years, and I'm starting an exciting new role at Axellar Health. My main areas of expertise are my communication skills within my team and with the executives I support. I really like to engage in conversation and get to know the execs on a personal level. I feel that it's really important to know the people that I support as a whole, the whole human, and just bring humanity to the table as an executive assistant. It's part of your personality that you bring to the job, how you care about people. When I support someone, I want to know if they have a family, do they have kids, do they have places to be. I like to bring collaboration to staff meetings and understand what projects are coming down the pipeline and how I can help. I don't like to call myself an executive assistant, I like to call myself a strategic partner, where I am aligned with the values that they have and understanding their mission for the company and for each project. I like to apply the knowledge that I have and the care that I need to make sure that when things come down the pipeline, everything is executed efficiently. I don't like to just think of myself as a quote-unquote secretary, I'm part of the team. I feel like when you get to know people, you understand the whole dynamic of the team and getting to understand projects and what tasks are and how they work. Before becoming an executive assistant, I was a schoolteacher for 10 years, teaching elementary education. My companies have liked that I had a teaching background because I was able to apply my skills from the classroom to the executive assistant role.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Christy
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my upbringing with my family, especially my parents. My dad, he passed 5 years ago, but he was an immigrant from Italy who came here on the boat at 16 and opened up his first pizza business when he was 18. He worked every day, went to school, came home. He had such a strong work ethic. I grew up in South Philadelphia, a very blue-collar city, and I've had a job since I think I was 14. The work ethic was instilled in me by both my parents, and my father always taught me to network with people, be friendly, and be curious. I think that's really gotten me very far in life, the way I was raised. I told him when he passed away that I will live how he intended to, how he raised me. He's not here anymore physically, but spiritually, I've taken on the way he lived his life with others.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
My first boss, who was the CEO of Cedar Pharmaceuticals, told me something that really stuck with me. He said it's not the business that's hard, it's the people that you're going to have to learn how to deal with, different behaviors. And he was so right about that. It really is very impactful if you are able to gain that insight and make a meaningful impact that way. You can go really far in any job, especially as an executive assistant. Understanding human behavior and being able to work with different types of people has been one of the most valuable lessons in my career.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say believe in yourself. Be curious. Ask questions. Have grit. Always pursue what you want in life, because it's all about networking and how you treat people in life. When you're in a role like mine, always engage in conversation when you can, ask questions, and never stop learning. Always have confidence. At the end of the day, just have confidence in yourself, because we all feel at some point in our lives like we mask things or we feel inferior, but don't let that override your ability. We all have the ability to be our greatest, and when you collaborate with others and work with each other and network, you'll find out that it's so much more about a person, not just their title. You connect on a human level. I would say trust yourself, believe in yourself, and just network.
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