DANIELLE SPEARS

I would attribute my success to just staying humble and being able to take direction and feedback, no matter how hard it is to hear it. You could always learn something from someone. I think that's what keeps me grounded, and I think that would be a huge success, because I know with that, I can go any and everywhere, because I've remained true to myself. It's really about the alignment over the attention, and just the little things. It's more about being valued by my co-workers and seeing things in myself that I just don't see, but they definitely see.

The best career advice I've received is not to take anything personal - it's business. You still can be sensitive and care about the work, but people will say things to throw you off your game, and when you're confident, people will start trying to dig at you. It's not you, it's them, and they have to realize that it's not you that's changed, it's the role, and they're having trouble dealing with that.

Definitely shoot for the sky. Don't let anyone disrespect you in the role, whether they see it as being underneath or beneath them. It really, truly isn't, because if it weren't for you, they would not be able to have the success that they're currently having without you working behind the scenes. So I would just say, continue the course and keep fighting. If this is what you want, just keep going for it.

The biggest challenge I face is being sensitive and worrying about how other people may see me, whether I'm doing something right or wrong. I'm an extreme introvert, and being able to step out of that introvert role and really get into my true leadership is the biggest challenge for me that I am working on every day. As for opportunities, since I work for a social work organization, when you're in more of an assistant role for the C-suite, there are so many different opportunities of where your career could go. If you come in at entry level, the sky is the limit. You could start at the bottom as a file clerk and work your way up to become a chief of staff, or you can become an executive leadership manager, and you could see aspirations of becoming the CEO, or a COO, or anything like that. There's really no stopping you at this point - the sky is the limit.

In my personal life, I definitely value my family and friends. I definitely value just having them around, taking in their advice. In my professional life, I value some of the co-workers that I've worked with, just taking the insights from their career paths and seeing how it's different from everyone, but my career path is different too. At the same time, it's really nice to be valued by them and seeing things in myself that I just don't see, but they definitely see. It's not really a lot, it's just the little things. It's more about the alignment over the attention.