Danya M. Diaz

I think my persistence is what drives my success. What I mean by that is just never giving up, but really not giving myself an alternative to even give up. I just don't see an option versus just doing it. That makes me go back to the drawing board when something doesn't work, because there's no other way than to complete it. I don't allow myself to consider failure as an option - I only see the path forward to getting things done.

The best advice I've received is this saying: constant activity creates movement, but only intentional planning and design create progress. I never really got traditional advice - I just picked my path and went with it. But this saying really resonates with me because it makes you realize that just being busy isn't enough. You need to be strategic and intentional about what you're doing to actually make meaningful progress in your career.

I would say to build a really strong foundation. That foundation can come from a strong household, from family and friends, or from professional mentors, coaches, or anybody you can trust. Those people will act as a soundboard anytime that you have a doubt or a fear. You can always resort back to that foundation when you need support or guidance. Having that solid base of people you trust is critical as you navigate your career.

The biggest challenge right now is that there's not enough talent pool for the advanced manufacturing sector. Manufacturing is a very niche, technical sort of work environment, and the U.S. has always had it overseas. Now that it's coming here, people are asking where we're going to grab this talent pool from. There's a disconnect or gap in workforce planning and workforce strategy about who's really going to be filling these roles. Companies have already started pumping money to create these facilities and do the work, but we don't have the qualified candidates to fill the positions. We're going to have to develop pipelines like pre-apprentice or apprenticeship programs and trade certifications to really bring people up to speed, because nobody's really specialized within this field to the amount that companies are investing and building out here.

The most important values to me are trust and communication. When it comes to trust, I don't focus on building it - I just give it abundantly until somebody breaks it. Then I either have to reestablish it or just move on and make them work for it. Communication is a little more work because it takes mutual effort on both ends for us to get our point across and work cohesively together. Both of these values are essential to how I operate professionally and personally.