Ebony Ford

When I first started out of college, I was very excited to join the workforce, and one of the great things about working was that it got me connected with a lot of other great women. I feel like I've had a really good opportunity to meet women that really wanted to be a mentor, who had their experiences within the workforce and really wanted to guide me. I remember having a really good experience with my first manager who really took me under her wing, and then I had more positive experiences when I was at training technologies, where I just continued to meet people that wanted to pour into me and see me grow as a young professional. Now, whatever I try to do, I always try to pay it forward. I always want someone else to come into a better experience than I have, so whether that is helping to develop processes, or develop structure, or see gaps where things are kind of hard. Getting into foreign trade, there was a lot to learn, and especially with the changing landscape with the Trump administration, you have to stay up on your toes. So anything that I learn, I try to pass it on, or create a playbook for scenarios of things that can happen and how we navigated it. I find it's been really rewarding to work through those challenges together and take on more to also develop myself as a leader.