Her Story
About Elizabeth
I serve as the HR Director for a startup company in the space intelligence sector, where I've been since December. Our work involves geothermal imagery, though we don't really fit into a traditional box. In my role, I handle global HR responsibilities, which includes building infrastructure that's still needed as a startup - policy creation and generation, working with the leadership team, and managing HR operations from people issues to performance management. I see myself as a force multiplier, someone who excels at building infrastructure and taking things to the next level. I'm very good at seeing organizations grow while closely partnering with the business to really understand what the next steps will be when it comes to people's strategy. My inherent ability to always want to be the person that's helping others drives my success, and I like seeing people succeed whether on a personal or professional level.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Elizabeth
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think it's my drive to want to see a better world. So while I'm in HR and in the corporate world, it's just a small piece of it. But there are other things that I do as well that kind of fall into that. It's helping people, whether it's on a personal level or a professional level. I like seeing people succeed, so I think it's just my inherent ability to always want to be the person that's helping others.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received is to say yes to every opportunity that comes along, but also ensure that you are extending a hand out to the next person behind you. Especially as a woman in the workforce, making sure that we're lifting each other up. I've been very fortunate to have some really strong women leaders as my supervisors, managers, or mentors, and so I try to embody the good things of everybody in what I'm doing today. We don't get to do this on our own, even though sometimes it feels like you are, but you're not successful as an individual without having some people behind you.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say to be open to the experiences that you have, but also think about how resiliency will get you through the day. HR is not an easy industry to go into. It's not an easy profession. We get saddled a lot with other people's problems and challenges, and sometimes it can be very hard to differentiate between their issues, your issues, and taking them home. So it's important in this particular function to be resilient. Also, say yes to every opportunity that comes along, and ensure that you are extending a hand out to the next person behind you. Especially as a woman in the workforce, making sure that we're lifting each other up.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the biggest challenge is going to be AI and how that affects our everyday function. We are a people function, so we deal with the nuances that come with that, but the challenge is going to be how do we integrate AI into our everyday work schedules, whether that's increasing efficiency, making it easier to work with a particular system to make us faster, or help us out in any way.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I would say openness to people, experiences, and things is very important to me. Being fully transparent is also important, as well as being honest. These values guide both my work and personal life.
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