Emily Krupicka

I attribute my success to being open to different perspectives and having mentors who were willing to invest and uplift me. I've always had the mindset, going back to my adoption process and what I know about the reasoning behind that, that opportunity has always been at the forefront of my mind. I look at things through the lens of, even if this is a setback, how can I learn from this? How can I grow? Understanding other people's setbacks and challenges in their life has given me a really great perspective of, if I can overcome this barrier, if they can overcome this barrier, it is possible. It's a pivot in life, but you continue to move through life. Things come up, but you're also moving forward continuously as well. Making sure that I am aware of that, not just of hardships, but also the successes that come from that, and just successes overall, has definitely kept me motivated and grounded.

The best career advice I've received, and that I now give to current students as well, is that your title as a student is perhaps the most valuable thing that you hold. As a student, you have so many opportunities to explore different areas, whether that be through internships, through classes that you take, through people that you meet and conversations with professors. It's a very exciting time to be a student because there still are so many possibilities on how you can shape your pathway in life and in your career. Using that student title, reaching out to people, asking for mentorship, asking for advice - as a professional you can reach out and you'll probably get an answer, but as a student, you are likely to get an answer and have someone who can truly invest in your growth and development. I would encourage students to seek out those opportunities, and even if you feel like you're interested in one career path, one trajectory, look at the other opportunities that are out there and available to you, because there's no better time to start than now.

I would say seek out other successful women in your industry. You can have a lot of imposter syndrome going into a more corporate setting, especially in fields that are male-dominated. Just know that you made it there, you belong there. I know it can feel overwhelming at first, but having people that you can go to as a mentor, as someone just to ask advice to, that is so valuable. Know that you did earn your place there, you deserve to be there, and to not let that imposter syndrome overwhelm or consume you. You worked hard to be at the place you're in right now, and so you should absorb all of that.

I think there's been a lot of conversation about AI, and what that means for the employee, what that means for the person. In my perspective, having had experiences with AI, it's definitely a tool, but it's a tool that cannot replace human competency and human intervention. We can use it to help us be more efficient in our work, we can use it to improve certain workflows. At the same time, especially from an HR lens but across the whole corporate industry as a whole, AI is not a human, AI is not perfect, AI makes mistakes. You really need that human perspective to go in there to understand that it didn't necessarily grasp this detail or this consideration the way that we can as human beings with real experience, real lived experiences. Making sure to know that yes, AI is very much in the future of what we do, and we're already seeing that right now. At the same time, I think it's a phenomenal reminder that people cannot be replaced, the work that we do and the value that we bring. I think that's a really great perspective for businesses to follow and for people to be aware of as well.

Inclusivity is a big one for me. Going back to the advice I had earlier for students, it's important to have conversations with different people. I was fortunate enough to do that during my undergrad, and specifically, an organization I got involved with is called Lime Connects, essentially a disability professional network for people with disabilities. Having conversations and making sure that you are inclusive of other people is so important because you truly don't know what a person's situation is, what someone else is going through. I think disabilities are a very interesting component of that specifically because they can be visible or invisible. When a disability is a little bit more obvious, someone might be struggling visibly. But so many disabilities are invisible - a lot of autoimmune diseases, for example. Someone could quote-unquote look perfectly healthy, but they're going through a battle of their own. They have their own struggles, and that impacts not just work but their way of life as well. Inclusivity is something incredibly important to me because you can have a perception of someone, but that perception is not always accurate. That's something that I've definitely been more confident and aware of over the years, and it's definitely something I carry with me, not just in life, but also in my career as well.