Her Story
About Emily
I come from an unusual background for what I do. A lot of people in my field are former architects, contractors, or designers, but in a past life, I was a former biologist. I have never lost touch with my data-driven science mind, and that has actually helped me in my career because the way you have to synthesize information and be analytical as a scientist, you can apply all those same skills to project execution. Since I changed industries, I sent myself back to school three different times to become a certified project manager, a project management professional, and a construction documents technologist. Anytime I ever felt like I needed to learn more to keep a cutting edge, I just went back to school and kept wanting more. Over the past 11 years, I've been primarily functioning as a project manager in some capacity or another, managing teams and operations while participating in the real estate development process. No day is ever the same, and that's why I like management in general. There's always a problem to solve, and I like that constant mental exercise all day every day that keeps me really on my toes and gives me a lot of energy. At the end of the day, you kind of have to be one of those people that no matter how many hits you take, how many bad news days you take, you just keep up, keep coming back, keep doing it again. You gotta kind of be that person that's like the energizer bunny for everybody, because the rest of the team will follow suit.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Emily
01What do you attribute your success to?
I come from a very humble background. I grew up, I wouldn't say I grew up poor, but I grew up with not a lot, and there were not many people in my family who went to college or really made anything of themselves. As a kid, I always said, I'm not gonna be that, and so any opportunity I had, I went to school as often as I could. Anytime education was available to me, I always opted into it. I've always pushed myself. The more I feel uncomfortable, the more I know I'm growing, and so I think for me, just constant self-pushing, even on the days when I'm tired, is pretty much how I got where I am.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Work hard and be nice to people. These are incredibly simple things that people forget to do. And if you work hard, and you are nice to people, you will find that any opportunity you want access to will open for you.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Being authentically yourself all the time, as often as you can. People can smell inauthenticity from a mile away, and when you just show up yourself, you know, be who you are, put your blood, sweat, and tears into your work. If you're gonna do anything, you might as well do a really good job on it, and just be yourself and have fun. Keep a positive attitude, because when you're a person who's positive, it permeates the room and everyone on your team will follow suit.
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