Gabrielle Hall

I think the common misconception is that success is always associated with money, and while I would love to have financial freedom, I think success is really measured by setting a goal for yourself and actually being able to achieve that. Whatever that goal or goals are, that is really how I measure success for myself. There's a lot of things that I put down, whether it's in writing or mentally, that I want to check off. For me, it's like, okay, I wrote this down, how am I going to achieve this, and what am I willing to do to work towards that goal? Because everything requires work, it's not just gonna come to you. It's really just being able to say, you know, I'm one step closer to that, or, okay, I've achieved this goal, what's next? And all in the midst of that, also still being able to just be a good person, maintain positive spirits, because work can be hard sometimes, that work-life balance, it gets to you. I think success is being able to be successful in those aspects, but also still being able to be your own person and maintain some type of sanity in all of that.

The best career advice I've received is just that the sky really isn't the limit. Like, whatever you put your mind to, you can achieve it. I've always been blessed to have a supportive team of mentors and advisors, and they've always just instilled things in me early on, just to continue being myself, and just conducting myself in the best way possible. I feel like that's really just paid off, speaking up in rooms that I might not have spoke up in before and things like that. That's how I even landed my current role, having conversations with them and letting them know, like, hey, this is something that's up my alley. If you guys think I'm qualified, I would love to have the opportunity to apply for it. So for me, it's just putting my best foot forward, and just being willing to take that leap of faith.

I always say for anybody who is trying to get into, whether it's my industry or just in general, I say Nike - just do it. Seriously though, I think people spend so much time trying to figure out when is the right time, and I have to have all these things in order, but perfection is nothing without progression. So I think at the end of the day, it's just being able to just do it. Think about it, but don't think on it too long. Just put your best foot forward and just do it. And being your authentic self gets you very far. People want somebody who was authentic and genuine. Sometimes people hyper-focus on who they think they should be rather than who they actually are, and sometimes you just have to embrace that. Find a common ground between the two.

I think the number one challenge right now is definitely funding. Working with nonprofits, especially as government funding is limited, cutting back, it's a lot. There's limited ability to resources, and what it seems to be, funding wars. There's not enough funding, and everybody's fighting for the same funders to fund them. Working in a position that is grant-funded can be tricky, because if there is no access to funding, or limited access to funding, the question that persists is, so what does the future of this job look like? What does the future of this organization look like? It stops without the organization being able to exist. And then, of course, too, just from a female standpoint, just being a female trying to find a job. Women, statistically speaking, women are the ones who have experienced the most layoffs. So I think that that is just a huge challenge in general, like, how are we able to mitigate that issue in a world that is not gearing funding for people who are identified under DEI standards and things like that. I would say representation and funding are the top two, for sure.

Definitely compassion. I think that as you're working more so, not just with yourself, but also with other people, it is important to understand that people have different upbringings, they have different methodologies of doing things, and that does involve having a sense of compassion and empathy. Something that's also very important professionally, but also just in general, is diversity, and not just from the standpoint of representation, but also a diverse way of thinking, a diverse crowd. I feel like when you have people who come from different backgrounds and have different mindsets, that creates the best business environment, because you're able to piggyback off of different ideas, and even just learn more about your possible audience through people who may be working on the team that resonate with that audience. And then the last one I would say is quality. I feel like quality is a big thing in both my personal and professional life, like quality not just for the standpoint of work, but the relationships that I'm building with other people, the investment. For me, I think everything is very intentional, and that's really just a big aspect for me, like being able to put out quality work, but also being intentional about what you're doing, who you're talking to, and just having a sense of purpose in all those different aspects.