Her Story
About Glenda
Glenda Sanabria serves as Regional HR Manager in Chicago, Illinois, where she acts as a strategic HR business partner supporting business leaders and aligning HR objectives with business strategies. She has been in the logistics field since 2018, progressing through roles in manufacturing warehouse operations, HR generalist positions, and coordination at organizations including NA Logistics, AVM, ITW, and Bright. Sanabria earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Northeastern Illinois University in 2018 as a McNair Scholar, focusing her research on women in leadership. She completed a master's degree in industrial organizational psychology at Elmhurst College in 2020 and is preparing to begin a PhD program at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She attributes her professional drive to the values instilled by her hard-working parents who immigrated from Guatemala and emphasized education despite their own limited formal schooling. Sanabria advises young professionals to pursue certifications and continuous education while building relationships with leaders to advance their career paths.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Glenda
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my childhood values and my parents. I grew up out of 8 kids, and my parents were not educated. They didn't even finish any middle school or any high school. They come from Guatemala. They were really hard-working parents, and they really drilled down the importance of education. My older sister got her master's, my older brother got his bachelor's, and pretty much everyone followed suit. I've just really been striving to achieve greater since I was very little. I was strategic about what career and what path that would look like, and I wanted to really have a career that I loved but also was going to compensate accordingly.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice is to be happy with what you're currently doing and what you're currently working at while working towards where you want to be. Really just appreciating the chair that you're in.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Really work on getting certifications, getting education. Things are constantly changing, and really invest in your own growth and continue to work on yourself on education or just kind of staying in tune with webinars or any conferences, but also building your own development. They're in charge of their own development, so speaking with their leaders and identifying opportunities for development and growth, and really making sure that their leader knows their career path so then they can work with them to get them there.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
AI is a big challenge. In different assets, people using AI could impact security, like websites and personal data. Also, bigger companies are utilizing technology to enhance or reduce workforce, so how do we review that for any type of industry.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
In work, it's meaningful relationships with colleagues. In personal life, family.
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