Haley Russell

As far as work ethic, I get my work ethic from my family, and specifically my father. As far as what drives me, I just love a good problem. For better or worse, you would probably classify me as a fixer. I love a good problem, you know, a process that needs reviewed and fixed. And what I've found, very, very rarely to almost never is it a people problem. It's a process problem. Give me the problem, and let's review this, and let's map out a business case, and we'll fix it. So, for better or worse, my work ethic comes from my family, but what drives me is that I just like problem solving.

Don't be afraid to do more. It's okay not to know what you want to do - I also don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I don't think anybody really does. But don't be afraid to do more, and what I mean by that is get going and apply for the job that you may not be qualified for. You know, it may say you need a bachelor's degree in business - apply anyways. And if you're in a current job and there's something that interests you, like if there's a cool project going on and it just sounds so cool, be like, hey, how do I help with that? Let me tell you what a company's not gonna say - they're not gonna say no for you volunteering to do more work. And if you are with a good company, they will reward that work if it does end up being good work. Women really struggle with this, but opportunities will come before confidence. Somebody in a leadership position is gonna see something in you that needs pulled out, that needs developed. So you're gonna be stretched. And if you say no to that stretch, you're never gonna gain that confidence. I feel pretty strongly about that - your opportunity will come to you before your confidence does.