Her Story
About Heather
Heather Madsen is Director of Early Talent University Partnerships with over 20 years of experience in higher education and behavioral healthcare since 1998. She leads the design and growth of the organization's early talent and university partnership ecosystem, advancing talent strategy and higher education models while working with clinicians to develop educational curriculum that augments graduate-level teaching. Her career path has been non-linear, beginning in behavioral health and mental health where she ran a program for incarcerated individuals with mental health and co-occurring substance abuse disorders and handled quality improvement and regulatory compliance, before moving into education and curriculum building. She holds a double undergraduate degree in special education and a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling, and she was a certified rehabilitation counselor for many years. She attributes her success to the teams she has worked with, intentional relationship building, and being mentored by and mentoring incredible women throughout her career.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Heather
01What do you attribute your success to?
My success is really because of the individuals that I've been able and privileged and lucky to work with. It's all about teams, and you're as good as your teams are. I've been really fortunate along my career to be mentored by some incredible women and having the opportunity to bring some other incredible women with me on my journey. That momentum and intentional relationship building is what makes success. Success is not just one person.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Nothing is unfixable. Always take a chance. Always take the risk, because you'll always in your career always just risk, take a chance, stick your neck out there. If you don't try, you're never gonna know. If you stick your neck out, you take the risk, you take the leap, you have a little bit of blind faith along your career journey, you're always gonna be grateful because you'll always have learned something, even if you have to pivot.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Lean into your power. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Don't be ashamed to ask for help because we all do. There's no shame in that. Stay curious, because once we lose our curiosity, we just stop learning and growing. Ask for a mentor.
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