Heidy Forsythe

I attribute my success to my faith in a higher being, that there is something greater than me. I'm constantly being reminded that I constantly have access to grace, because I make a lot of mistakes. And yet, there's a lot of grace that's been given to me, and so just always remembering that there's always room for grace. Not only if there's room for grace for me, then I certainly can give grace to others. This faith and understanding of grace keeps me grounded and humble in my work.

The best career advice I've ever received is to always be kind. Always be kind. You have no idea how the tables can turn sometimes, and everybody should know that kindness costs you nothing. Always be kind to employees, to subordinates, to everybody around you. You know, it costs us nothing to be kind to people, and I think as leaders, sometimes we can take our position sometimes a little bit too serious, and we think we forget the simplicity of kindness.

Don't wait for the confidence. Don't wait to be confident, and to have the feeling like you are qualified. You're already qualified. Don't wait for someone else to qualify you. You already have what it takes, so step forward without waiting for external validation or that perfect feeling of readiness.

In the prison industry, the challenges include working for the state where things are done slow, there's constant theories coming in and out, and there's not consistency within the incarceration system because too many people are constantly wanting to move up. Because of that, there's too much change, and sometimes change is good, but too much change doesn't benefit the client. It's constantly restarting new programs and new ideas. In entrepreneurship and the public speaking industry, especially in the Central Valley, there's a lot of information and resources for entrepreneurs, but the challenge is how do you get rid of the fear? How do you get over the fear of risking whatever it is that you have to risk to start the business, to believe in yourself, to have the confidence that you can do whatever it is that you're saying you're gonna do? A lot of that comes with support, and the relational support may not be there. I think mentorship, a lot of mentorship is needed in that area, building those relationships. But that comes internally too, because if you're more introverted, you may not really want to go out and put yourself out there and have those relationships and conversations that could lead to other opportunities. People just have to be willing to take the risk to step out and do scary things.

The most important values to me are learning from people and treating our most vulnerable populations with dignity. Being able to be in a correctional facility and still learn from the humans that I work with is notable because it really humbles me. It helps to ground me, it helps to keep me grounded, and reminds me how precious not only life is, but really the treatment that we have for our most vulnerable populations, whether they're incarcerated, or they're disabled, or unhoused. I really look at them as the forgotten population, because I think oftentimes when people are set aside, they are often forgotten. The work that I'm doing helps people come to a place of restoration or a place of feeling like their life matters. I think the work that I'm doing here is very, very remarkable, and having the honor to be able to help people in this way is what drives me.