Jade Goforth

I was very fortunate to have a lot of females in my life who paved the way and showed me that they were able to do it. My mom was a single mom of two who was able to really work through her career and get to where she was wanting to, and she kind of made it look easy. Along the way, it meant that I had her that I could go to with any questions that I had. I also worked for some really inspiring women along the way who just said, just show up. You just have to kind of show up and get in there, and what you're doing will be seen and will be noticed in the right spaces. Just keep adding value. For me, I was very fortunate that in almost every workplace, as I'm thinking about it, there was at least one woman in that work who I was able to go to, confide in, listen to. They gave me great feedback, and I was open to it. I think that really helped me along the way.

If I think about it overall, the best advice in general would be don't sell yourself short, you've got this. It's what you put in is what you get out. That's really all you can focus on, is what you're able to do. So what you contribute and the value that you add is really what shows up. Doesn't matter, you know, who you are, how long you've been somewhere. Just keep showing up, and it will be seen.

I would say apply for all the jobs, get the first job that you're wanting to get into, and go from there. Ask the questions, take in all the knowledge, absorb everything, and then see what else is out there. You don't have to stay locked into one career. There might be vertical moves as well as horizontal. You've got to think about it, you're not always going to go up. You also sometimes have to make it lateral or move around a little bit, just to make sure that you're really getting all the information and all the knowledge that you could use to continue to propel yourself forward in your career.

In my field, being that it's automotive, there's a lot of things going on at the moment. One of the biggest challenges is finding steady footing sometimes in customer operations. It can be a lot of movement and a lot of challenges when it comes to retention. We don't necessarily have that in where I'm working, but I think making sure that everyone's able to stay engaged with all the changes that's happening in the automotive arena in general, just making sure that we're taking care of our people, and we're staying up to date with all of the current events, and creating policies and procedures that help our team support all of that for our customers as well.

Integrity is a big one. I think integrity is huge. You've got to make sure that that's how you live, or things can get rough. I would also say being open to communication. So, listening, hearing people's advice, feedback, whatever that might be, and wanting for that, and then also giving it. I think that's one of the biggest helping hands we can do for each other is giving people feedback, sharing knowledge, and giving advice so that others can also move through whatever it is they're moving through efficiently, effectively, and you're adding value there as well.