Her Story
About Jennifer
I had a child very young and needed to be responsible, so I went from a waitressing position to landing a job at Traveler's Life and Annuity. From there, I was able to grow in my career into a leadership role where I became a point of contact for business partners. I've been able to hang on to that corporate career and grow within it over 18 years. I've worked anywhere from Traveler's Life and Annuity to MetLife to now United Healthcare. My main area of expertise is business leadership and management. I've been in management since I was young, starting as a head waitress and then moving into corporate leadership roles in different products, all healthcare related including HRA, FSA, medical, HSA, and Cobra. On a normal day, I have leadership responsibility over 12 team members and work through consumer concerns. I'm not talking about individual consumers but entire employers with up to 400,000 employees. When that human resources person is upset, something needs to happen to secure that account, and that's where soft skills training comes in. I coach my team on speaking fluently and being able to guide employers in the right direction so we don't lose contracts. I'm also a published author and in my spare time, I sell beauty products to women because I love the products myself and I love to see women feel good about themselves.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jennifer
01What do you attribute your success to?
It was my son. I had him when I was young and I had to push myself. It wasn't an option. It's not that I didn't have the support of my parents, because I absolutely did, but I also didn't want to rely on somebody else to take care of me and him. So I think I kept pushing myself and pushing myself and pushing myself to do better with having to manage being a young mom.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The biggest thing is don't let anyone else put you down. You know you have the strength to do what you need to succeed, so just do it. You have the strength. Work with what you have, and do not let anyone interfere in your way.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Being in a virtual environment sometimes does not necessarily make the best relationships with your coworkers or your leader, because you're in a virtual environment. You can get the webcam, you're on conference calls, but there's no in-person, personal feeling. The other thing is it's not okay to necessarily speak up about things that are bothering you. I can't be in the middle of a conference call and say, hey, I'm having a mental breakdown or I just need a minute. That's not acceptable. I think that's where the challenge comes in, is not having that compassion, even though the company promotes compassion, relationship building, etc. It's a fallacy to make the company look better versus the way that employees are treated.
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