Jessica Provda

I attribute my success to being in New York City in my early 20s and having to make it on my own without a safety net. Being able to understand the impact of choices - every choice you make has a consequence - and understanding what that looks like on your own in a big city, trying to make it professionally, was probably the best thing I could have ever done for myself. It was the biggest gift I gave myself in my early 20s. That experience taught me independence, resilience, and how to navigate challenges, which has carried through my entire career.

The best career advice I've ever received is to stay consistent and be the best version of yourself in your current job in order to get to your next job. If you're always thinking about the next jump - six months in, a year in, asking 'what's next?' - that's never going to work out for you. You have to really excel and master the skills in your existing job, be really good at what you're doing now, and it eventually will pay off because people will notice and know that you're really great at what you do. Therefore, they will trust that you can do the next job. When you step into a new role, it's always about trust - you're trusting that person can do the job, because they haven't been in that role before. This advice came from a very senior leader at Microsoft during executive coaching sessions. The key is to just be really good at your craft, and the rest will follow.

I would tell young women entering my field to learn and be a steward of their craft, because AI is replacing a ton of jobs and will continue to replace people who don't know how to use it. Every industry needs to understand how AI is impacting their work - whether you're a lawyer figuring out how it better writes contracts, or in real estate learning how to negotiate better or get creative with listings using ChatGPT or Gemini. Technology is moving so quickly that you really have to anticipate what is going to change in your role and be what I call a builder. Everyone now has access to the best models and the best information out there, so it's an even playing field. What AI can't replace is the soft skills - communication, connecting the dots between different strategies. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't know how to communicate because they've been on devices their entire childhood. Simple things like looking people in the eye and having social skills are missing, and that's where the next evolution of the workforce is going to need to lean in. That's the bigger skill that will set you apart.

The biggest challenge in my field right now is having to reinvent ourselves in the new age of technology. At the same time, the biggest area of opportunity is being a self-starter, a self-learner, and an entrepreneur. AI is going to make people extremely successful - you can build up different business plans without necessarily having to go to business school, or maybe you do but for a different skill. There are so many untapped opportunities right now. Between now and probably the next two years, we have access to the best algorithms and the best LLM models, and I don't think people are taking advantage of that or really understanding the power behind those models. As these models start to build, access to them is going to become more scarce, so now is the time to leverage them.

The values that drive me both professionally and personally are empathy, adaptability, loyalty, and consistency. Being empathetic is crucial in how I work with others. I believe in adaptability because not everything goes according to plan, so being able to adapt is key. I'm very loyal - to my company, to my friends, to my clients. Being at Microsoft for 10 years shows that loyalty, especially when a lot of people move around. I also think consistency matters tremendously. Just showing up says so much more about someone than anything else. These values guide everything I do.