Dr. Jill Urich, CPC, ELI-MP

I attribute my success to surrounding myself with amazing people, all of whom have helped shape who I am, and who I view as smarter than me! I just love working with people where we each bring our unique gifts to the team, and through synergy, we do our best work. I feel successful when the people around me are able to do their best work - when they experience success. What's our overall mission and intended outcome? When that happens, we are successful! And, when I think of my success, I can't discount my faith as it is central to my identity and purpose-driven leadership. Having faith to lean into is a continual reminder of who I am and how I'm supposed to serve.

The best advice I ever received is to just be curious. I'm never gonna have all the answers. Being curious means I'm continuously learning, and it also means I'm continuously leaning into the people around me, being interdependent. It's that concept of 1 plus 1 equals 3. In other words, if I work with other people on anything, we will come up with something better than we would have come up with by ourselves. It's just all about being curious in every aspect of your life, whether learning or engaging in relationships. It's SHOWING UP in the moment.

Advice I would share with young women relates to the concept of "we versus me." The goal is finding that sweet spot about being strong and confident in who you are, and, knowing you are entering a field where it's an expectation that you're going to be collaborative and interdependent in your work. Additionally, as you think about balancing your professional and personal life - you can be successful at work and you can be a mom. It's having the confidence to do both, and modeling for your own kids. For me, it was important for my daughter to see that I can be successful at work AND I can be a good mom. I can be a leader at work, experience success as a working woman, AND, I can be a mom and a wife. It doesn't come without challenges, but when you embrace each challenge as an opportunity, I can model for my own daughter how to be resilient, vulnerable, and never give up.

For young women entering education, I think there's an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of kids and adults, particularly in the school culture, contributing to a safe, positive environment where every person is valued. When you're placed in a school building, you have an opportunity every day to impact everybody around you, so outside of the formal instruction that takes place within the walls of your classroom, you have an opportunity to impact the culture, families of students, families and colleagues and kids, just by the way you live your life on a day-to-day basis. The opportunity to truly serve in the field of education requires leading from the heart. How is your head and your heart aligning, so that you can live your day impacting everyone around you? It's a huge opportunity to make an impact on the future by working with kids. Looking into your future, after gaining experience in teaching, we need women to go into administration. The field of education needs strong female leaders! When I served as a high school lead principal, I was the only female principal in our conference. We need you!

My most important values in both my professional and personal life are faith, family, teamwork, innovation, service, and continuous learning. My faith grounds my purpose and guides how I show up in the world, while my family keeps me centered and reminds me of what matters most. I deeply value teamwork and believe meaningful progress happens when people come together around a shared mission, contributing their unique strengths toward a common goal. I am also energized by innovation and creation finding new and better ways to solve problems, improve systems, and support growth. At the core of everything I do is service, and I strive to use my skills and leadership to make a positive difference in the lives of others. I also value lifelong learning, staying curious and open so I can continue to grow, adapt, and better serve those I work with.