Julia Stoltz

Definitely my daughter. She's been my rock through the whole thing. For me, I want to be the best version of myself so that I can make her proud, and for her to just be proud of me. I want to show her that you can truly do anything if you work hard and get up when you fall down. My daughter is 100% what I attribute my success to. Everything I do is to make the community safer for her and the community.

Be the leader you want to be, so lead by example and have confidence. Always think of the next step - who do you want to be at the next step? What is it going to take for you to be the next step? You should always have that mindset instead of getting stagnant. Find your leadership style early, learn from everybody, and then perfect it as you go. That way, by the time you're ready to be a sergeant or a lieutenant, you're already halfway there, instead of promoting and then having to figure out what kind of leader you are.

If you're not in law enforcement yet, I would say do as many ride-alongs as you can to make sure that this is truly what you want. There's a lot of times where people think it's all great and you get to drive a cool car and arrest people, but there's also the downside that comes with it too. Being a female and having to overcome different challenges in a male-dominated field means you have to put yourself out there more, so make sure this is really what you want to do. Focus on what you want and be that positive outlook. Don't be one of those that falls into the mindset of complaining with all the other guys about how everything is terrible and miserable. You've got to be that positive, encouraging person that people go to. And then be the leader that you want to be. Learn from everybody and find your style, and then perfect it as you go. That way, by the time you're ready to be a sergeant or a lieutenant, you're already halfway there instead of having to figure out what kind of leader you are after you promote. Once you're in law enforcement, let your captain know your desire to move into detective work and go on as many mentorships as you can to get real hands-on experience in the position you aspire to have.

At my department, we have mentorships, which is an amazing opportunity. If you show interest in wanting to be a detective or other specialized units, you can write it up to your sergeant, get it approved up the chain of command, and then you can basically adjust your schedule to work with that unit for four to six weeks. You work with them and do what they do, they start teaching you, and you get real hands-on experience to see if this is really what you want to do. You're already getting first-hand knowledge versus just thinking you know what you want. I'm fortunate that in my county, women have many opportunities to go for the jobs they want and mentorship is provided. My agency is very big on women being in leadership. They've always been supportive, saying 'we got this training coming up' or 'we want you to take these classes' so that when your time is up in detectives, you have the training in place and they want you to promote. I've been truly humbled by that.

The confidence that I have now versus the confidence that I had in myself before I was a cop is huge. Knowing that I worked my butt off to get where I am today has definitely just made me a better person with more awareness of certain things. I work in Internet Crimes Against Children, so I handle all child exploitation and human trafficking, which means I'm constantly aware of technology and online safety. I have my weekly online safety briefs with my kid, and I teach classes to kids all the time. I have nieces and nephews, and I make them recite the safety information too. I'm able to be a better, more well-rounded, informed human being for my daughter, myself, and my family. My daughter is my foundation - everything I do is to be the best version of myself for her and to make the community safer for her and everyone else.