Her Story
About Kat
Kat Mason serves as Director at Staff Zone, representing Atlanta, Georgia. She began her career in the staffing industry in 2019 after working in automotive sales, where she advanced quickly to sales management roles at companies including Scott Evans Automotive and Honda of Conyers. At Staff Zone, Mason specializes in construction staffing and places candidates ranging from general labor and light industrial roles to skilled trades, safety professionals, direct hires, and data center positions. She has earned numerous accolades, including Turnaround Branch of the Year, Branch of the Year, Region of the Year, Diamond Club awards, and Highest Billable Hours Awards multiple times. Mason credits much of her professional growth to advice from Roger Alonzo, formerly president of Surge Staffing, who emphasized building and developing a strong team of leaders. She is a member of ABC of Georgia and actively involved in her daughter's PTA, while also supporting Make-A-Wish Georgia through an annual clay shoot fundraiser and donating yearly to the Breast Cancer Foundation. Mason values family, integrity, legacy, growth, excellence, and leading through service, and she approaches her work with an ownership mentality focused on making a difference in people's lives.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kat
01What do you attribute your success to?
I feel like I've always had a mindset to be successful. I always knew that I was going to work hard until I got where I wanted to be in my career. I went through a lot of really rough things when I was younger, losing my father at a young age, getting really close with my grandmother and becoming her caregiver. Then getting pregnant with my daughter and realizing I couldn't be okay with making $45,000 because I wanted to show her that no matter what life throws at you, you can be whatever you want to be in this world.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I received was from Roger Alonzo, formerly president of Surge Staffing. He told me when I was a district manager that I cannot grow if I do not have a team of people behind me that believe in what I'm doing. You train and develop people that are better than you to help you get to where you need to go. From then on, my mission was to develop and create leaders to work alongside me.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The biggest advice is to work hard and don't stop until you get whatever it is that you want. Don't be afraid to build relationships and lean on your relationships heavily. But you have to take it as it's your own business. You have to have an ownership mentality to do all of the work that comes behind staffing. Stay motivated, remember what you're doing, have that people aspect in the very forefront of your mind of why you're doing it because you're making a difference in people's lives.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
We have a great team with over 100 years of executive leadership that partners well together. The challenge in the staffing industry right now is that organizations are losing the people aspect by wanting to get into automation with apps where the customer can request people through an app without meeting the candidate, verifying qualifications, or drug testing. You can't forget the human aspect and the relationship side of things that make the staffing world go round.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Family is the most important thing for me because you have to always have something that you're doing it for. Integrity is a really big one. Legacy, because I'm building something for my kids. Growth and excellence that comes with integrity, doing unto others what you want done unto you. Making a difference in others' lives. Being a leader through service.
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