Her Story
About Katherine
I'm currently the office manager of a church in West Hartford, Connecticut, where I've been for just 30 days, though it feels so much longer. I previously spent about 5 years in the pharmaceutical biotech industry as an operations manager, working from home. Before that, I worked in insurance in life and disability. My transition out of corporate America came after a medical leave, and while it was bittersweet leaving a company with amazing work-life balance, unlimited paid time off, and flexibility, I knew I wasn't feeling fulfilled. Working from home for going on 8 years had become lonely, and I wasn't able to engage with people and have that human connection anymore. I wanted to do something where I was making a difference, whether that was for the community or a school. The church I work for isn't one I'm a member of or attend, but the interview went really well, and the community is amazing. I feel so valued here, and they know that I take pride in the projects that I do for them and their church, for their members, for funerals, baptisms, weddings. I get to be a part of that. You see how grateful people are to have you working for them. It's a different sense of client relationship, and it's been amazing. It's nice to feel human again.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Katherine
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think the key factor in my success was being first generation of an immigrant family in the United States. My mom came to the United States when she was 18 from Peru and didn't know anybody, she didn't speak English. I really kind of had that role of translating as a child, and my mom graduating college here was with the help of me and my sister, like, helping her with her English. My grandmother spent 6 months out of the year here to take care of me so that my mom could go to school or go to work. I watched my mom build everything from the ground up and not have, most of the time, family here to rely on, or even many friends, because of that language barrier. Just kind of seeing everything that my family went through, and of course, there's always that little bit of added pressure from your immigrant parents that'll be like, well, you know, we came here for you. It's kind of like, you want to make your family proud, you want to make it mean something, you want to teach the family that you leave behind one day what hard work is, or what success is, or how it can be measured in different ways.
02What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The most important values to me are finding fulfillment and meaning in my work, and prioritizing happiness and mental health over financial success. I realized that a lot of people get stuck in that cycle of 'I need to make more money, I need to make more money,' and they don't realize that sometimes the more money that you make, it's almost like that money doesn't buy happiness. I started realizing that I became just happier when I shifted to public service work that doesn't pay as well as corporate America. I've shifted how I talk to my daughter about success, because while it was instilled in my family and my upbringing that success is measured by a career and finances, I've moved away from that. Now when you ask my daughter what do you want to be when you grow up, her answers aren't necessarily 'I want to be a teacher or a police officer,' but instead, they're 'I want to be happy, and I want to be brave, I want to be courageous.' You can be successful and rich in so many ways that aren't just your education or the career that you chose.
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