Kathryn Wrisley

I attribute my success to two main things. First, partnering with the right people is huge. Finding the people who are on the same path as you, who have that same drive to get where you want to go - finding those people and going with them makes all the difference. The second thing is just being relentless. There have been times where it would have been acceptable to just let something go, but I don't give up. It's not over till it's over, and I will just keep going. For example, if we've had a placement we're working on and things don't go according to plan - maybe the candidate decides not to take the job, or even the client says don't worry, we're just not going to hire for the role - I will keep going. I will keep looking. I do not stop. I am relentless. It's not over until it's over. I think that attitude is really, really important.

The best career advice I've ever received is to take meaningful risks. The people who are most successful in their career - and I look at success not just as making it financially, but as doing something they love and enjoying their job, with financial success being a consequence of that - they got there by taking meaningful risks. They didn't get there by saying 'this is too risky, I'm not gonna do it.' I've really lived my life by asking myself: does this risk make sense? Yes, it could maybe not go the way I think it's gonna go, but if it goes the way it could go, it would be amazing. You have to not be afraid to take those meaningful risks, because the worst thing that happens is you just pivot. At the end of the day, I've always been able to come up with another plan if something doesn't work out. You can trust yourself to take care of your own self. If something doesn't go the way you think it's gonna go, there'll be another path. Once you've tried that, another path will become available and you can go down that path.

First, think about what your gifts are. Think about your strengths - what do your best friends tell you about you? What do your parents and the people closest to you say about your personality? Do they say you're really good at talking to people, or teaching people, or administration? What do people comment to you about your strengths, and what kind of job can you do that plays to your strengths that you're also going to enjoy and feel like you can do for a long period of time? The second thing I would say is feel free to change your mind. There have been times in my career path where I have pivoted in massive, major ways, and I'm grateful because every single one of those pivots, I now see how that has helped me in my current role. None of it was for nothing. So don't be afraid to change your mind, or try something new, or go a different route, because at the end of the day, it all is still helpful in getting you wherever it is that you're going.

Being an advocate for our candidates is a big challenge in my field. Private service and domestic service really comes from slavery and indentured servitude, and so there is a side of our industry that can be - that is not inclusive or lacks diversity. For me, at least, there's a constant awareness in everything that I do that I'm making sure to be inclusive, and I'm continually on a track of making sure that I'm trying to move our industry in the direction of more diversity, more inclusivity, less racism. That is something that unfortunately you do still sometimes see rear its head in this industry, because it's less regulated than corporate roles. Working in someone's home, there isn't an HR person looking over their shoulder about what they're saying, what they're doing, how they're treating people. Because that does not exist, I'm constantly checking myself and making sure I'm always trying to move us as an industry in a direction that's the most diverse and inclusive that it could ever be. And that is the struggle. In our own conversations in our agency, we're always trying to make ourselves better. I'll go online and listen to other nannies speak - there's a particular nanny who's like, this word is really triggering for people of color - and I'm like, okay, I will make sure I don't say this word in my interviews. I'm constantly trying to learn and be better, and make sure that I'm moving us in the right direction as an agency, but more so as this bigger industry in private service.

Just treating everyone with kindness is most important to me. One of the reasons I got into the job that I'm in is because when you're looking for a job, sometimes you can just feel sort of dehumanized in the process. So making sure that people feel that they can be a whole person with me, and that I have their best interest in mind, and that I'm gonna take care of them, is huge on both the client and the candidate side. Treating everyone with kindness, making sure people feel included - sometimes there will be times in my work where people will reveal things to us that are really personal and that they feel embarrassed about, and to make them feel that that's okay, and we still think that they're a great candidate, or that they have something to offer, is really important to me. And to always come from a place of integrity in what I do - we're never, ever prioritizing the bottom line or anything like that over people. It's always safeguarding both ourselves and the work that we do, the integrity of the work we do, and the people that we interact with over any bottom line.