Katrina Newhouse

I would say my upbringing. I was taught to be strong and very independent. My mom did teach me a lot of that, as well as my grandmother. You know, especially for women, get out there, you gotta push harder and harder and harder than anyone else. Because it's a competition. Now, I don't feel it's that competitive now, but it was, obviously, even when I was younger. But I don't feel it's as bad now, but then again, I'm not sure, because I've kind of gotten lucky. But I know that I have to be a go-getter. And they kind of put that in me, and I'm putting that in my kids. Because nothing's falling in your lap. When you come from nothing, literally, you have to push. That's what I do every day.

I had quite a few mentors along the way that have helped shape and mold me into the individual with professionalism today.

Pamela Griff-Newhouse, who has taught me so much in business. She is my momma of course.

Rob Flynn, my first mentor in business who still pushes me and is their anytime I need advice or an opinion. That's been for almost 20 years.

James Kostick has been one amazing mentor. I learned a lot from him and Bernie (B) McNally. I have grown so much with NetApp due to their personalities. They really gave me a different perspective on customer service and leadership.

Those people combined with their knowledge, empathy and "down to earth" perspective, gave me the motivation to continue pushing.

A manager/mentor, is absolutely no better than their newest team member.

I don't actually ask for advice. I try to pay attention, and then I go ask questions, and I'm kind of different in that way. But I will tell you the best thing that I've learned from a lot of mentors throughout my career is that at the end of the day, people are still people. It's not a numbers game. You can't treat people as just numbers, even in corporations. Without being empathetic, understanding, I mean, you're always gonna have your rotten egg somewhere, right? But you have to have understanding, compassion, empathy. And you have to be able to speak to someone, because not everybody speaks the same language, even if everybody was speaking English or Spanish. It's still a different language to everybody else. You have to be able to understand each other and work together. Because everything should function as a team environment when you're working with people. I remember a mentor from Coventry years ago, and one of the things he said when I got promoted was, make sure you always treat people that you work with as if they were your family, because you're here with these people as much as you are your family.

I honestly, it might sound cheesy, but know your worth. Show up every day. Know that you're unstoppable. Nothing can take you down unless you let it. You are the solid foundation of what you are going to build out of this place and your career opportunities, as well as your personal opportunities. It starts with you, and if you get knocked down, you seriously have to get back up. You keep swimming. It's like get those floaties out and go. Like, you have to keep swimming. You can't let somebody else take you down, and even if you do get knocked down, like I did with the promotion thing that I told you about, I was there for 3 years, she was only there a year, and she got it. I mean, don't let anybody hold you back and take you down.

Honesty, loyalty, integrity, and positivity are most important to me. Having that strength when things go downside, because things always do with life, right? Having that strength to pick yourself up as soon as possible. Take your hour or two, have your moment, dance it out, and get back up and be ready to take on the world. No judgment. I mean, everybody has their own story and their background.