Katya Kouptsova

I would say it's definitely my background and me being an immigrant. I think wanting to do better and just the work ethic that my mom always taught me about working hard is something that's instilled in me. I don't know where this work ethic came from, but it's just the resilience to make it and not settle for the bare minimum. My parents are pastors, and growing up grounded in faith has definitely helped me succeed and pray about the difficult times and hard situations I'm going through. Having to pray and focus and not take no for an answer and continue to go for it has something to do with that immigrant mentality of just persevering and keeping going. I definitely feel like my family values, my faith, and just wanting to succeed and have a better life are what drive me. That's the reason we came here, for that American dream, and I can't give up because they count on me.

Don't take it personal. I was modeling for about 10 years, and that really taught me not to take rejection personally because there's always going to be somebody more beautiful or they're looking for something different. That helped me build a hard shell, because in the auto business, you're dealing with difficult customers and difficult bosses and men in every direction. There's a lot of challenges when you're in conference rooms and meetings, so it's really important not to take it personal and just have that hard shell. You need to recognize and know and trust in yourself that you are a good employee, you do have good work ethic, and just really believe in yourself. When all those negative things come from around you, it's important to continue to hold your ground and your foundation. Being in the modeling industry where I dealt with rejection and different avenues, it didn't take away from who I was as a person, but it made me stronger. It's a tough business and you really have to put on this hard shell and not take it personal. If you do have to take it personal, you go behind closed doors and deal with it in your own way, but you never show that face card. You never want to let anybody know that this affected you or that you're hurt. You always have to show up strong, because that's what men do. They never show that card. We as women are expected to do the same, but we're emotional creatures and we are expected to run the same way, and that doesn't always happen.

The biggest challenge is the young generation that feels like they don't want to work. Times have changed in the way people show up for work, answer to authority, respect authority, and work hard. Calling out used to be stigmatized, but now people don't have that mentality. I think it starts with us as parents teaching our kids the importance of working hard and showing up and showing respect to bosses and authority figures. The challenge is really retention of employees and making sure they're dedicated. I'm not taking away from the importance of mental health, but there are times where I feel like people use that as a crutch. If something's a little bit hard, people move on to the next thing. There's a lack of critical thinking and figuring things out on your own. You really do need to support your employees a lot more than before, and we're not trained on that. You become a boss and you're supposed to delegate, but who's going to train us in being a therapist to that employee or how to support them in difficult times? I give a lot of credit to therapists and teachers and nurses who have that patience and dedication and compassion. In the auto industry, you're dealing with so many personalities and people, and I feel like we're not training people enough on how to be therapists and be supportive to co-workers. It's definitely a generational thing and a lost art. Being a woman is also a challenge. There are strong women in the auto business and we're great leaders, but I do feel like we're being overlooked. I have noticed a man come in with less professional experience maybe get a promotion that I definitely felt entitled for because of the time and experience I've put in. I do feel like there's still a lot of that in the business where women do have to work harder. As for opportunities, with AI coming and new electric cars, we're expanding the market so much that people without an auto background can probably enter this industry with a different perspective, whether they work with something electric or AI. Instead of just having an auto industry background, with all the technological things expanding, people can enter this field without necessarily working with cars.

I would say just really being transparent. Whether it's at work or personal life, it doesn't benefit me by hiding something from the customer. When I deal with customer complaints, I always remember that. I don't like to fluff up and tell them something that didn't happen. I'm usually very transparent, and if there was a mistake, I'm completely brutally honest about it, because people know when you're lying and when you're trying to hide stuff. They can tell when you're fake and when you're trying to use that customer service voice or put on a certain hat. When you're being transparent and completely upfront with whatever's going on, I think people appreciate that more and they can sense that. Same thing in personal life - when you're completely transparent, whether it's with your friends or family, no matter how hard it can be, I'd rather work through that than having to build off lies or build off a fake persona. That way people respect you more. This is the way I am, and I'm putting it all out on the table and being transparent, so you have to carry yourself the same way at work that you do at home, because you're the same person and you don't have to wear different hats.