Larissa Spearnak

I really want to say my partner, my husband, and my parents, my supporters. But I think broader when I say my supporters, it's really the people who believed in me. That includes those two women co-founders who took a chance on me, and I took a chance on them. But it's also all of the people in between - obviously my parents and my husband, but also all of the people who took a chance on me along the way. Whether that's a customer interaction that went south and I had to recoup it, or me really messing up at work, or maybe I'm totally unqualified to manage people but here I am anyway. It's really everyone who took a chance on me that I attribute my success to.

I kind of have two pieces of advice that have shaped my career. One is something my dad told me really early on: the harder you work, the luckier you are. That just rings so true for my career and honestly my life. The other piece of advice that I would almost give myself is just put yourself out there. Why not me? I think 'why not me' is a really important statement for women, especially in the workplace. That's something that I often have on a sticky note - it's kind of a mantra in a way for me.

It really comes back to the 'why not me' mindset. But more concretely, I would say find your network and really invest in it. What that means is find 3 to 5 people who you really, really keep in touch with, whether that's a monthly call or a monthly newsletter email or something. Be really intentional about your people who keep you in their mind, because your network is how you find opportunities. And they will think of you without you asking. That's the key - building those relationships so people naturally think of you when opportunities arise.

I think the biggest challenges are the land grab with AI. Everyone moves so fast that in the world of startups, you have to move even faster than you were before, which everyone was already moving really fast. The other side of that is really that healthcare is archaic. Healthcare is one of the sectors that doesn't really catch up very quickly. So the challenge is all of the policies and navigating those, and figuring out how do we actually make it a better world and not more complicated in the healthcare sector. It's about balancing the speed of innovation with the slow-moving nature of healthcare systems and regulations.

I really try to have my work and personal values married and go together. Curiosity is very important to me, along with efficiency in both my work and personal life, adventure, and family. I don't take on job opportunities that don't allow me to fulfill those values. I defined these values a few years ago for myself, and I plan my personal annual goals around them. I really actively try to live by them and raise my child with those values in mind. They guide everything I do, from the work I choose to how I structure my life.