Her Story
About Larissa
Larissa TolbertEl serves as Clinic Manager in healthcare, a role she attained in 2023 after developing strong leadership skills over a decade in the field. She began her professional journey as a medical assistant and phlebotomist following her 2013 graduation from Northeast Alabama Community College with an Associates in Applied Science in Medical Assistant Phlebotomy. Over the course of her 14-year career, she has earned a certificate in Early Childhood Education in 2017, multiple certifications including x-ray, OpMed, and as a DOT and BAT technician, along with two or three leadership certifications. She is currently completing her Bachelor's in Business Management at Purdue Global. In her position, Larissa oversees team management, payroll, reimbursement, and the smooth operation of the clinic while focusing on building successful teams and mentoring staff toward their own career goals. She is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa honors society and attributes her success to the encouragement of her mother, who instilled in her a drive to continually learn and grow without becoming complacent.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Larissa
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would attribute my success to my mom. She's pushed me my whole life to do more. That's why I'm set that way and have gone to school 3 or 4 different times and got 2 or 3 different degrees. I never feel like once I learn the job there's something different or something more that I can attribute in some type of way to the community. So I just keep pushing to learn more. I'm eager to learn everything that I can and not get complacent in one skill or one setting.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received is probably keeping your home and your work life separate. Leaving everything at the door when you come in. Ensuring that you're giving your best to the patients as you would like for yourself. And keep pushing, like there's never you can never grow enough or learn enough, education-wise, work-wise, skill-wise. Keep pushing and keep learning.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The sky's the limit. Never give up, keep pushing and keep learning. Never get complacent. Always be willing to work towards a goal. Always have a goal set. Because when you get complacent, you get bored, you get frustrated, you get tired. You just gotta have that open mind and keep it non-complacent.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
It's a challenge not having a degree behind your name. I just kind of lucked up on the experience and had a really good leader that noticed the leadership skills that I had to get that promotion for management, because typically they want someone that has a business management degree to run a clinic. But really promoting from within is the best because the staff already know the job, they know how to do the job, they've been trained for the job, and most of the time they've been doing it for quite some time.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Integrity is probably my biggest for sure. Honesty. Honesty and integrity.
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