LaShawn McCurty

I would attribute my success to first of all, my children. With them, they make me want to do more and get out and do what I needed to do. Now, they're grown now, but that was for my children. And also because I know what God has brought me through. I also would go for my... because of what he's brought me through, I can't sit down. I have to go because he has used me as his mouthpiece and his vessel so that he's real, just by looking at me, at a two-time cancer survivor. And my customers, believe it or not, my customers, when I left and when I came back, I did not realize how much I meant to people. They started asking me, where you been? How you been? What's going on? So yeah, that's what I attribute my success to.

The best career advice I've received was to just keep going. Ignore it and keep going. I was dealing with harassment from a co-worker who has autism and Asperger's, but they know what they're doing. And the advice was to ignore it and keep going. Even though I took it as advice, I also took it as like a reprimand, but the message was clear: just keep going.

If I would give anyone, women, some advice, first off, whatever your religion is, make sure that that is the main thing that you can lean back on. Because of the simple fact that there, you'll have good days, you'll have bad days, you'll have good customers, you'll have bad customers. But as long as you are able to have a higher power, God, to lean back on, and know that's... whatever happened, that battle is not yours. And don't feel bad about it. Pray, and let it go. I'm learning that right now, myself, still. It sounds easier than done, but once you mature in and you... it can be done.

The biggest challenges in my field right now are unruly co-workers and management that just wants to stay in the middle. I understand that, but you can lose a good employee by keeping a bad one. Those are some challenges because they've been so recent and they've been so ongoing. I went through having cancer back-to-back, and I just wanted to come back to work. And then when I came back to work, I came back to work to this. But I know that this is an assignment, and this is what God has me on, because I'm still here. As far as opportunities, I believe that you can move up to be floor supervisors or customer service. There are ways that you can move up if that's what you want. But you gotta be careful with that, because they'll still give you the title, but they won't give you the pay.

My values for both work and personal life are, first of all, respect. Respect yourself, and then respect others. Even if they are disrespectful to you, you still respect them, and you respect yourself as well. Respect goes so far in everything you do.