Her Story
About Laticia
I am a manager at a managed care organization, a position I've held since October. This is my first leadership position, and it represents a significant milestone in my career - being promoted from Project Manager II to a management role. I've been in the healthcare field for over 16 years, starting back in my Humana days around 2010. My team is responsible for working with various teams throughout our population health and clinical operations department. We work with them to document their workflow processes so that they can discover if there are any gaps that require resolution, any inefficiencies in their processes, and we help them determine those gaps and how they can help get them closed so that we can better serve our members and the communities that we serve. Growing up, I always knew that I wanted to be a healthcare professional. In my younger days, I wanted to do something on the clinical side, but I realized that wasn't for me. As a high school student, I had the opportunity to attend a high school that offered a magnet program that was centered towards the healthcare field, and in order to graduate from that program, I had to do a certain number of community service hours that were related to the healthcare field. In doing so, it made me realize that I would rather stay away from the clinical side of the field, but I still wanted to be able to serve my community, so I decided to take a different path.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Laticia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would probably say I attribute my success to the awesome leadership that I've had, who have stretched me and allowed me to grow and evolve, as well as receiving their support during the process of going to school to acquire both my bachelor's and master's degrees. Having leaders who believed in me and supported my educational journey while helping me develop professionally has been instrumental in reaching this point in my career.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I would probably say the best career advice that I received, especially working in the healthcare field where things are constantly changing, is to remain flexible and roll with the punches, because things change quite often. You can't get used to things being a certain way for too long, because in this field, things are forever evolving, and so if you want to be able to keep up with what's going on, you have to be flexible and be able to evolve with those changes throughout the industry.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The advice that I would give is just be open to learning. Again, it's a field where things are constantly changing, and that flexibility has to be there if you want to be successful in it. So just be open to learning, being self-motivated. Those qualities will serve you well as you navigate your career in healthcare.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would probably say the biggest challenge is because I am new to the leadership role, just learning to be the best leader that I can be for the team that I'm overseeing. Getting acclimated with the leadership position and learning how I can be there for my team to be supportive and help them learn that I'm here to help, and encourage and motivate them. It's about learning how to navigate from being a direct report to having to oversee direct reports and be able to do those things for them.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Values that are important to me, I would say transparency. Being honest and transparent with my colleagues as well as my family is something I hold dear. It's about maintaining open and honest communication in all aspects of my life, both professionally and personally.
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