Lauren Wohl

I attribute my success to staying humble and staying grounded, knowing where I came from and knowing who I am. As an elected official and department head, a lot of people see you on social media or know you've been elected, and they come to you wanting pictures and recognition. But my whole thing is that I have a team - there's no I in team. Every day I'm thankful for the position that I've been able to achieve and stay in, and hopefully will be able to stay in. I think it's important that everyone knows that I'm just like them, always. That is the greatest piece of advice I've really ever been given - just stay humble and stay grounded - and I live by that every day.

The best career advice I've ever received is to stay humble and stay grounded, knowing where you came from and knowing who you are. As an elected official and department head, people see you on social media or know you've been elected, and they want pictures with you and all that. But my whole thing is that I have a team - there's no I in team. Every day I'm thankful for the position that I've been able to achieve and stay in. I think it's important that everyone knows that I'm just like them, always. I live by that advice every day.

Sky's the limit. Get involved, use your voice, stand for what you believe in. If you don't stand for something, you stand for nothing. Who was I? I was a stay-at-home mom that just had a lot of things to say about a lot of stuff. I built one of the biggest social media platforms in Rockland County called Clarkstown Community Uncensored and developed a lot of followers, and then I found myself running for office. People will listen if you have something to say, and if you have something to say, you shouldn't be quiet about it. You should get it out there and not be afraid of it.

I don't really see a lot of challenges in my field. As things come in, I deal with them and we figure them out. Some would say that being an elected official and running a department is a challenge, or that as an elected you have to do things a certain way or people are going to get upset with you. But I look at it as I have a responsibility to the taxpayers, regardless of being an elected or a department head. My position is unique - I'm both of them. My job is to do the job for the taxpayers, regardless if it's bad press in an elected year. If certain things have to be done a certain way, then certain things need to be done a certain way. If that's going to upset some people and make them not want to vote for me, then so be it. But what needs to be done needs to be done. I don't look at what needs to be done as a challenge. I look at it as things need to be sorted out, maybe reconstructed, but not so much a challenge.

My values are accountability, transparency, and productivity. Those are really the three things that I run on and I live by, and I make sure that my office is run by them and my position reflects them.