Lavanya Kochhar Khullar

I attribute my success to my parents, for sure. They've always been my biggest cheerleaders, and I'm someone who works well with positive reinforcement, so it's always been great that I've had them in my corner. I've had a really supportive cohort of people including my husband, his family, my sister, my parents, brother-in-law. I have a really good support system, and that has always empowered me to feel like I can kind of do anything. The second thing is my experiences, specifically with having to go to a lot of places on my own. I moved to Pittsburgh on my own when I was 18 - my cousin was there and my aunt and uncle in New Jersey were a big part of my college experience supporting me, but I did move to the U.S. at 18 alone, and that itself was a difficult thing which made me feel like I could do anything if I could do that. Then I moved to California completely all on my own, didn't really know anyone here, moved to LA and started my first job at EY. So there have been experiences along the way that were me having to tackle different things on my own that has just helped me grow. At each of my different jobs, they've taught me different things and made me stronger and have the ability to persevere through difficult things. The third thing is probably just that I've always had this sense of motivation. My dad always says, where there's a will, there's a way, and I'm like 100% - if you want to do something, you can do it, and there's nothing that's gonna stop you. So that positive attitude has served me well, and I've been guided by some really great people.

I would say a few things. First, believe in yourself. At the end of the day, you have to trust your ability and trust that you can do anything, but you have to also build that confidence. I think spending the time to work on yourself is important - you have to talk to yourself and encourage yourself and tell yourself that you can do anything. Sometimes when you don't think you can do anything, you should try it, because you might surprise yourself. Second, put the effort to build that support system around you. I think sometimes people say you should cut the wrong people out of your life, and I do think to a certain extent there is toxicity and you shouldn't have people around you that pull you down. But I also think there's more responsibility to be taken there - be responsible for your own life, for who's in your life, and for how much time you put towards people in your life. If people aren't bringing good energy towards you, maybe put less time in it, but it doesn't need to be a bad thing or a fight. But definitely the people who put time for you and who are your cheerleaders and supportive, it's your responsibility to give the time back and to be there for other people, and it does come around. Third is being accountable. When you're starting out, it's easy to look at failures and say it's because of this, I couldn't do this because of this. Outside circumstances play a role all the time, but internal forces play a role too. You can change your path based on the decisions you make, and you can react to situations based on your decisions. If you have that accountability, you can always take something bad and learn from it and grow. But if you don't have that accountability, you'll always let stuff happen to you, and that's what's gonna bring you down. Even if the things around you aren't working, if you're like 'tomorrow's a new day, I'm gonna start again,' something will work. You just have to keep trying.

The first thing that comes to mind is my family. I think loyalty is important, and at the end of the day, life and work don't matter if you don't have the right people around you. So to me, family is always going to be number one, and the people in that circle are always gonna be my priority. The second value is your own integrity and value. I think valuing yourself, valuing other people, and being truthful and honest about things is critical. If you're a trustworthy person and a genuine person, you will attract that around you. I believe in doing the right thing, and I want to be around people who are wanting to do the right thing too. The third thing, which is not as much a value as a way of thinking, is going back to where there is a will, there's a way. I think having that positive mindset is important, because life can get tough in different ways, and it's just important that as long as you hold on to that belief or mindset, it can help you through anything. I've seen it happen over and over in life that everything happens for a reason, there's a lesson you can take out of it, but then you need to move on and do the next thing. I've seen it work for me, so it's something that I stick by.