Leah Dotchin

Honestly, my biggest success is just being able to give myself the space to fail, and pick myself back up and keep trying. When I got out of college and started working at Camp Bow Wow, I had no intentions of going into management, and no one taught me how to be a leader, no one taught me how to be a manager - I pretty much taught myself. I just kept persevering, and I just kept pushing, and I kept going. I kept self-learning, and I made sure that I did not let anyone tell me that I couldn't be myself. I never let myself go into rooms and didn't let anyone tell me that I didn't fit in, because I was always the person that had the louder voice, or the very decisive decisions. I was always that person that sat at the tables that didn't have others that looked like me. And once I had my daughter, I wanted to make sure that she knew that she could have it all, too. She could have the family, she could have whatever job she wanted, she could be in a leadership position. So I wanted to make sure that she knew that she could shoot for the stars, too. Having her as well is also what inspired me to keep pushing in my career.

The best career advice I've ever received was to always go for it. I had one supervisor one time, and I was afraid to apply for this one position. She looked at me and said, what do you have to lose? Why are you nervous to apply for something? She was like, just always go for it. You have absolutely nothing to worry about, just what do you have to possibly lose? And for whatever reason, anytime I'm nervous to do something, I always think of her saying just go for it. That statement always just lives in my head, and it's career advice I've always lived by. There's just something about putting all fear aside and just running with it, and it has gotten me into many doors of just hearing her in my head saying to go for it.

The advice I would give other women entering into human resources is to not be afraid to just take it step-by-step and learn the most you can. I feel like in human resources, everyone jumps for the title, and there is so much to learn, and there is absolutely no rush to get that title in Human Resources. There are so many different paths that you can go, and it is worth learning everything that you can, and deciding what path you want to go down, and what area you want to go into. Then absorb as much of that information you can, and then pick your area of expertise that you want to go into, and then go after those titles, and then go after that niche, and really absorb as much as you can. Trying to take little bits and trying to attack those titles too early, I think that's the biggest mistake that a lot of people make in human resources. I think that taking it slow and figuring out what you want to do first is the best way to go about it.

The biggest challenges in my field is that it's obviously a non-profit. We have a lot of federally funded grants, so depending on what administration is currently in the government, it changes what's going on with our grants. We have a lot of immigration that goes into our programs. So that is a current challenge with our nonprofit programs. It really just depends on who's in charge in office and what policies are being passed, and we could have programs one year, and then they could be gone the next. So that is a pretty big challenge for us.

The values that are most important to me are to really always approach everything with kindness. There's something to say about how true strength comes from the heart. You can empower those around you and always be a force for good. You don't have to make decisions based off of what you think will be the popular thing to do. You can always still make the right decision based off of what is kind and is right, even if it's not what's popular. I truly believe that, and I always say lead with your moral compass, and that's something that I've always lived with - that's what I live with at home, and that's what I live with mostly at work, too. Anytime that my employees are in a conundrum of what to do, I always tell them to lead with their moral compass. Another value that I have is to never shrink yourself, and to never make yourself feel smaller to make others feel comfortable. I feel that way when it comes to anyone at work, I feel that way when it comes to my family. I want my daughter to always be herself. I want my employees to feel like they can be themselves and that they can make decisions where they feel empowered. I want myself to feel that I can make those bold decisions. I shouldn't have to shrink myself to make others feel comfortable around me. So those are two really big values I feel that I live by, and my family truly lives by, too.