Lenora Mathis

My parents were strict growing up, and Lord knows I disliked it at the time, but looking back, hindsight is 2020, and I 110% agree with pretty much everything they did. They kept me out of trouble, kept me in music, in sports, kept me active and strong in my academics, and really just pushed me in the best way possible. They would ask, 'Okay, so this is what you want to do, how do you get there?' which taught me critical thinking. Having a Type A personality, I just push for what I want and what I want to see happen. I also believe in bringing people with me and lifting people up. Recently, I've had to cut quite a few people out of my life because I noticed they weren't lifting me up - they were bringing me down, only wanting to party or not striving for higher education or higher management. It really kind of sucks, but I always want to bring people up with me. I don't ever want to push anybody down.

I have been privileged to mentor a few understudies over the past couple of years, and my biggest thing is that it is not all sunflowers and rainbows. Anything that is worth doing, anything that has value to that person, it's not always going to be easy. I can definitely say that it has been blood, sweat, and tears for me to get to where I am at, and I'm still climbing. I shoot for the top. You can always better yourself, whether that can be professionally, physically, emotionally, spiritually - there's always something you can do to better yourself until you reach Jesus Christ status, which I don't hope nobody thinks they can. I know this may sound cliche, but if you want it bad enough, you're gonna get it. If you put your mind to it and you push through, it may financially drain you, it may emotionally drain you, but if it holds value to you, because obviously everybody has different values, then keep pushing and don't take no for an answer. Don't just stop with that first no that you get.

I most exemplify my values when I am in a managerial position. My biggest thing is I don't really deal with any BS, meaning that as a leader, I want to be able to create a safe environment and a comfortable environment for each and every one of my employees, coworkers, or even my bosses to feel comfortable. Whether they have an issue and they need to bring it to me, or I've messed up and they feel comfortable bringing the issue to me directly, as opposed to some sort of workaround. I believe that people deserve respect, at least initially, until they mess that up maybe, but everybody deserves respect, no matter what, no matter where their background is from, or where they're from, or who they are, or whatever. Other things that I like to bring to the table are transparency and leading from the front. That definitely stems from my Army days, where I'm not going to ask somebody to do something that I either am not perfectly capable of or that I should just do it myself. I'm not gonna ask somebody to do something that I wouldn't do myself. I am a goofy, light-hearted person. Of course, I take things seriously when it needs to be serious, but life is too short to be so super serious, and just trying to bring a smile to somebody's face is my goal for at least once a day, whether it's in the workplace or even just in the grocery store. They may be having a really crappy day, and as long as I can get them to smile, then I've done my job. My faith and Christianity are really important to me. There are times that I have cursed God and times that I have praised God, but either way, you praise Him in the storms and praise Him in the good times.