Lianne Moreno

I would say learning to believe in yourself. It's not a monetary achievement, but I think it's very important. It's not about some sort of promotion, but I think believing in yourself is the most important professional achievement for me so far.

The best career advice I received came from a coworker, and it's been one of the best mindsets I've had: treat yourself as your own boss, as your own company. Value yourself as if you were bringing a company to the table, and operate that way. Instead of thinking of yourself as just another employee, another number, another fish in the pond, see yourself as another pond, maybe a smaller pond, but still a pond. When you're about to negotiate or walk into something, it's not just what you can offer them, but it's what they can offer you. When you see yourself as a mini corporation or a mini entity, you'll walk in the room and negotiate differently. You're negotiating in a way that boosts your confidence and helps you get what you feel like you deserve. With these CEO roles, I understand they need someone to be their support, but there are times where you're going to be at the big person table making big decisions and negotiating. Yes, there are times where you need to bring copies of something and be of service - that's what comes with the role. But the way I've seen it is, okay, you're going to need a lot of me - a decent chunk of my time, attention, energy, and skills. It's not just hard skills either - it's a lot of your emotional support as well. So I think about it as: these are the services I can provide for you, instead of saying oh, I can do this X, Y, and Z. Walking in the room with that attitude, you feel more confident. Don't get me wrong, easier said than done, especially when majority of the times I've been in male-dominated industries. It does get a little tough in some aspects. But when you walk in the room with that attitude or into certain situations with that attitude, chances are maybe you're not going to get everything you want, but you're going to get seen a little bit better.

In the jewelry business, I would give a very different answer than a cookie-cutter get-your-degree answer. If I was old enough to work, I would tell myself: make an LLC, go on Florida SunBiz, apply for an LLC, apply for a sales tax, and start looking for wholesale vendors across Miami, across the states - there's a ton in New York and LA. Start buying cheap jewelry and selling it to your friends, because that's going to give you the best experience. You learn how to make money, negotiate, and how to start running a business - like sales tax, how do you manage POSs, how do you receive and manage money. The jewelry industry is so competitive - there's a very low ceiling and it's hard to make it big. You need to figure out a way how you stand out, and that's up to you to figure that out. But most women have other women around them, and chances are they like jewelry, so you already have a network of people. If you start there, then wherever life is going to take you, whether it's in jewelry or not, you're getting that firsthand experience of how to run a business. Once I got to this company and saw a lot of older moms or even grandmothers, or people just trying to stay afloat doing this and making money - again, maybe you won't be a multi-millionaire, but by starting out this way right out of the bat, I saw how people stay afloat. That's just so inspiring that these women just hustle every single day. If they can do it, anybody can do it. And it creates a lot of character as well, because it's not easy at all. If you have some savings, like even twenty or thirty dollars, maybe you're not buying real gold and real silver, maybe you're buying cheaper products, but you can still make decent returns on that and figure out how to build your own business. It really creates character. Even if you're just selling it like a lemonade stand, you can sell jewelry - maybe not for three dollars, but maybe for fifty dollars you can buy a few pieces and build yourself from there. Every time I start talking to people and they ask me, I always say that.

Honesty is the most important value to me, mainly honesty of intentions. I think it's the most important, and it gives peace of mind. When you see that type of clarity or transparency across the board, you're able to do your job or continue on building relationships outside and inside of work with less guessing game, or with more trust. If there's honesty, then you feel like you can trust the person. And when you can trust the person, you're hoping that they have your best interest in mind. When you feel like they have your best interests in mind, then you're able to put your best foot forward.