Lisa M Barr

I was the first person in my family to graduate from college and have a college degree of any kind, and I've always used my struggles as motivation instead of reasons to quit. I truly use my past as a huge motivator - I come from a very rugged past, so I truly used my misfortunes as motivation. Working from a young age, starting at the bottom and working up to where I am now, I have worked at places where you feel like just a number. I carry that with me, and I make sure my employees don't feel that way. My children truly are a huge motivation for me, and I also have very close friends who have really stuck by me in the hard times. I just want to make a difference - that's something I'm so unbelievably passionate about. If I can watch somebody grow and just know that I even contributed in the smallest bit, that alone is something that absolutely fills my cup.

My biggest advice would be to never give up. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college and have a college degree of any kind, and I've always used my struggles as motivation instead of reasons to quit. So I would say keep going, keep pushing - you will absolutely reach your goals, you can do anything you put your mind to, and I'm a hard believer of that.

I focus heavily on what is going to make my employees the happiest, what's going to help allow them to really love their job and what they do, and feel empowered to grow in their profession. I want them to be successful in what they do on their day-to-day, as well as making sure they have proper work-life balance - even down to the basics, like making sure they're going to lunch on time. I carry with me the experience of working from a young age, starting at the bottom and working up to where I am now. I have worked at places where you feel like just a number, and so I make sure my employees don't feel that way. I just want to make a difference - that's something I'm so unbelievably passionate about. If I can watch somebody grow and just know that I even contributed in the smallest bit, that alone is something that absolutely fills my cup. Most importantly and first and foremost, I'm a mom - I have two boys, and that will take over life in itself. When I'm with them, they are very heavily in sports, and I'm that sports mom that I'm always there, I always have snacks, and I'm usually the loudest one in the crowd.