Mahsa Javadnia

I attribute my success to good leadership and the good leaders I've had. Not necessarily leaders who always praised me, but also the challenges I faced in some positions in the past. I have this thirst for learning more and moving forward, and I want to make sure I have a story to tell in the future to my next generation. My dedication and motivation to constantly grow have been key. I've been fortunate to have leaders who challenged me and pushed me out of my comfort zone, which helped me discover my capabilities and potential.

The best career advice I received was from my very first manager at my current company. She was an absolute help, an amazing leader who taught me that I was still young in my career and should make myself familiar with other departments and what they do. She told me I didn't want to turn my head in 10 or 20 years and think to myself that I could have had a better career in other fields but lost the opportunity because I didn't give it a try. She encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone. At that time, I was in back office and pretty isolated, not client-facing. Client-facing wasn't something I was planning for my career future, but she motivated me to challenge myself. She also encouraged me to take public speaking classes and be more involved with employee resource groups at work. That advice helped me find my capabilities and discover what I'm capable of and my potential. Now here I am, a relationship manager on the client-facing side.

The best advice I would give is to always make sure you have your 5-year plan mapped out. Know where you see yourself in 5 years and 10 years. Always have a backup plan, because plans change, and you need to make sure you're prepared. The other critical thing is that as soon as you feel that you're in your comfort zone, that means you may not be growing anymore. So you have to make sure that you're constantly trying to grow. Once you feel comfortable in where you are, that means you may not be moving forward. Don't be afraid to challenge yourself and explore different areas, even if they're outside what you originally planned for your career.

To be honest, the current company I'm working with makes this job so easy. Errors happen, whether on a daily basis or every once in a while, but the family that I have at my work is amazing. It's not only at my team level, it's at the corporate level. This whole company is super supportive, and it really feels like you have a family there. I can't think of any challenges currently that I'm facing. One thing I can mention is that if they really value you and they really think you're a good fit for the company, they will do everything in their power to make sure you're in the right spot and you're growing. That's why I was able to move from one department to another and keep moving up in my current team. They're always open to supporting your growth. If I go and talk to my manager about being interested in learning more about other departments, she has done this for me before. She openly says that she'll add me to some of their calls to see if that's something I'm interested in doing in the future. As much as they don't want to lose me, I'm part of the family, so that'll be fine.

The very first thing I remind myself of every day when I start my day, especially when I receive a not very pleasing email or communication, is to always put myself in that person's position and be kind. The very first thing I would say is just always make sure that you're kind and trying your best to be kind with people. You don't know what they're going through or what they're experiencing in their life. The other thing I'm known for is that I've always raised my hand to help. I make sure that I will do my best to support my company, my team, and my clients. I would go above and beyond, not because I would get anything in return, but just because I think it's my job to make sure that they're happy and satisfied with the service they receive. I would do anything in my power to just help people around me.