A reflection on the challenges women navigate throughout their professional journeys and the importance of looking beyond traditional measures of success. Exploring how flexibility, empathy, and understanding can create workplaces where professional ambition and personal responsibilities can coexist.
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Influential Woman · Accounting
Marian Mieres
Senior Accountant / Finance & Operations, Mr. Bee
Miami, FL 33131
1Article published
Her Story
About Marian
Beyond her professional career, Marian is a devoted mother who considers family one of the most important foundations of her life. She believes that professional ambition and family life can complement one another, and that women should never have to lose themselves in the process of building a career or caring for the people they love.
For Marian, being a woman means embracing every part of who she is: a professional, a mother, and an individual with her own passions, goals, and dreams. She believes that taking care of oneself, staying active, making time for family, and continuing to grow personally are all essential parts of a fulfilling life.
Passionate about sports and personal development, Marian sees each day as a new opportunity to learn, improve, and become a better version of herself. She believes every project, every team, and every experience brings valuable lessons, and that growth comes from remaining curious, open-minded, and willing to embrace new challenges.
Her philosophy is simple: women shine brightest when they nurture all dimensions of their lives. For Marian, true success is not defined by professional achievements alone, but by the ability to grow, inspire others, remain connected to what matters most, and build a life that reflects both ambition and authenticity.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Marian
01What do you attribute your success to?
Marian attributes her success to perseverance, adaptability, and a commitment to continuous learning. Throughout her career, she has learned that every challenge is an opportunity to grow, every team offers a different perspective, and every experience brings valuable lessons. She believes in taking ownership of her work, approaching challenges with a solution-oriented mindset, and always looking for ways to improve.
Equally important, she attributes her success to the values that guide her life: integrity, dedication, and the support of her family. Being a mother has strengthened her perspective on responsibility, resilience, and the importance of making the most of every opportunity. For Marian, success is not just about professional achievements; it is about growing as a person, staying true to herself, and finding fulfillment in both her career and her personal life.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
One of the most valuable lessons I learned in my career came from a mentor who taught me the importance of kindness and empathy in the workplace. What made this lesson so meaningful was that he didn't just talk about these values; he practiced them every day with me and the entire team.
He showed me that when people feel respected, understood, and supported, they build stronger relationships and work better together.
A positive work environment brings people closer, encourages collaboration, and makes even the most challenging days easier to navigate.This experience shaped the way I approach teamwork and professional relationships. I believe kindness is not a weakness, and empathy does not take away from professionalism. On the contrary, they help create an environment where people feel valued, motivated, and connected to a common goal.
For me, success is not only about achieving results; it is also about how we treat one another along the way. When we lead with kindness and empathy, we build stronger teams and create a workplace where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice to young women entering the accounting industry is to stay professionally active, continue learning, and never stop pursuing their ambitions. But just as importantly, I encourage them to remember that we are more than our careers. We are women with our own identities, passions, dreams, and families who often look to us for guidance, love, and support.
I believe that building a successful career and nurturing our personal lives should go hand in hand. Finding balance is not always easy, and it may look different at every stage of life, but making time for ourselves is essential. We need to nurture our minds, take care of our bodies, and nourish our souls.
Above all, don't feel that you have to choose between being a successful professional and being the woman you want to be. Keep growing, embrace new opportunities, take care of the people you love, and never forget to take care of yourself. True success comes from nurturing all the dimensions of our lives—mind, body, and soul—so we can thrive both professionally and personally.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges for me personally is finding an opportunity that allows me to continue growing professionally while maintaining a healthy balance between my career and family life. With my family currently living abroad due to a temporary family assignment, I am looking for a remote position that allows me to remain professionally active while being present for the people who matter most to me.
I see this as an opportunity to embrace new ways of working, strengthen my skills, and continue contributing my experience in corporate accounting and financial reporting. I believe that remote work can offer both organizations and professionals greater flexibility without compromising accountability, productivity, or the quality of their work.
More broadly, I believe the accounting field is evolving through technology, automation, and AI, creating opportunities for professionals to improve processes and focus on accuracy, problem-solving, and meaningful financial insights. For me, the key is to remain adaptable, continue learning, and find an environment where professional growth and personal well-being can complement one another.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that matter most to me, both professionally and personally, are honesty, respect, empathy, and commitment. I believe honesty builds trust, respect strengthens relationships, and empathy allows us to understand and support one another. Commitment means taking responsibility for our actions, giving our best effort, and standing by the people and goals that matter to us.
These values guide the way I work with colleagues, approach challenges, and build relationships with my family and the people around me. I believe that treating others with kindness, acting with integrity, and honoring our commitments create stronger teams, healthier relationships, and a more positive environment.
For me, success is not only measured by what we accomplish, but also by how we accomplish it and how we treat people along the way.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Marian
Beyond the Resume: The Value of Flexibility in a Woman's Professional Journey
What if we looked beyond professional achievements and recognized the life, responsibilities, and determination behind every woman's career?
Beyond the Resume: The Value of Flexibility in a Woman's Professional Journey
What if we looked beyond professional achievements and recognized the life, responsibilities, and determination behind every woman's career?
The Story Behind the Resume
A resume tells us a great deal about a professional: experience, education, achievements, promotions, and skills. But it rarely tells the whole story.
Behind every career is a personal journey shaped by decisions, opportunities, responsibilities, and sometimes difficult trade-offs. Many women build their careers while also being mothers, partners, daughters, caregivers, or the people their families depend on.
These responsibilities do not diminish their ambition or abilities, but they can influence their career paths, opportunities, and the way success unfolds.
Throughout my professional career, I have seen how much discipline, dedication, and persistence it takes to build a career. I have also come to appreciate that professional achievements are only one part of a person's life. Sometimes, the effort required to manage both worlds is far greater than anything a resume can show.
Consider two equally qualified professionals. One may have followed a relatively uninterrupted career path, while the other may have experienced pauses, changes, or different priorities along the way. Their resumes may look different, but that does not necessarily reflect their capabilities, commitment, or potential.
A resume captures milestones. It does not always capture the circumstances behind them.
Not Less Commitment, Just More Understanding
This is not about lowering expectations or creating different standards. Women want the same opportunities to contribute, grow, lead, and be recognized for their work.
Professional accountability and high standards are essential. But perhaps it is worth asking whether commitment should always be measured through traditional expectations, regardless of the responsibilities people carry outside the workplace.
For many women, family responsibilities do not end when the workday begins. They are an ongoing part of life. Having some flexibility can make it possible to meet professional expectations while also being present for the people who depend on them.
The goal is not to do less, but to create conditions in which people can continue giving their best without feeling that professional success must come at the expense of everything else that matters.
Are We Measuring Performance the Right Way?
In many workplaces, performance is still closely associated with fixed schedules, constant availability, and physical presence.
Of course, some roles require employees to be on-site or available at specific times. Flexibility cannot look the same in every position or industry.
However, for roles where work is measured by deliverables and results, it may be worth reconsidering whether time spent at a desk is always the best indicator of productivity.
Flexibility requires communication, organization, accountability, and trust. It does not mean the absence of expectations. In fact, when managed well, it can benefit both employees and organizations by allowing people to work effectively while managing their broader responsibilities.
Perhaps the question should not simply be how many hours someone is visible, but what they contribute and the quality of the work they deliver.
The Pressure Behind Having It All Together
Many women feel the pressure to excel professionally while also being present for their families and meeting the expectations they place on themselves.
The reality is that no one can do everything perfectly, all the time. Life has different seasons, and priorities sometimes shift. There may be moments when a career requires greater attention and others when family responsibilities demand more time.
That does not mean ambition has disappeared or that professional goals have become less important.
We should be able to recognize that professional achievement and personal fulfillment do not have to compete. A meaningful career should have room for the different dimensions of a person's life.
The Human Side of Leadership
Leadership is not only about policies, procedures, and performance indicators. It is also about understanding people and recognizing the human relationships behind an organization.
Empathy does not mean lowering expectations or making exceptions without reason. It means taking the time to understand that employees have lives and responsibilities beyond their professional roles.
Research supports the importance of this human connection. A global study by Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning found that 77% of senior leaders considered empathy important, yet only 47% said their organizations valued it (Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning, 2023).
Furthermore, Gallup's extensive 2024 meta-analysis, which examined 736 studies across 347 organizations and more than 183,000 work units, found a strong relationship between employee engagement and business performance. Teams with the highest engagement levels showed 23% higher profitability and 18% higher sales productivity compared with teams with the lowest engagement levels (Harter et al., 2024).
The message for leaders is simple: caring about people and expecting great work are not competing priorities. They can reinforce one another.
When people feel valued and supported, they have greater reason to contribute, grow, and remain committed. Sometimes, a conversation, a little understanding, or a willingness to be flexible can make a greater difference than we realize.
The Meaning of True Influence
A person's professional value cannot always be understood through a resume, job title, or list of achievements.
A woman's career may not follow a straight line. It may include progress, setbacks, pauses, and moments when she has to begin again. But how much growth, resilience, perspective, and wisdom can come from those experiences?
Challenges teach us lessons, shape the way we approach our work, and often strengthen us as professionals. Some of the most meaningful experiences in a career may not appear as promotions or new titles, but in what we learn along the way.
And perhaps this is where the idea of influence becomes even more meaningful.
Our influence is not limited to professional accomplishments or leadership positions. It is also reflected in the lives we touch, the values we pass on, the people we support, and the example we set.
How we lead, encourage, care for others, and treat the people around us can have an impact that extends far beyond the workplace.
A successful society is not built on professional achievements alone. It also depends on empathy, understanding, human connection, and the recognition of contributions that cannot always be measured on a resume.
Perhaps looking beyond the resume means recognizing the whole person: the professional, the individual, and everything in between.
Because our influence is not defined only by what we achieve, but also by the difference we make in the lives of others.
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