Marin L. Thomason

I attribute my success to just basically the stickivity and hanging in there. I came from a very low-income background, and I didn't have a lot of resources, so I just had to be crafty. I think experience is really vital. I wish I had resources to go to college, but I really feel that relationship building is something that is an experience-found trait or process that you learn through experience, that you can't really necessarily be taught. And listening - I feel like listening is so important. It's just really actively listening to your customer so you can help them and find solutions. That's the most important thing.

The best career advice I've ever received is just don't sweat the small stuff. Don't hyper-focus. Try to just take one thing at a time.

I would say, be resilient. Don't let what other people tell you your value is determine what your worth is. It's a little bit challenging to work in a field where most of the people that you're working with are male. They don't love women who are high producers. It's just this fragile ego, but they will try to target you, bring you down, discredit you, and you just have to let it go and realize it's not you, it's them. My first mentor in sales taught me how to get out of my comfort zone and push myself. If I felt like, oh, this is uncomfortable, that's exactly an indication that you need to do it anyway. So just pushing yourself to get out of your comfort zone, making yourself present and known.

The biggest challenge is having my input heard the first time. I feel like I have to repackage it multiple times and somehow deliver in a way where the person I'm giving it to thinks it was their idea, and then basically just let it go and let them take credit if it gets implemented. The biggest opportunities are that you can really influence things just by being consistent and showing that the process works, because you show the same results all the time. Consistency, I think, is very loud. So remaining consistent, using the same process, executing that process, and getting the results time and time again, and not letting anything get in the way.

Showing up for my community is most important to me, being somebody that is trustworthy, showing kindness and service. So, always being helpful, looking for ways to serve and help others improve. And having a positive attitude is the main thing, waking up with a good attitude and not letting anything pare that down.