Mary Hicks

Stay hungry. That's definitely it. Stay hungry, you know, don't let people beat you down. That's pretty much what my boss says. She's like, just be hungry and be that person that people, you know, want to hire. And so, I definitely take that with me everywhere.

Never give up. Don't be afraid of the titles. Don't be afraid of, you know, we kind of come from a stigmatism of, like, obviously a very male-dominated field and things like that. I think that one thing I've learned, especially being in a lot of positions where I'm in meetings with executives and presidents and CEOs and things like that, I think it's very important to hold yourself to your highest standard, you know, and to know that you can do it, and that just because you're in a room full of big titles does not mean anything. So, I think that it's very important to just hold yourself to the highest standard, and know that you are it. You are it. You can do it.

The biggest challenges right now are finding clients that are ready for that transition, especially given the current political climate. A lot of my job is working around all of that and finding clients in times of need where they might not be so ready for a review because of price or whatever it is. But it is a necessary thing for their business to flourish. They do need to go through certain reviews, whether it's releasing agencies or having marriage counseling between agencies. Clients are very timid in some areas. As for opportunities, I would say the ability to connect with people who are like-minded and who have similar drives. A lot of people that I work with are new business CEOs, CMOs, and so I get to talk to them a lot about young talent. It's very important for people to be open to having informational interviews when you have the opportunity. When you get into your career, it's very important to keep tabs with those people and kind of keep those relationships going.

I would definitely say trust, and I have a very strong moral compass as well. A lot of our company is based upon being very trustworthy and having to be that person that you can lean on. A lot of us rely on each other for different types of work, and so it's very nice to be able to have a team that's very connected, especially as just a person one-on-one. We're a very connected team, and family's very important to us, so we kind of treat each other like family. Coming from an athletic background as a college volleyball player, it was nice to come into a structured environment with the same feeling as going from that transition from on the court to off the court. Something that I really looked forward to in working with SRI was that I was actually going to be working with mostly women, and so it's a very woman-led and powerful company in my eyes. That's what speaks a lot to me, is that it's kind of empowering me to push through a little bit of a more male-led industry.