Megan Garrett

I attribute my success to staying grounded, approachable, and authentic in every setting. I don’t see myself as someone who needs to project an air of importance; instead, I focus on being genuine and relatable. I tend to remain calm, composed, and level-headed, which has helped me navigate challenges thoughtfully and without unnecessary stress. I am also highly sociable and genuinely enjoy connecting with people—learning about what they do, how they’re doing, and building meaningful relationships. Over time, I’ve come to realize that much of my growth and opportunities have come through consistently nurturing and expanding my professional network.

The best career advice I've received is, be prepared, but don't doubt yourself. You know, you want to be prepared. You want to do a little bit of your homework of who you're going to be talking to and all those things, but in the end, you know, you need to be secure in yourself, and what you know, and what you are capable of, and just continue to move forward.

If we're talking about the manufacturing industry, I would say don't be shy. You know, there's probably, just based on the last time I was in some of the manufacturing facilities, it's not all men. It used to be a lot more men than women. It's very evenly divided now, so there's definitely a lot of women that are working in the manufacturing and supply chain industries and doing really well for themselves. So don't look past something like that. And like I said, I loved working in those facilities. People are just much more straightforward and honest about things, and sometimes it can feel a little harsh, but most of the time, it's like, I'm so glad you told me that. I think those are important things to just get to know people of all walks of life and backgrounds, because it'll just make you better as a person. I just always say, go for it. Like, I tell my kids that all the time, when they're like, I want to apply for this job, go for it. Like, what have you got to lose? Like, if you want it, go for it. I've always gone after, you know, if there's something I want to do, I will go up to the person and say, hey, I'd like to be involved with this. You know, can I help support this project? Or whatever it is, because I wanted to, A, learn more about what was going on in the business, and B, make more connections with people. Connections can bring you so many things in life.

From my career perspective, I didn't really have many problems or challenges when I was working at Hershey, honestly. I did run into quite a bit of challenge when I moved over to D&H distributing, and I think it's just because they didn't have a lot of stuff built out - they had no training when I came, so designing and delivering all that, but also the front end of that is talking to people, what do you need, what's not happening that needs to be happening, those kind of conversations. And my boss was very hesitant to ever let me do anything new. So that was a real challenge for me, honestly, because I've always had managers who were like, yeah, go, do it, just do it. And having someone say no, I don't know if I really want you to do that, it was a little bit of heartburn for me, because that was my job, to create training or create experiences for people to help them grow. So that was probably the biggest challenge that I have had, honestly.

I definitely value honesty. It's very important for me, like, if I'm working with my team, I tell them, you need to be honest, even if it's something that you think I'm doing that's not right, just tell me. I want to know how I can get better, because just because I'm your manager doesn't mean I can't get better. So that is really one of the main things that I try and focus on in my career with people I work with. Otherwise, I would say I value straight talk. I do value collaboration. Some of the best projects I've ever been on are usually not just me alone, right? I have other people that are helping me, whether it was the Brandon Hall event or whatever it is. You're not on an iceberg. There's other people that are basically helping you along the way. So I think it's important to just know that you're not ever really doing anything alone. You have the support of your team, you have the support, hopefully, of your boss, in that process.