Melanie Cappel

I attribute my success to being an advocate for other people and genuinely caring about them. My most notable achievement was while I was leading a team at ShareCare. Each member of the team had come from different backgrounds in regards to geographic backgrounds, experience, and industries, but my favorite part was really being able to be an advocate for my team and show them that you can have someone in a leadership role that can both advocate for you and challenge you. I built relationships with each member of my team and our clients, and they really highlighted how much I seemed to genuinely care about them. I really feel like you can't be a leader without showing genuine interest in the people that are on your team. Essentially, you're working for them. It's all about serving your team in the ways that you can provide the best options, resources and tools for them to succeed. I wholeheartedly believe that. It's both being empowering, supportive, and also being able to challenge your team and identify the gaps that each of them may have, so that they can grow in a way that aligns with their own goals that also align with your organization's goals. For me, being an advocate for other people, that common denominator, has always just been about other people for me, not specifically about my own ambitions.

Never say no to anything. What I mean by that is, there are so many different directions your career can take. I never knew that I would get here to where I am. I feel like I've gone left, right, upside down, all these different directions. So never be closed off to opportunities, even if you don't think that they might align with what you're looking for. Find something simple that you're passionate about. It doesn't need to be a specific field or company, but what sets your heart on fire? What are you most passionate about? If it's something as simple as helping people, you're in the perfect industry. PACE, healthcare, all of that is really so important if you want to get into this field, but also make sure it aligns with what drives you. Going back to my original statement of don't say no, I feel like that is the most true statement. If there's a supervisor or someone in another department that is just needing help and they ask you, don't say no. Just try and help them to the best of your capability, because honestly, you have no idea where that will lead you. I personally had that experience when my current supervisor, Sandy, had me do something once around market assessment and things, and at the time, I wasn't really familiar with that. That's really blossomed into this opportunity, which is now my current role. By saying no, you already remove yourself from the equation of being at the table with other people who are trying to spearhead ideas, be innovative, so just never allow yourself to cut yourself off from opportunity before you let yourself even try.

My goal in life, both professionally and personally, is to help somebody feel confident about one thing every day. With friends, I try to do that, but specifically in mentorship, I talk to colleagues about what makes them feel like they can't do a specific project and what specific hurdle they need to overcome. We don't want a self-fulfilling prophecy where you feel like you can't do it, therefore you can't, because I don't believe in that word 'can't'. I feel like what people need, mostly, is just someone believing in them. In that sense, that's probably my strongest asset as a mentor. I think at the end, you just need somebody to believe in you and to challenge you, and sometimes being challenged isn't fun, but I think we all kind of need that in order to be who we all want to be. My whole foundation as a human being is to really advocate and help inspire other people. I want to create an environment or a brand that inspires other women, especially young Latino women, to understand that even if you are not certain about what your career path may be, there's always an opportunity. I'm always happy to talk to women who want to have these conversations, don't understand where they should be going in life. At the end of the day, it's how can I inspire other people and be an advocate for other women.