Her Story
About Michelle
My career has been built on helping people, which is at the heart of everything I do. I spent over 20 years at a financial planning company, and during my last 6 years there, I launched a coaching program designed to help our 1099 advisors learn how to better run their businesses - whether that was staffing, recruiting for more advisors, or helping them run sales. That passion for developing others led me to become a certified professional coach myself through the International Coaching Federation, completing the program around 2008-2010. When I moved from Fort Worth to the Austin area and settled in Dripping Springs, I found myself asking 'what do I do now?' after leaving all that behind. I kept helping clients and candidates through leadership development work, and that naturally evolved into doing recruiting full-time. My core values are passion, service, and genuineness, which means I'm here to serve whether it's a client or a candidate, helping them find what they need with full transparency - even when it's difficult news, like when a candidate isn't selected for a role. I believe in always finding ways to move forward and turning challenges into opportunities for growth.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Michelle
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I ever received came from someone who became my boss when I was in finance, and it was simply to become a better listener. I think we tend to be in conversations, and as we're listening to someone, we already start thinking of our answer, which means we're not fully engaged. So my best advice became really just to take a deep breath, be present, listen, and ask thoughtful questions back on what they said. I always summarize what they say and make sure that I truly did hear them, because so many things can be miscommunicated when we think we heard something but didn't really listen fully.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
We're hit in a lot of different directions, and sometimes everything's just negative, and you're not sure what the next step is. I think for me, it's even when those challenges come at you and you're faced with them, to find the thing to grow from. Take that challenge and go, okay, how can I become better from what that just put me through? Never just take it and think, oh, the glass is half empty - always find it's half full and look for the opportunity from those challenges we face. If you find them, and grow, and learn from them, you're unstoppable.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My core values are passion, service, and genuineness. When you think about those things and what they do, it really means that I'm here to serve, whether it's a client or a candidate, to find what they need. It's that passion to drive to help people, the service to want to do the best I can, and then genuineness, meaning full transparency - whether it's good news or bad news, especially when a candidate isn't picked for a role or something like that - and finding ways to move forward with it.
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