Monica Jiménez

I attribute my success to being an immigrant who was hungry to learn, hungry to move on, and hungry to succeed. Don't get me wrong, I had a really good life back home in El Salvador, but I moved to the United States when I was 23 because my family was here and I was missing that family touch, especially during birthdays and holidays when I was by myself in the line of duty doing very dangerous work. I felt empty. When I arrived, it was like the Terminator movie where these men appear in their knees, naked, already grown men in the middle of nowhere asking 'what do I do?' That was exactly me. I dropped myself in the middle of nowhere facing questions about language, culture, and living situation. But for me, a day-to-day in the U.S. is like living on vacation because I get to do and accomplish everything I envisioned for myself, and now I can pass that to my kids. I always knew there was something more for me than the typical roles many Hispanic people have in my industry. It took hard work and infusing myself with the mentality of 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do.' I had to adjust because I didn't want to be an extra charge for anyone. I left a lot behind, but I've been here for 17 years, and my success comes from knowing the lack of something and how much, by working hard, you can see the results of that and the sacrifices you made to provide for your loved ones.

The best career advice I've received, which I've rephrased for myself after taking so much advice from people, is that in life we all have the ability to either be followers or be a leader. I consider myself a natural leader. If I want to be a follower, I want to be the best follower because I'm sharing the vision of my leaders. But I do consider myself a leader, so I think everyone has the ability to be a follower and just be comfortable, but the passion and going out of the comfort zone and being the best that you can be by being a leader and excusing others on the things that you do, that should be the true north that you have to follow. Leading always with passion and putting that passion forward, not always seeing what's the outcome for you, but rather saying 'this is an accomplishment for me because I was able to lead my operation and we got to see the outcome of the good things of leading.' The difference comes from putting a lot of passion, effort, and hard work. Hard work pays really, really well.

I would say always have determination and set goals. I think as human beings we're really hard on ourselves, putting unrealistic goals. I'm a huge believer on timelines. How do you see yourself in a year? How do you see yourself in two years? Let's go from there. Because every time we see ourselves in the next 5 years, by the end of the first year we didn't do anything we said we wanted to do. I set up goals for 5 and 10 years, and so far I've accomplished a minority of them. I would say to the younger generation, respect the process. Take every opportunity or every day as a learning process and learning curve. The process is not always nice, but it's rewarding. Everything you do, not just in my industry, takes determination. I wanted to be a fighter pilot since I was young and I accomplished that 4 years after. It's about having a determined, true goal of what you want to do, and not doing it for others but doing it for yourself if that's your real passion. Don't get me wrong, I still have goals. I've wanted to join the hotel industry for the longest time. I envision myself running a hotel or being a director of operations. My journey is still not over. I still have things I want to accomplish, and I want to join school because I want to polish those skills, which I know is going to happen.

The biggest challenge and opportunity in my field right now is the same as my biggest strength: people. Each mind and each person is an entire world, and sometimes it's really hard to drill down on people about sharing your vision. So you have to reinvent yourself constantly about how can I make it work. I find myself with that challenge every single day, even with my two little ones. My daughter is 7 and she keeps telling me 'oh mom, I had a bad day, oh mom, I'm not beautiful enough,' and I ask who's infusing you with those thoughts. At a very young age I tell them something every time I drop them at school: 'I'm courage, I'm brave.' Happy thoughts for them becomes your reality, and believe it or not, now they say that every single day before they get off the car. At work it's the same thing. I have 350 employees and each of them has a different mentality. How can I find my tune with that vision? That is my biggest opportunity and challenge every single day.

Excellence is most important to me. I think we focus a lot on perfection, but perfection is impossible to achieve. I'm always aiming and looking for that excellent piece. Another important value is the team mentality. In my line of duty, I can't do anything on my own. It has to be that driven passion for team mentality. I would also say the caring aspect. Caring is important. The way I treat my team is the way they would reply to me. Reinventing yourself as a leader is essential, and always being willing and open to feedback. Feedback is important. No one likes feedback, but it's so important and essential for our professional and personal life.