Monica Sanchez

I would say it's a combination of preparation and personality, and having great networking and support like coaches and people who are encouraging you, including my family. I am very family-oriented, and having that healthy ambition to get things done helps. I guess maybe because I am a Virgo, I like to be very organized and analytic. But I feel like nothing happens because of luck - you create your own situation. It's not luck, it's hard work. Maybe when you see something on LinkedIn and all that, it looks nice, but behind that is all the hard work and preparation that you have, and also your personality. Because I am also a coach, I am a career coach, and when I was working at Chase, I supported a lot of minorities with coaching to help them be self-confident and avoid the bias that we have as a chip in our head, like 'oh, they are not going to understand me, or they are not going to trust in me.' I think that inside confidence helped me when I try to present my marketing campaign ideas or negotiate with vendors. So I think it's a combination of different things, and I'm very proud of that.

I have so many, but one thing that stuck with me was back in the day when I was working in Peru at a multimedia internet agency. I used to design websites because I have my background as a graphic designer, so I was always looking for perfection. I was like, 'oh, this doesn't look good enough, I'm going to add this and that.' I remember my manager at the time told me, 'Monica, perfection is the enemy of the good thing. So if it's good, leave it like that, and let's move on, and continue with other things. We can fix it, we can make some arrangements a lot of times.' I think that was good advice, so sometimes when I feel myself saying 'oh, maybe I can do this, give it more things here and there,' I say, 'no, let's... this is good enough, move on, this is done, and let's move on to the next thing.' So I keep moving. And then the other thing is that my mother always taught me to treat everybody with kindness, and to give your gifts that you have - if you have the gift of being a coach or anything - to give back to others. That is what I do, too.

I always love when I have young people, and I recently was a judge at the University of Delaware for a summit with high schoolers presenting business and social ideas. What I say is, 'hey, don't be afraid to fail.' It's always good when you are thinking without that fear of 'oh, what happens if they don't like my idea? What happens if they don't like my project? I'm going to get rejected? What happens if people are going to look at me in different ways?' For women especially, when I studied at Cornell University in Executive Women in Leadership, they say that women always think so many times, instead men are more front. So I would say think very confident, be prepared. If you have an idea, come with a plan B and C. I always come with my plan A, and maybe it's not something that is going to fit to everybody's thoughts, so have always a plan B and C, and be prepared for pushback. Have already potential answers and be prepared. Don't be afraid to say, 'well, at this moment, I don't know the answer, but I'm going to get back to you.' Never be like a deer in front of lights. Be prepared, and everything is going to be alright. Even if you fail, there is always a new day to start again. Also, if you have the opportunity to learn other languages, do it, because it opens so much opportunities to you. This role needed somebody bilingual and somebody with graphic design background, so if you have a bunch of different skills and language right now, it's going to be important for business especially.

For me, coming from finance where I was working at Chase Auto as a strategy manager for Aston Martin Financial Services with luxury cars and affluent, high-network customers, and also in home lending with different types of loans, moving to technology in sustainability was a big learning curve. It's always an opportunity to learn and be able to work with engineers and salespeople directly. When I went to my first visit to the headquarters in California, I was able to see the main Yen System, which is a unit-specific creation that our CEO made to help have less wastewater. The challenge was getting into the learning curve to be able to grasp all these names and different things I am working with, like gas-energy mixing. I had to learn that our system rewards our clients with removal rates of 98% for total suspended solids, and all about fats, oils, biological and chemical oxygen demand - all the fun stuff. The challenge is getting into a new industry. But it's always good for me to learn because I am an avid learner. I'm not afraid to jump into different things that maybe some people can get scared of. I guess because I came from another country and I have to overcome stereotypes and all those things - my accent, you name it - so I'm not afraid to jump into a totally different industry.

For me, one of the important values is to be, at the end of the day, happy with yourself. I think that everybody mostly focuses on what other things and how you're going to be perceived and all the external stuff, but I think it's important to start first with yourself. Maybe at the end of the day when I close my laptop and turn off my work phone, I ask myself, 'hey, I am happy with myself, I'm happy with what I do.' Also, another value that I appreciate is honesty. That is something that if maybe there is something that didn't work well, I'm not afraid to tell others, 'well, this is not something that we are going to pursue at this time,' especially because I receive a lot of vendors' emails pushing about different things, and I am totally upfront - 'this is honestly something that we are not going to pursue' - but being nice and polite and professional. I value honesty giving to others and giving to me. If you don't like what I present, give me constructive criticism - that's good for me. I accept that, and I value your honesty and being upfront. When I decided to move from finance to this technology company, it was also about purpose. Everything I do is something that is going to help others, that is going to make our life better. For me, that was a no-brainer, being able to do something that helps communities be compliant and makes things better.