Nancy Escobar

I attribute my success to pushing myself and not being scared to take risks. Growing up, I always wanted to make my family proud and do something great. I'm very small and petite, so it was always a matter of people saying 'no, you can't do that because you're too small, or you're too skinny, or you're too dainty,' and I would get surpassed or overlooked. So I always pushed myself extra hard to be noticed and to be heard. I realized that it's not just about being visible, you also need to have the tools in your pocket. Your experience and education come into play. It's important to put yourself out there, but you also need to work very hard to make sure that when you show up, you're ready for what's to happen. When I wanted to go to airborne school, they chose the males that were tall, fit, and strong. They weren't going to choose a 5'1", barely 100 pounds young girl. So I had to push myself and go to extra training and schools, run faster, and if my male counterpart was doing 60 push-ups, I said I'm going to do 70, just so I can be chosen and selected to go. It took a lot for me to even be allowed to go to this school. I worked so hard just to be allowed to go, and when I went, we started off with hundreds of people, and it came down to only a single few, and I was one of the only female NCOs, a female leader that ended up passing. I've always had that mentality: I want to do it, but I also need to prepare myself so when I show up, I don't fail.

You have to be brave and make sure that you do your due diligence with reading the manuals and making sure you're abiding by all the rules that come with your duties and responsibilities. Being heard and being brave enough to speak up is very important. We have to put a lot of effort to be heard, just because oftentimes in those industries there's not very many women, so it's hard for them to accept your opinion and hear you out. But making sure that you have the experience, the background, and the education to speak up and know what you're talking about, and have your colleagues and your team come to you for experience or accept your input is very important. Being respected amongst the community and being able to network with your peers is crucial. Even though there's not very many women, we like to connect with each other, even if it's different companies, through LinkedIn or during conferences or social media, just to make sure that we have that camaraderie and can bounce ideas off of each other.

My kids, my family, and my faith are most important to me. I've shifted my focus into my kids, my family, and my faith. Attending church and being a follower of Christ is very important to me. Being a mom for my kids and being a wife, spending time with my family, that's number one. I wanted to pivot my career and be more present for my family. I had my first son during my military service and found myself leaving him for very important milestones in his life to support our country. I wanted to do something different. I had to leave him at 6 months and missed his first birthday, missed him walking. I returned from deployment, was home for only another 6 months, and had to leave and missed his second birthday. I was missing a lot of milestones in his life. I felt like I had done enough and there are other people that can continue on.