Naomi Morales Medina

I attribute my success to the mentorship and great people I've met along the way. The reality is I never had a clear path - it was just life, and I followed it and learned throughout the way. Networking was an excellent resource for me to get where I am now. I am the contribution of a lot of mentorship, a lot of great people that I learned from and met throughout my journey. A lot of good people have helped me throughout the way to become the person I am now. I didn't have a specific structure, but I had people who guided me, and because of that, I'm currently in the position that I am now.

Don't forget about yourself - put your oxygen mask first before helping others. Take care of your health, take care of yourself physically, take care of things at home. You will be very happy and successful at work as well. It's all about balance. I didn't know that before and I suffered a lot. I realized my personal life was being affected and I was not being happy, and I realized I need to take care of myself. Your emotions affect the team - if I'm leading a team with a bad attitude, things are gonna transfer and affect relationships, so it's not worth it. Take care of yourself first. That's the advice I wish someone had given me a couple of years ago. Time and health are things you're not going to recover. As females, especially in male-dominated fields, we sometimes feel we have to let go of ourselves or act very rough, but you just have to be yourself. Love yourself, because it matters a lot psychologically. Be articulate, learn how to speak and express your ideas without any fears. Respect yourself first and show others that you respect yourself - show value to yourself. That's how I've been able to be in a very technical field with management opportunities now. My advice isn't necessarily technical - it's about self-care and self-respect.

Patient safety is my ultimate goal, regardless of how big a clinic is or not. I want people to feel comfortable with what they're doing, and I'm always willing to help - I'm only one email or phone text message away. I'd rather have someone reach out to me, even as a free consult, just to ask if what they're doing is right. I cannot let people go to sleep stressed out because they don't know what they're doing on their machines. My goal is for people to feel comfortable with their work. I'm still the same person with the same values - I still strive for excellence. Credibility and trustworthiness are extremely important in my technical field because whatever decision I make affects the lifetime of the machine for 10 to 15 years. You need to be competent and confident, and show customers that you know what you're doing. They need to rely on the fact that whatever you are doing is good. Balance between work and personal life is also crucial - taking care of yourself, your health, and things at home allows you to be happy and successful at work. Self-respect and self-love matter, and showing value to yourself is how you earn respect from others.