Her Story
About Nina
I've been consulting for about 17 years across multiple industries. My career started in construction where I literally swung hammers building houses and worked my way up to managing commercial projects for some of the biggest luxury retailers in the world. I'm kind of an against-the-grain leader because I don't have a formal college degree - I did some community college courses, but everything I've learned and excelled at has been primarily self-taught through hands-on experience. I really wanted to start having more of an impact with my work, so I pivoted into the nonprofit sector where I now primarily consult. I work with nonprofits on fundraising and strategy, strategic planning including new business development strategies and fundraising strategies, event and conference planning, and graphic design and marketing. When you're a consultant working with nonprofit organizations on shoestring budgets, you wear a lot of hats and have to learn how to pivot and adjust to different things - even if something's not in your wheelhouse, you have to figure out how to make it part of your wheelhouse. I'm currently consulting for Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind, a nonprofit that helps serve people experiencing partial or total vision loss from childhood through senior years, providing assistive technology training, white cane training, braille instruction, and screen reader training. One of my core values is honesty and transparency - I've even left a role because the company was being misleading to their client base, and I wasn't willing to do that. Coming from construction where deadlines are critical and a million things can cause issues, I've learned that you gain respect by being honest and letting people know exactly what's going on rather than setting unreasonable expectations.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Nina
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think you have to be willing to stand on your own two feet, even when you're not sure of yourself. Confidence goes a really long way, and while I'm not necessarily a firm believer in the fake it till you make it mentality, you have to believe in yourself, stand tall, and stand behind the work that you do. Finding your passion is really important - find some passion in the work that you do and find a purpose in it. Not everybody's gonna get to have their dream career in this world, but there's something to be said for finding a position that you really love, something you're passionate about, and something that you can not only give something to but get something from as well. I've been at a disadvantage in terms of not having a formal education, so I've had to fight probably twice as hard to get the respect in the room that other people can get. It's just a matter of really believing in yourself and believing in what you bring to the table, and I think that makes a very big difference. Hands-on experience goes a very long way, and not just in my career field but in a lot of career fields. Learning from a book is one thing, learning from the world is another.
02What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
One of the things I really pride myself on is honesty. I think that it is incredibly important in the business world to be honest with whether it's your clients, your coworkers, or your boss. One of the things I've worked really hard at is transparency in my career, and it's one of the reasons that I'm very well respected. I've even left a role specifically because I felt like the company was being misleading to their client base, and I was not willing to do that. Honesty and transparency are probably my biggest, most important qualities that I have in my professional career. I think it goes a really long way when you tell someone what they need to hear and not just what they want to hear. That's something that gets lost a lot of times, especially when you are a client-forward service. It's hard to tell people what they don't want to hear, even if it's the truth, but that's the most important thing and something I'm not willing to compromise on. Coming from a construction background where deadlines are critical and you can face penalties and fines for not upholding your end of the bargain, you gain a lot of respect in the industry by being honest and letting people know exactly what's going on, rather than setting them up for failure or setting unreasonable expectations. We also have to remember we are all human - not only that you're human, but also the people that you are leading are human. Giving grace to humanity goes a very long way in both giving and getting respect. I've tried to treat people below me on my team like humans - your kid's sick, I completely understand, let's switch the call to tomorrow. We can forget the fact that we are all humans who have lives outside of work, and I think that's really important.
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