Olga Seredyuk

I would attribute my success to mentors. First of all, I had my dad as a very strong mentor from childhood, and my parents have surrounded me with mentors and teachers from the very beginning. I have sought them out throughout university and beyond, and I really do believe we learn best when it's modeled to us. Those early role models are so important. One of the organizations I'm on the board of stresses the importance of positive role models when we build mentoring communities - that three-legged stool of spiritual development, positive role models, and practical life skills. We grow exponentially when we are surrounded by the right people. Sometimes if you want to be in a certain room where you know you need to meet that person to grow, you need to go there. You need to pursue that. If you're serious about your own development and really activating the gifts that you were given, there's a person for that. When you take a look at your life, some people bring out certain aspects of us. Mentors are huge for me - learning from others, being around them, understanding them.

The best career advice I've ever received is that there is no try. You do or you don't, and you go all in. It's about not doubting yourself or overthinking whether something is the right decision. It's doing it and then making it the right thing. When we say 'I'll try to do that,' we sort of stick our toe in and don't engage fully or leave it all on the field. Another way of saying it is leave it all on the field - engage fully. That is what has led to the most success in all aspects of my life. It's essentially being very generous with life. At the end of the day, you know you gave your all. You tried your best. You either make a choice and you do it fully, or you say no and don't do it. Don't do something by halves. I don't love by halves - I love fully. That's just my nature. Do it fully, and don't procrastinate. Do everything in a timely manner. Everything has its time, and I think we need to respect time and the time that we've been given. It's important to do things on time and as fully as you can.

I will say it depends on the woman - we're all very different. But I would say, first of all, it's important to have a sense of your strengths, but even if you don't, go find a mentor. Go find someone that you admire, go write to them, go ask them to meet with you, and if they have 15 minutes or can meet you for lunch or coffee, be prepared to be generous. Be prepared also to not just ask from them, but give to them as well. Your next mentor is closer than you think. I think so much of this generation's life is on the phone or on all kinds of gadgets, and there's this sense that things happen in a microwave, that things need to happen fast. But relationship building - truly deep, quality relationship building - happens often slower than maybe we would like. I would encourage a young woman to meet personally and to put herself in situations where she's meeting people personally, seeking out her next mentor. They're closer than she thinks. Also, challenge yourself. If you challenge yourself in times when life is not particularly challenging, then you'll be more prepared for when it really, really is. Invest in relationships and go the extra mile to meet people personally. Don't wait for people to ask you necessarily. Understand what you want to learn next, who you would like to meet next, who's a person you would like to learn more from, and start there. Have a variety of mentors and build quality, deep relationships.

I think a lot of people might name funding as the challenge - that's kind of a common one that everybody names. But let me tell you, it's people. And the challenge is not the people themselves - I want to make sure I'm clear on that. It's not that the people are challenging, but it's the challenge of finding the right people. That's actually something I pray for regularly. Being a faith-based leader, it's important to me that I see everybody the way they need to be seen and want to be seen. I think the money will come, but the people that you build with are very important. Getting the right people around you, recruiting them, understanding their talent - that's the perennial challenge of getting the right people around any cause. The people who are going to be in it with you, who understand that as a growing organization, especially as you're establishing things, there's going to be challenges along the way. I'm essentially not looking for fair-weather friends. I think nonprofit leaders can become desperate and think 'we want everybody to donate,' but no, you want the right ones to donate. You want to find your true friends. I'm always praying for those true friends. The challenge of talent - recruiting it, retaining it - has always been a perennial challenge in any place, not only nonprofits. Especially at this time when people could literally be doing anything else to make more money. The people who stick around and say 'I believe in it, maybe I'm sacrificing in ways, being generous with their time or their paycheck, but they understand the importance of it' - that always astounds me, and I'm continuously grateful for it.

Professionalism is one of them. I think understanding how to be not only personable, but professional and tactful and respectful in communication. Respect is a huge one - I would say respect. I talk a lot about professionalism, but I really feel like respect is huge in making sure, first of all, you feel like your own sense of self-respect is intact, because you have to wake up in the morning and look at yourself in the mirror, and are you still proud of the person that is looking back? So, self-respect. But at the same time, being respectful of others and understanding how they would like to be respected, you know, and what respect means to them. Some of these values flow one into the other for me - everything connects. Hospitality is another value of mine, and that goes along with also being generous. I think it's a part of hospitality. And it goes along with respect. Family values are important to me, but if I want to answer it succinctly, I would say in every decision, I think it has a lot to do with the sense of respect, both self-respect and respect for others. I think it covers a lot. It's a sense of honoring and understanding that very deeply.