Patricia Lozano

I attribute my success to just having my parents look at me and say, man, she did it. And if we leave this planet, we don't have to worry about her. She figured out how to feed herself and housed herself. I'll share a really warm story of when I actually felt that I made it, and it wasn't too long ago, it was literally just last year. I invited my parents to campus one day and showed them around my office. They saw all the pictures on my wall of events with community leaders and elected officials. When we left to go to lunch, my dad said, 'Wow, thanks for bringing us. I didn't realize how important you were.' That was the best thing my parents could have said to me. I was just so humbled that they actually got to see and feel and hear the work that I was doing, and how impactful it was, and what it meant for me to be part of CUSM. Now I feel like sometimes they treat me different when I go to their house, and I'm like, Mom, it's okay, I know where the fridge is. I lived here for most of my life.

The best career advice I've ever received was don't worry too much about your title, just do the work. There was a point in my career where I was with my old boss, and we were talking about titles, and he said, don't worry too much about the title, just worry about the work you do and that it's fulfilling for you. Because you can end up having a job or a title that's like vice president, and then now you have to manage like 20 people, and you hate every bit about that job, and it's only because you wanted a bigger title. He also said when you're asking for a better job title or pay, make sure that you're also asking for peace of mind in that job and that it's not stressful, because sometimes we forget to ask for the environment, and you'll get what you ask, but you get a terrible environment. So I guess the best advice would be watering your own grass, and not thinking that the grass is greener somewhere else. My dad also made a comment that always stuck with me. He said the hate you get is a reflection of your success, or the hate you get on the way to your goal is attributed to your success. He would always say, you know, because it's really hard to be a woman and be in leadership. He said, hey, who cares? You walk in there, you know who you are. He told me the minute you start scaling up and kind of at their level of the ladder, or surpass that ladder, the applauses will be less, almost non-existent, and you will be on your own, and it's okay to be by yourself.

I would say always believe in yourself, but I think the important thing is that you will encounter hurdles. You will encounter challenges. But that's part of the experience. And all those things are just building you to become a better you. So keep going. I tell my interns all the time, hey, don't let your title get to your head when you start getting into your career. It can play with your head, and it will place you in a position where you feel like you're maybe better than others. But just remember, there's about 8 billion people in this world, so the minute that you think you're important, just think that there's 8 billion people in this world. But if you do things from love, not for love, you'll always feel fulfilled in whatever it is you're doing, even if it's picking up trash. When you treat people with kindness, regardless of how they treat you, that's a reflection of you, and your work is your endorsement, not your title.

Challenges, I think, is being in a setting where it's male dominant. That can be a really challenging space, you know. You don't look like them, you know, and you don't think like them, either. That can be really challenging, especially in my field. I think the opportunities in my field are endless because I move with from love, not for love, and that's felt. They had another philanthropist doing the work that I'm doing, and they got him a coach, the same coach, and the coach immediately, when he met with him, said he's not it. He's not gonna do well. Three years later, they said, hey, you're next. And then he met with the leadership team and said, she's it. She's gonna do it. He's been training me, and he said, you're gonna get half a mil. We're currently working on a grant of $1 million, and we currently made round two. I told my philanthropist coach that we applied for one mil, and he said, what did they say? I said, they came back and said they're gonna go for the entire one mil. Our project is worth it. He said, you don't need me anymore.

Being respectful all the time, no matter how I'm treated, is most important to me. I understand and have read enough books to understand that however someone treats me is a reflection of them and not a reflection of me. Another thing that is really important to me is keeping your word. If I tell you I'm gonna do something, 100% I'm gonna do it. It's only like 0.05% that I'm not gonna do it, and that's either because I got really sick, or I got into a car accident or something. The chances of me not showing up are very, very slim. Another thing is just be kind to everyone. We don't know what people are carrying. We don't know what they're going through. And just be kind to people. It will come back. It always comes back.