Renee Acosta

I've been in the food and beverage manufacturing field for 26 years, and I've been in my current supervisor role for about 20 years. I literally started at the bottom as a minimum wage worker on a production line. I was motivated by all the women around me, and I wanted to learn. I became a machine operator, then a lead, and then I realized I had so much potential, so I pushed myself and went for a supervisor position. In the beginning, I was pretty overwhelmed, learning to deal with different personalities and becoming a great leader and a strong leader at the same time. That was probably the most challenging for me. Where I am today, I think the best thing I could say is that being a strong leader doesn't mean being the boss. It's understanding every single thing your employees go through on that floor and being able to actually do them yourself. You can't be a leader and tell people what to do if you can't do it yourself. I'm very open with my employees. If they want a one-on-one with me to talk about progress, how they're doing, where I think they need improvement, I'm there for them. And even if they're having situations at home and they need some time off to take care of those, I'm willing to work with them, because life is first. I understand paying those bills are important, but life is first. I've worked for a lot of major companies, which I'm very proud of, that I even got my foot in the door in those companies. One of my last positions, which was my favorite, was NorCal Beverages, which Mana Beverages bought us out after about 4 years of me being there. One day, we just get a text saying don't come to work today and leave your uniforms out the gate, without the 6-week notice, and that was devastating. The good news is Arizona Tea just bought the company, and we're all looking forward to those callbacks. I am a mother of two beautiful girls that have bachelor degrees, and I'm very proud of that. I am a homeowner. Just being successful all the way around is very important, not only at work, but at home also.