Sarah Hartman

I would attribute my success to my mother's best friend, who was actually in loss prevention. Growing up, she was a very strong woman to me - very direct, with really good career goals and a really awesome job all the time. Having conversations with her gave me that initial push into this industry. I think that without her, I'm not sure that I would have been able to sponsor myself through the interrogation training course and put myself out there. Beyond that inspiration, I've been very blessed throughout my career, both at Enterprise and at TJX, to have very strong female leadership that has been very empowering. I've been lucky to never be discouraged, and that strong leadership has helped me recognize and support the women that I hire as well. The fact that I can see a direct impact of my work every day, and that I'm stopping bad things from happening that directly impact customers and the entire community, makes this a very fulfilling job that keeps me motivated.

I would say that just because something has been done a certain way for the last 20 years, that doesn't mean that's the way it will continue. Just because it's always been a man's job to do this, or it's been typically a man's role to be in this field, that doesn't necessarily limit you, and especially not at the current company that we're at. I think it's important to take those preconceived ideas, especially about inclusiveness and diversity - and that does apply to gender as well, not just hiring people of different ethnicities, but also involving people of different genders. With the gender gap especially, make sure that we don't hold onto those preconceived ideas and really approach it with an open mind. If you yourself have a preconceived idea about how someone might treat you, that can always negatively impact the way that you go into a situation, so just make sure we're leaving those behind and approaching things with an open mind. I still consider this industry to be very male-dominated, and I think there are a lot of preconceived stereotypes about being in this industry, especially for women. My employees often say things like 'oh, well, I'm a woman, I can't stop a shoplifter,' but I've been able to help recognize and overcome that with the women that I hire.

I would still consider this industry to be very male-dominated. Obviously there are a lot of women in the field now, but I would still consider the majority of people in this role to be men, which can be intimidating, especially with my employees that I hire. They're very nervous - they say things like 'oh, well, I'm a woman, I can't stop a shoplifter, or I can't do that.' I think there's a lot of preconceived stereotypes about being in this industry, especially for women. When it comes to being a woman in this field, it can be intimidating. The field is very much retired law enforcement or just male-dominated in general, and I think that has been probably the biggest thing that I've had to overcome, especially with the people I hire. However, I've been very blessed throughout my career, both at Enterprise and at TJX, to have very strong female leadership that has been very empowering, so I've been lucky to never be discouraged by that. I've also been able to help recognize and address these challenges with the women that I hire as well.