Sasha Michael

I attribute my success to always driving myself forward and never giving up. I think it's really important to have goals, you know, set a goal, be able to work towards it, know what goal you want, being able to identify that or spend some time with somebody and talk it through. But I would say just always reaching higher, and pushing myself forward, and teaching my kids to be able to do the same, just never giving up, moving forward in a way that's positive, keeping a positive frame of mind is important. All of those things work together so you don't get discouraged as you go through life.

The best career advice I think I've ever received has been, don't take anything personally. That's been something that I feel like I've been challenged by in life, professionally and personally, but working to make sure that everybody meets me wherever, as deeply as they've met themselves, so not everybody can always act the way that I would think that they can act. It's really important as a reminder not to take anything personally. And then the other thing that kind of goes along with that, in addition to not taking it personally, is being able to advocate for myself in the workplace. That was really good advice that somebody gave me along the way. If you want a promotion, you need to be able to ask for it, you need to demonstrate why you think you deserve it, so I feel like that's helped me to develop a backbone.

I would say be patient with your learning and adaptability. Sometimes the things that you plan for don't always end up working out the way that you intended, but there's always a way forward that you can find a workaround, or you can ask somebody for help. Don't be afraid to ask for help and support, particularly from people who you identify as mentors early on. I feel like the majority of people, especially when they're more senior in their roles, have a lot of bandwidth to give to be able to support people who are more junior or who need a little bit of extra advice or mentorship. Just being available to know that you don't know everything, and that it's okay to ask, and it's okay to explore, and it's okay to change your mind. If you decide to go into one field and you try it out, and you find out that this isn't really something that works for me, I don't think that any of the skills that I've learned along the way in the different types of roles I've ever lost. So even if I change job roles completely, or companies, or even industries completely, none of the education or the mentorship or learning is out the door. I just use it, and I build upon it. So, don't be afraid to be inventive with your professional story, and just keep building your own way of being, and however that looks for you. Don't be afraid to try things, and ask questions, and just be as adventurous as you can.

I would say the biggest challenges are just being able to keep differentiation at the core. A lot of universities are fundraising for scholarships and fundraising for the same thing, so it's really important to make sure that we help with messaging that keeps someone feeling that specialness and how they would stand apart from other peers in the industry. When I'm helping healthcare clients, obviously, the biggest challenges or hurdles are working with a variety of teams that are really burnt out, and they're having a hard time generating more energy or more fundraising dollars. So giving them the tools and the tactics to be able to feel more confident and inspired in what they do, so they can continue to do a good job. I would say that burnout is probably the biggest outlier for why teams have a lot of turnover in the nonprofit world. A lot of my role is just making sure that somebody has the space to be able to tell me what is bothering them, and what their issues are, and I can create that space and hold space for them to be able to arrive at a place where they feel a little bit less burdened by the things that they have to do. So it's kind of very much like a counselor role.

The values that are most important to me in work and in personal life are mutual respect, having compassion for others, and attention to detail. Being a good and active listener is really important in communications. You have to be able to ask good questions, lead people and folks to places where they need to be able to identify their truth, and so being able to listen to them and guide them in a respectful and compassionate way always leads to really good results in relationship.