Her Story
About Shakura
I've been in customer service since I was 14, starting out with a kid job at Astroworld greeting customers at events. As I got older, I went into call centers and other customer service roles because it's always been my forte. For over 6 years now, I've been with Percepta Ford. It actually came about during COVID - they had been reaching out to me via email, but I thought it was spam. When I finally answered their call, I had a live Zoom interview that same day with three of their specialists, and it just went from there. It was a perfect fit because their hospitality is enormous and they pride themselves on customer service, which is something I love - helping people and making sure I can use all my resources to address their concerns. The timing was perfect because it was work from home, and then COVID happened. Since then, I've moved up in the company through different departments, always Excel or lateral moves. I'm known for being able to adapt to any department and grasp whatever I'm moved to or promoted to, taking a little bit from each previous department with me. My end goal is to be a trainer, and to do that in the company, you have to know at least the basis of each department. My main area of expertise is being a full-circle person who looks at everything - the problem, the cause, and the effect. I understand that one circumstance can be responded to five different ways by five different people, and that helps me in my work and in life. I focus on explaining things with clarity so people don't feel misunderstood.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Shakura
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my grandmother and my mother. I've always known them to help people - neighbors, church members, friends, family. I just wanted to do it and get paid for it. Not all the times you get paid, especially with family and friends, but I knew if I had to choose a career, it would be to help customers and make sure that everything is taken care of for them. My grandmother and my mother always said there's always a way you can help someone, and they communicate it very well with me. So I do that with people to provide clarity so they don't feel misunderstood. That's contributed a lot to my success, not only in work, but also in my personal life.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell her that if no one else believes in you, you believe in you. If you feel, whatever field of work you feel you belong in, do your research, obtain the wisdom and discipline, and go for it, even when those close to you say no. Let your no come from you and not others.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge in my field is that sometimes you just have to say no. Sometimes what's being requested for a case is something that just cannot happen, and there's really nothing you can do about it. I do not like to say no - I always like to say, let me see what I can do. But sometimes a no is a no. We always have the resources and everything we need to accommodate every case, but there's just sometimes where it's just a no, we can't do that.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are family, communicating, and promise made, promise kept.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · Texas
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.