Her Story
About Sherry
Sherry Raya is a healthcare information technology professional with 24 years of experience at New Horizons Behavioral Health in Columbus, Georgia. She currently serves as Information Technology Program Coordinator with oversight of billing, credentialing, the electronic health record, and IT, a role she has held since May of the previous year. In this role, she meets daily to address billing issues, reviews escalated tickets from the MSP IT support company, monitors network performance across 21 sites, and attends meetings to troubleshoot electronic health record concerns. She previously served as IT system administrator with similar oversight responsibilities. She holds three associate degrees in networking, computer support, and technical studies. Her career began as a data entry clerk and progressed through roles including secretary, office manager, administrative assistant, and data analyst, during which she participated in the 2005 implementation of the electronic health record from paper charts.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Sherry
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to setting boundaries, being direct, and providing clear instructions. Every time we have a meeting, I try to follow up with or even during the meeting make sure when we're done I've already provided all the instructions in writing or some type of documentation. Most of the meetings we attend by Teams or Zoom, I'll put information in the chat or resources so that by the time everybody leaves they have what they need.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received is that you will never know if the answer is yes or no until you actually ask. So don't be afraid to ask, especially for a promotion or more money. Always just ask the question, maybe just kind of think about it before you actually ask the question, make sure it's asked as professionally as possible or as nice as possible, and that's why I am where I'm at right now because I wasn't afraid to ask any questions.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Just remember that your personal life does flow into your professional life, so not only do you have to hold yourself to a higher standard on your professional life but also your personal life. Just make sure that you're not afraid to ask, you're not afraid to try new things, and even if somebody says you can't do it you need to listen to yourself. No matter how somebody treats you, don't let it stop you from trying to keep on pushing forward and getting what you want.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Technology and AI, keeping up with everything. It is different this world compared to 10 years ago, making sure that you're reading every day the newest features, newest news. AI is kind of taking over the world, hopefully it doesn't take over a lot of jobs, but just keeping up with technology.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Just be respectful at all times. Everything that comes to your mind does not have to be said. If you feel like it may be offensive just take a moment to your you know just take a breath and just rethink how you can say it so you're not offending anybody or hurting anybody's feelings but also being direct. Being direct on where you stand so that whatever comes out of your mouth of course holds yourself at the highest standard.
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