Stacie Paulson

I have to attribute my success to my parents. We grew up in a pretty small family, just my brother and me, my parents, and then uncles, aunts, and grandparents, but no other kids. They had me fairly young, and I can't think of a time when they haven't 100% been there for me. Knowing that every step of the way, I don't think I could have asked for more than that. I never realized how much we maybe didn't have, or when we did struggle, because they just made it all positive. That foundation of unwavering support has been everything to me.

The best advice I've ever received might not sound like a beautiful quote, but as someone who deals with anxiety in my line of work, it's been incredibly helpful: no one's gonna die if I don't send that email. I know it's extreme, but luckily I don't work in a hospital or operate on people. At the end of the day, it really puts things into perspective. Everyone makes mistakes, and it's okay. No one's gonna die from it. Sometimes you just need to take a breath and realize this is a job. Maybe I didn't send that calendar for the exact time zone confirmed version, or whatever it is, and it's really gonna be okay. Someone once asked me when I forgot to do something, 'Did someone die?' And I was like, what do you mean? No. And she's like, exactly, no one died. That really stuck with me.

Don't spread yourself thin for the sake of others. I think you need to take a step back and realize what a good job you're doing. At the end of the day, you live life once. Do something that you're proud of and that you're fulfilled by. I think that matters so much more, and you'll end up in a place you want to be in. It's about finding what truly fulfills you rather than just meeting everyone else's expectations.

I think the biggest challenge everyone's facing right now is just what's going on in the world, and especially in the U.S. I don't even think it's political anymore, it's just all of it. I can't even pinpoint one thing anymore. It's a lot, and the challenge is finding out what does that mean, and what can we do about it, and always trying to be that small cogwheel of change.

Authenticity is incredibly important to me, because I am Stacie at home and at work. I don't have a filter, I don't have a professional version, I don't have a mom version. You get what you get, because that's just me. I heard a speech once where someone talked about how in other cultures, water cooler conversations don't exist the way they do in America, where people just ask 'did you have a good weekend? Yes or no?' In her culture, everyone asks 'how's your grandma? I know she was sick, how's she doing?' That's always stuck with me. I'm an introvert, so if I have to go into the office and show my real self, you just gotta be authentic. I've never been able to do office politics. It can be a flaw, but it's also a really big perk, because I don't want to play that game. I'm here 8 hours a day, and morally, I don't want to go with the flow if I don't like how someone treated another person poorly. Sometimes it can be seen as going against politics in the workplace, but I don't want to disagree with something just because everyone else did. In today's world, when something doesn't feel right, it's really okay to say it, because if I lose a job because I was true to myself, I will never lose sleep over that.