Sureya Alex

I have had great mentors, and two of them are my parents. They've taught me how to work incredibly hard and to use all my resources. I would also say that I've had mentors, probably one from each of my previous jobs, that have taught me a different thing. Relationship is a huge thing that I attribute a lot of success to - being able to learn from others and know that I don't have all the information has been incredibly helpful for me in this role. I think just continually learning, having a learning mindset and not the mindset that I'm the expert or that I know everything, has been incredibly helpful for me. It's allowed me to also give myself and others grace in this role.

My dad has always told me that if you're asked to do A and B, to also do C and D. That's my biggest piece of advice that I've taken - if you're asked to do something, do everything to your ability to do that, and far more. Use your resources and your own skills, and then when you need help, ask for it, but always do more than you're expected to do.

I think just getting your foot into the door and taking all experience as good experience, whether it's at a small company, a big company, or your own research. Getting experience and doing your part to research, to become more skilled, to make your connections, and build your relationships is really, really important. It doesn't always have to be the biggest digital marketing company or biggest corporate field. If you are working at a smaller agency, a startup, or just even your own research, that has a ton of value in itself. I would say a secondary piece is to find what you're good at and to make that your thing. Find what value you can bring to others and really hone in on that.

One value that I have is just working hard, working so hard that things don't fall through the crack, but also allowing myself grace. I think allowing myself grace is the biggest thing in there, and it's been something that I've been continually learning. There's a quote about working so hard that it's almost impossible to fail, and I think that's a good and a bad quote, because obviously failure comes with your job and your life, and so that's where grace comes in. I would definitely say just working hard and dedicated, grace, and then respecting others is probably the biggest ones. Respecting others, whether I work below them, whether I work above them, just serving others with respect is also a very big thing for me.