Susan Valliere

I attribute my success to my parents. My parents were very supportive. When we were kids, Santa Claus gave us Barbie dolls and Tonka trucks - they were very supportive that we didn't... I didn't even understand there was such a thing as gender roles. I think my parents just set us up for success. All my sisters are successful in their different career paths because we have the confidence from our parents, like, we could do anything, and don't limit yourself. I was into baseball when I was a kid, and I was in fourth grade, and they had the softball team and the baseball team, but I liked baseball. My uncle was in baseball, and I didn't know behind the scenes - I tried out, I wasn't the best, but I got made the team. I didn't understand that was a boy's sport versus a girl's sport, but my parents behind the scene made it happen, so I didn't even know. I'm still processing, like, every now and then, having my aha moments about how my parents shaped us. You don't appreciate it when you're a kid.

The best career advice I've ever received is to trust in yourself, don't doubt yourself, just keep on learning. I can't remember the exact quote from Amy Bowden, one of my mentors when I was at BMC, but from women leaders too, I've been getting that a lot - trust in yourself. Women tend to undervalue their skills. We're more powerful than what we think we are. I've had a lot of mentors that were females, and that seems to be a running point. They don't go for positions they want to go for because they don't feel they're enough, or the imposter syndrome. But you're going up against people that are less qualified than you, and they're men. Women need to trust in that.

Support each other. Support, don't hold information, lift each other up. I can't remember the exact quote, but it's something about don't take another woman's crown, but if their crown is crooked, straighten it. I think that's where women fail and why we don't succeed as much - we don't support each other enough. Your success, or somebody else's success, doesn't take away from you, it only strengthens you. And it comes back around full circle.

Giving back and having a cause are most important to me. Mine is revenue cycle, so I do volunteer work, but I think where my most value is, my passion, is with federally qualified health centers - bringing in the revenue, because that's my skill set, but it does help the community that way. Giving back and finding something that you believe in and being a part of it - that's what matters to me.