Her Story
About Sylvia
My career path into recruitment happened by accident. I started in the professional world working for corporate organizations like Enterprise Rent-A-Car in sales and marketing, then companies like Nike. When I relocated to Texas, someone suggested I go into recruitment because I had worked for so many great companies and was curious about various industries like medical device, healthcare, and technology. I started at entry level as a business development manager and learned the business from the ground up, eventually getting promoted to area manager, market manager, vice president, and ultimately president of a small global IT firm. What directed me to start my own company was evolving life and raising children - I wanted more time, flexibility, and less travel. That's why I called it Evolve One, because I was evolving at that time. I decided to put everything I learned from all the great leaders, and not such great leaders, into creating a vision that was really important to me - something I wanted to have passion about, empower people, and create a legacy for myself. As a sole entrepreneur, I'm really tasked with building relationships, connecting with the community, private equity firms, and startups who are scaling. I focus on alignment with how founders and CEOs want to scale not only quickly but efficiently while keeping culture in mind. I keep my engagements very boutique and targeted - I'm not working on 40 other clients. I want to be a true partner, not a vendor, not transactional. That tends to resonate when I'm working with startups or small to mid-sized companies who haven't found the results they want from big firms.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Sylvia
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't let fear hold you back. It is a bold move to go out on your own, and I understand having a W-2 and a steady paycheck. My advice to people wanting to start their own business is to definitely prepare for that - have a little cushion to be able to know it's going to take time. You need to understand there's going to be risk and there's going to be gains. But the biggest thing is that it's gotta start with you, and you've got to be a leader and execute. It's not going to be an easy road. You are going to have extreme highs and extreme lows, but if you believe in what you are able to do, the mind's very powerful. I would also recommend doing your research and aligning yourself with the right people. I didn't ask to be at the table, I built my own. You've got to build it, you've got to align yourself with the right people. I did a lot of research, I called a lot of people, I asked what would you do differently, what advice do you have for me. Really follow a business plan of what you want to achieve. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It's not. It takes a lot, and you cannot let your fear overtake you. If you want to do it, do it. But make sure you have resources and you're in a financial situation where you're either going to get a loan or you're going to invest, or you give yourself timelines. You just have to be ready to take the leap. You can't let fear overtake you.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
It is getting so challenging right now for people to find work, and the job posting boards are like a black hole. That's why I believe someone's next role, someone's next career is going to be based off real conversations and connecting people, not just posting on boards. It's about having those real conversations and truly expanding the network. You have to be active and you have to be out in the community, and sometimes we need organizations to highlight what we're doing, how we're doing it, and how we got there.
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