Syndi Hoa Driscoll

I definitely attribute my success to my parents. They came from another country, so they didn't get formal education here in the United States. I saw them struggle and work hard and do a lot of different jobs just to get my brother and I through college and through school. I think definitely hard work, and their hard work, and seeing them sacrifice. My parents really instilled in me the value of education and hard work, and that is part of who I am. I was first generation going to college, and now having my own children go to college, I think that foundation my parents gave me has been essential to my success.

The best career advice I've received is just enjoying what I do, because you're going to deal with different personalities in terms of work, different stress from work, but as long as you find fulfillment in your work and you enjoy it, it helps me get through the day sometimes, because sometimes it's highly stressful. Where I work, it's very political, and you deal with a lot of different personalities, a lot of different factors that influence how you are able to carry out your work, so it's not purely legal. Sometimes you have to just navigate through the politics, the bureaucracy. So, actually enjoying the work, feeling fulfillment from your work itself, which is just contributing to clean energy and to the overall betterment of Los Angeles, that helps get me through the day, and it makes the work itself worthwhile.

I've seen more women in the energy field, but when I first started, even though it wasn't that long ago, every meeting I had gone into was mainly dominated by men. But I do notice that there are a lot more women in the industry now, a lot more engineers, especially. I think just knowing what you know, being confident in your own knowledge and your own expertise, and making sure you speak up for what you think is right, and what you think is the right approach on things. Surprisingly, I've noticed that it doesn't matter who's in the room, as long as I'm confident in my knowledge and my expertise, the clients do value your expertise.

The biggest challenges are definitely learning the subject matter, which has to do with regulations and compliance. It's constantly changing, right? The regulatory framework may not necessarily look exactly the same. Every fact pattern changes things up a little bit, so just gaining knowledge in the area itself. You have a general background, a foundation, but it's constantly building, so the field itself, in terms of what you have to know, is challenging. And then just being able to navigate through the politics, the work itself and different personalities. For lawyers especially, we're not necessarily math majors or into engineering, but having to understand that aspect to be able to navigate through contracts, because a lot of it is very technical. So, combining compliance, new laws, and the technical aspect of the kind of law that I practice, I think that all combine together. And then, the fact that I work for a municipal utility that involves politics, so everything all together, there's not one thing, I think it's a combination of everything, but being able to navigate through that is why credibility and integrity goes such a long way, because it helps smooth the road.

Definitely my integrity, both personal and work life, because it's all about my credibility, whether I'm advising clients, dealing with other attorneys, dealing with just other people in general. Integrity is highly important. I think that's something that once you lose your credibility, you can't really get that back. So, for me, that's very important. That's what we try to teach our children. Tolerance and acceptance of people and their different personality and being able to work with that. Just being a kind person in general, accepting of others, having an open mind. I wasn't born in the United States, so just being able to have opportunities here, and raising children here, and being able to, you know, I was first generation going to college, and now having my own children go to college. Education and hard work, I think that is part of who I am.