Teresa A. Rodriguez

Some of it is luck, I don't like to take responsibility for everything. But I think a big part is preparation. It sounds very cliche, but I try to prepare, and then you don't even know what awaits you. I really feel like I tend to move towards things that I like and that I find purpose in, and then it's easier for me to put my energy into those things. I try my best to put that preparation in, and that all goes back to what my dad said about there being no shortcuts. So when the great opportunities come along, you've kind of prepared yourself, even almost without knowing. You end up being prepared for the thing that is in front of you, because you've just tried to be responsible and tried to be willing to put that effort forth on the front end.

The best career advice I ever received came from my dad, and he was giving this advice to me as general life advice, applicable to many things. What he said was very simple: there are no shortcuts in life. I took that very seriously, and I definitely see how my belief in that has helped me through many, many things. I believe in layering and building instead of just expecting things to come. I believe that you can work hard and try to build something, and so I'm super appreciative for that advice, because I lean into that with respect to everything, with respect to my health, with respect to my career.

I think trying to strike a balance between understanding who you are and the ability to assert yourself is really important. It's really important to find your voice. The more that you can try to be true to yourself and learn to be honest about your feelings on a thing, I mean asserting yourself and standing up when you have a certain belief or understanding of something, being okay to state that. I think what we have to learn as women is that, because I think we have a tendency to want to please, and that's wonderful, but I think in the workspace, we have to learn how to continuously be able to assert ourselves, certainly not in a way that means being offensive, but being able to just in almost an unemotional way state how you feel about a thing and feel entitled to that and feel worthy of having your understanding of a particular set of facts. I think that's really important as a woman, because it's difficult for us at times. I think at times we find it difficult to speak up in a professional setting because we may feel like our voices are being muted. So I think the more that we can learn to work on that, the better.

The job market right now isn't really the best, and there's a lot happening in the securities market. I think that learning as much as you can about digital assets and cryptocurrency is really important because it's where everything is going. I think it's really important to try to have an understanding of that. Whatever your belief system is about it is aside, I think it's important to understand that the industry, the securities industry that I'm in, is certainly taking a turn in that direction, and I think that's certainly an opportunity for sure, to learn that space.

In my work, I really believe in doing things that resonate with you, doing things that you can find real purpose in. For me, I really love waking up every day and knowing that I'm doing something that's for the greater good. It just helps to center me, it helps me when I'm frustrated even with my work. That mission being right at the center of what I'm doing all the time, I find to be super helpful in carrying me through even difficult times. I feel like the same thing with my life. I just try to find that center balance and just move from there.