Influential Woman · Retail
Terri Arsinian
Advisor and shift lead, --
Northridge, CA
Her Story
About Terri
Terri Arsinian serves as an Advisor and shift lead in retail, with a specialization in retail in tech. With a little over five years of experience, she earned her bachelor's and master's degrees quite recently while seeking opportunities to network and broaden her horizons. In her role, Arsinian begins her day by speaking with managers, providing personalized experiences to clients, and offering tips to peers to enhance their interactions. She attributes her success to the support from her family and coworkers, and she follows her father's advice to never be content and to keep striving for improvement rather than remaining stagnant. Arsinian emphasizes being authentic and honest, presenting herself exactly as she is without changing to please others. She advises young women entering retail and tech to prove wrong any preconceptions that women lack knowledge in tech by demonstrating their capabilities through hard work. Her biggest challenges have involved adapting to different people and learning to de-escalate situations while working one-on-one with peers and clients. Outside of work, she enjoys reading and watching movies, which help her improve her writing and provide a mental break.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Terri
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the support I've been given, both from my family as well as the people I work with. This support has helped me throughout my career in retail.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was from my dad: never to be content. Being content kind of leads to being stagnant, and I've taken that to heart, which is why no matter where I am, I try to strive for the best and keep moving forward.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My field is retail as well as specifically retail in tech, so there is a lot of people who may have a prerogative where women may not know anything about tech, and it really just comes down to prove them wrong. Nothing is more satisfying than showing that you do know, and you can definitely fulfill a role, even if you are a woman. So just keep working, don't let any doubts deter you from showing that you're more than capable.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges were really being able to adapt to different types of people, and just learning how to respond and de-escalate and just work one-on-one, whether it's with a peer or a client.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Being authentic and honest. I'm not gonna change myself for anyone, or change myself to please anyone. I always make sure to present that to anyone who's getting to know me, so that they know that who I am, or how I present myself to the person in front of me is exactly what I am and what I stand for. Even if it means stepping on a few toes, it's better to be authentic and honest than not as, you know, dishonest and creating a facade that may lead to some discrepancies.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.