Tiffany Arant, CEM

I attribute my success to a strong foundation in curiosity, education, and a willingness to follow where my purpose led me—even when that meant stepping outside of my comfort zone. My early work with the USDA taught me the importance of systems thinking and resilience, while my graduate education and hands-on experience in emergency management helped me build the technical and leadership skills needed in this field.

I also credit much of my growth to the mentors, colleagues, and public safety professionals who believed in me and supported my development along the way. Their guidance, combined with real-world experience in Union County and Chatham County, helped shape my confidence and ability to lead in high-pressure environments.

Most importantly, I attribute my success to staying aligned with my vision and taking intentional risks when necessary—like relocating to Savannah and creating the EmpowerHER Public Safety Network. That initiative reflects my commitment to building connection and opportunity for women in public safety, and it continues to remind me that purpose-driven work, consistency, and faith can turn ideas into meaningful impact.

My mentor from working at Union County,supervisor Andrew he made me feel like this career path was for me and then I could really succeed in this field Mentorship has played a critical role in my path—leaders who challenged me, guided me, and reminded me to trust my voice, even in rooms where I felt the youngest or least experienced. That confidence doesn’t come overnight. In a field that is still largely male-dominated, there are moments of hesitation—moments where you question whether to speak, whether your perspective will be valued. But I’ve learned that adding value isn’t about having the loudest voice; it’s about having a prepared one.

Honestly, I think I would just say, you know, trust yourself. It's really hard in a career field like this to feel like you're not doing enough, to feel like you don't understand a lot, because there is a lot to understand. You're never gonna fully understand or know everything about the field. So I think, you know, just trust in your abilities, trust in your skills, and just learn as much as you can. And it's going to take time. You can't do it all overnight. If you pick up little bits of information, you know, all the scenarios and all the experiences that you have, then you can make it.

I think the biggest challenge is being a younger woman in this field. It is very male-dominated, so just feeling like you're inadequate and feeling like when you are giving advice or you're trying to teach somebody something that maybe is older than you or that has been here longer, that's kind of a challenge there. You don't obviously want to feel like you're putting somebody down because they don't understand something and they have that seniority over you. I would say a lot of young people coming into career fields like this, where a lot of the people in these fields have been here for 20, 30 years, it can be really intimidating. You don't necessarily want to say anything because you don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but you want to add value to the conversation. That's the biggest challenge that I face.