Tiffany Benitez

My key factor to my success has been remembering where I'm going, and that's not about a job title, or the next promotion, or the next dollar amount. It does go back to that change and impact piece. I'm reminded that every new role or sphere of influence that I'm put in is an opportunity to continuously serve people. Servant Leadership is a topic that's thrown around a lot, and I think it's a buzzword without people fully understanding, but it's really being in the weeds and doing just as much as you are guiding and directing. And so I feel like that's been really important. I'm usually the only woman in the room from a leadership perspective. That's challenging and difficult, but instead of looking at a problem, I prefer to look at solutions, and how do we work to kind of change that? That's kind of the purpose of that Women in Tech organization. It's just building relationship and awareness with our allies. We're not at a low number because the men don't want us there. We're at a low number because they don't understand the journey we're on, and we as women don't talk about that well. So I think it's just also building relationships and having more awareness so they understand what's actually the problem and helping to be part of the solution.

Do it afraid. It's often what we are put up against, or what we're after, we often feel like maybe we're not good enough, or that's kind of scary, but do it anyways. Everything is always a no until you ask or until you try. And even after you try, if you don't succeed the first time, success doesn't happen without falling first. So it's really just do it. Do it afraid. Say yes, raise your hand, and don't let the fact that you don't have all the answers, or don't have it all figured out, or the voices inside your head stop you from where you could be going.

Change and impact on the other side. None of us have time to give, but the reality is you make time for what matters, and watching people in general, but definitely women and our next generation's lives impacted, is super rewarding. I'm in my mid-40s, so the days of sacrificing every single thing, including family, to get to whatever the next thing is, that's just not what I want in my life. So the truth is, I'm just at this moment really enjoying the role that I'm in, and I am open and listen as other opportunities come along, but it has to be a good fit with where I'm at, the direction that I'm wanting to go, really around change and impact, even from a work perspective. It's really just making sure that whatever role I'm doing, or whatever role I take on next, that I truly understand the value and connect that back with what we're delivering to whatever end customer that looks like. So making sure that whatever comes next is in alignment with who I am, what season of life that I'm in.