Tonya Menefee

The main thing I would say is practicing what I preach, but also just knowing that I have a faith-centered approach to everything I do. I'm Christian, and being directed by God, I know that a lot of the achievements and the things that I've accomplished are because of that. So that would be the main thing, but I practice what I preach. I stay connected to people in my network that I used to have at other companies, at other jobs that I've had, and also staying open to networking and learning.

I would say to be open to opportunities. When I had a major transition from one career to the next, it was for a job I wasn't even looking for. A gentleman called me at my office and said, 'Do you want to meet for coffee?' And I was thinking, no, like, I'm not interested in going anywhere. I'm not interested. But my mentor said, 'You always at least have coffee. Always at least have a conversation, because you never know, it may be something you're interested in.' And that's what I did. I wasn't kind of narrow-minded or keeping the door closed. And that led to a major transition in excelling in my career. That moved me from a local position to a statewide role with a Fortune 500 company. And that's happened twice, actually, now that I think about it.

The thing that I would say is, and I've told my staff this before, always consider the work you do bigger than yourself. Make sure that you consider yourself to be a lifelong learner, that once you step into a certain level of your career, that's not it. Always stay in the mode of education and growing. And then also staying connected and networking, and to never burn a bridge.

I think the biggest challenge in this industry is the change that's happening at the federal level with Medicaid, because our clients are running group home facilities that are reimbursed through Medicaid. A lot of it is starting to slow down or freeze up, or there's so many changes happening in the industry that it's making businesses hesitant to step into such a major commitment of opening a group home, not knowing whether or how fast they'll be reimbursed for the services they provide. So that probably is the biggest thing I'm seeing in just potential clients not knowing what the future will look like if they put their funds up to open a group home. This is especially challenging because these group homes are very much needed, especially when a person or a company is wanting to operate it properly, like having a license and doing what needs to be done, versus what happens unfortunately where they just open the door and turn on the light and put some bunk beds in a room.

The biggest thing I would say is I am very cognizant of my reputation, my name, my footprint, meaning how I enter and how I leave. That is very, very important to me. And also, I would say, in how I treat people, that is very important too. Because again, it circles back to what I was saying a few minutes ago. But really, at the end of the day, that's all you have, is your reputation, especially in a professional setting. I tell this to people I mentor, that your name, before you step into a room, steps in before you. When you leave a room, it stays behind.