Tosca Derrick

I attribute my success to hard work, grit, and not being afraid to hustle. I've always gone for the roles that really scared me - those are the ones I want. There's someone I love to listen to that speaks on how men and women accept roles differently. Men look at a job posting, and if they could do 60% of it or so, then they will apply for it. But as women, when we look at a job posting, we think we have to cover 100% of everything, we have to be extremely good at it, or we're not good enough for the role. I think that's just absolutely not true at all. I've always gone for the roles that I thought, wow, this really scares me. This is the one I want. These types of roles are the roles that you need to go in for, and be confident. If you're there, and they're talking to you, then you've earned a place to be there. You don't have to prove yourself. A lot of women really get so stuck, and oh, I'm going to work really hard, because I'm going to prove it, and I'm going to prove it, and men don't have to do that. Men just prove it by showing up, and I think having that confidence to just show up and know I'm proving it just because I'm here, that really does raise the bar.

The best career advice I ever received is that networking is your net worth. I truly believe that if you put the right people in your network around you, that's how we all get to the next level we're trying to go. Most of my jobs that I've gotten have been because I've had an interaction with someone that has led to a phone call later and said, you know what, Tosca, I have this job. I thought about you. I think you're perfect. That's really how I have moved up. Another piece of advice that changed my life came from a leader I worked for, David Levesque, who has been the best leader I've ever had in my entire life. I was a young woman in a role with big, big shoes to fill, and I remember being in these conference rooms and being too nervous to speak up, because I was the only woman in the room most of the time. After meetings, I would run up to him with these big ideas, and he said, no, you don't get to do that. The time that you had to speak up was in that conference room. He said, if you have a seat at the table, then you're expected to provide input into what we're talking about. It really just slapped me in the face. I was like, whoa! I guess I'm expected to actually open my mouth and talk. I think that really helped me, because ever since then, I've never shut up. That's been a huge spot of my life where I have learned that if you have a seat at the table, you're meant to be there, you belong, and you're expected to open your mouth and contribute.

The best advice I can give is that there's nothing that's not your job. From sweeping the floors to helping someone do everything that there is to do, jump at the chance to do it. If someone asks you to do something that's completely outside of your role, take it as an opportunity. Also, every interaction that you have, treat it like it's an interview. You never know who you're going to run across again, especially in these industries. My industry is so small, you never know which interaction you're gonna have that's gonna lead to your next big job. Really show up with professionalism, show up the way you want others to show up around you, and treat every day like a brand new opportunity. You never know where it's gonna take you. Most of my jobs that I've gotten have been because I've had an interaction with someone that has led to a phone call later and said, you know what, Tosca, I have this job. I thought about you. I think you're perfect. Networking is really how I have moved up. Networking is your net worth, and I truly believe that. If you put the right people in your network around you, that's how we all get to the next level we're trying to go. You really get to design how you want your career to look, and I think until you realize that, until you show up and you take that ownership over that, I think it just takes someone to sit there and to tell you to say, hey, you get to control this.

The big challenge is the tariffs. You're seeing it all over the news. The headlines are really real, and it's going so fast. Last year, there was over 111 changes to the tariffs and the executive orders, and that's not normal in our field. So keeping up with the news, and keeping up with the executive orders, and keeping up with what's going on, that's a huge challenge. But also, everybody right now thinks they're an expert. Before, I was the expert. People would call me, and people did not know anything, and so that really allowed me to take ownership and control and help them lead them where they want to go. Well, now, someone reads a headline, and they think they know everything. That's a real big challenge - how decisive this has been, and how political that my job has gotten is a challenge in and of itself. But the visibility that it currently has is my biggest challenge, and it's also my biggest achievement, because I would have never been able to come to Baker Tilly and create this type of consulting practice that I'm leading today, had that not been in the news. But because it is in the news, it gives me all these opportunities, but also it creates tons and tons and tons of challenges. I talked to a C-suite person earlier today who was like, oh yeah, I already know everything that's going on, blah, blah, blah. And it's just because he's reading headlines, and the headlines are so political that the truth is somewhere in between all that.

Hard work and honesty are most important to me. I grew up working very, very hard from a really young age, and I think just showing up every day as your best self, waking up every morning and thinking, what am I going to accomplish today? Being organized is important - I think the values that I bring to situations is being able to organize complex things, and also not being afraid to learn something brand new. I've been in this industry for 20 years, and I still learn new things, and I enjoy that. Leave your ego at the door. No one needs a big ego. If you're wrong, great. You have to learn something new. You have to learn how to do it better the next time. Don't take things personally. Don't show up with a chip on your shoulder and think, I'm the best there is. I hire people around me who are smarter than me on purpose, and when they can prove me wrong, I feel like I've finally done something right.