Tyechia Paul

I would attribute my successes first to being Jamaican and the cultural priorities that come with that, including a strong emphasis on education, doing right by people, treating others well with respect, and having a foundation in religion - my family is Seventh-day Adventists. I also attribute my success to my humble beginnings. With my parents each migrating to the U.S. and me being first-generation American, life for me has not always been a crystal stair, to use Langston Hughes' words. Those humble beginnings allow me to maintain perspective and be relatable and able to connect with people. It's my practice to always treat people consistently - whether it's the custodial staff member, or the CEO, or the chancellor of the university, everybody gets treated the same by me. I believe that equity is something that I maintain in my practices and the level of consideration I give people, but also what I require for myself. Maintaining that level of relatability is important, even though people sometimes make assumptions about me. I've had people tell me they thought I was mean, but I promise I wasn't brought up to mistreat people, and especially coming from humble beginnings myself, it would be hypocritical for me to do so.

Career-wise, choose a path that you're going to enjoy. That might not be the popular path, that might not be what's trendy right now, that might be a different profession than your parents, but choose what you're going to enjoy doing long-term. And know that if it gets to a point where you're not enjoying it as much, you can always pivot, but make that pivot strategically, kind of like how I started voluntarily doing some teaching in order to eventually transition to full-time teaching. Beyond career things, I would say stay true to your values. Don't let anything or anyone sway you from your ethical core. I'd also say stand up for yourself - there are a lot of individuals and forces that will try to chip away at a person's esteem and at their work product. And my mom would teach us to take pride in oneself. What's interesting is that for a lot of women especially, that runs counter to how society tries to program us to be. Taking pride in oneself will include and involve sometimes self-promotion, sometimes marketing oneself, using your voice. A lot of women shy away from doing that because they feel as though it's bragging or boastful, but if we don't speak our own good works, we can't then expect anybody else to recognize those things in consideration for whatever that next opportunity may be. So it's important to embrace the good things that you do and to not hesitate to speak on those things and to make your good works known.

The values most important to me are honesty, integrity, consistency, efficiency, and care. I try not to be careless with people, or with things, or with resources. I'm unfailingly honest, which some people appreciate and others don't like when it involves me letting them know something they'd prefer not to hear. My integrity and consistency will always come into play because my values are so core to who I am that they don't sway, no matter who or where pressure tries to come from.