Vera Ukpabi

Really, God. I keep God in my life, I pray often, and that's what keeps me going. Without prayer, I don't know - you need something to lean on, especially during the first quarter when we all have a lot going on, not just me, everybody. God is what I lean on, and He gives me the energy to be able to do what I do on a daily basis. I love my team, I like everything about Humana, so that also makes it easier. It's more about, okay, wow, it's a lot of systems kind of thing, but I'm also not the only person who has that - a lot of people have that.

The best career advice I've ever received, and which I've always kept to, is not to really get involved in office politics and stuff like that. I think that's always a good thing when you're just focused on your work and clients and working with other people well and keeping away from all that. It's just smooth sailing. I've always taken that advice and it's always worked for me, because I've seen people who have gotten involved in that and it makes their life more stressful. I haven't had that kind of issue at all because I just make sure to put my best foot forward, work well with other teams - all that is very important for what I do since I work with a bunch of different teams.

Definitely that she can really major in anything in college, because even my degree was in political science, but it helps a lot - I didn't realize how much it would help because a lot of things always change policy-wise in healthcare and I understand all those things immediately. So they can pretty much major in anything and just make sure to step into the field no matter what. Any position - don't look down on any position in healthcare. It could be patient accounts that can end up being very lucrative at the end of the day. People always look down at it, but being in charge of revenue cycle is very worthwhile and profitable. They can pretty much start anywhere and be able to move around the system once your work speaks for itself. Most of the entry-level jobs in healthcare do pay pretty well in comparison to their counterparts in other industries. They don't have to look at big titles - in fact, when you do entry level in healthcare, that's the best thing for you to do because you really start learning and they understand that you're learning. Don't seek a big title at first - it's going to come as long as you keep your reputation good and you have a willingness to learn. You'll get a higher position, you don't have to get that immediately. It's almost beneficial that you don't, because it's a lot of responsibility, and there's a reason why you need to climb up the ranks in that way.

Sometimes the type of clients you get, and sometimes it's having to say no - that's the hardest. But it's doable, it comes with the territory, so you just have to let them down easy. It's not really your decision - I don't decide who to contract. It has to go through a lot of different approvals before I even approach a new system or anything, especially if it's a new system. So in that way, it helps. But that's probably the hardest part - having to say no, and you have to make sure to say no in the right way so that they don't get angry, so that you can keep them as a client, so that you can keep them in your books and all that kind of stuff.

Reliability, kindness of course, and being able to maintain relationships - that's a big thing in especially my arena. You need to be able to have those type of soft skills in order to get things done the way you want to have them done. One thing I know is every time I send an email, I'm either saying good morning or good afternoon - no matter what my mood is, people can't tell necessarily what I'm going through. It's not necessary for them to know. I was raised that way - even with my parents, I couldn't walk into a room without saying good evening, or good morning, or good afternoon. So now I just took that and I start every email that way because it sets the tone. No matter how you're feeling, they don't know - you could be happy, you could be going through something they don't know. But their response is usually a response in kind because this person is not being aggressive, she's coming up with solutions, so they're already calmed down.