Whitney Baker

I would attribute my success to being a genuine, relatable, and likable person who brings a human element to everything I do. We spend so much time at work and invest so much energy in it, so to me, being someone people can connect with is very important. I have a lot of empathy skills and I'm good at reading people and really understanding why people do what they do. That's been incredibly helpful for me to navigate different industries, different teams, and different types of individuals. I really love how different people see the world, and I'm so curious about where they travel, what they do for fun, what drives them, because it tells you so much about people and helps me understand why they operate in business the way they do. It's always important for me to get to know the people behind the project, behind the initiative, whatever it is we're tackling. This relatable, empathetic approach has brought me success in both my personal and professional life.

The best career advice I've received, which I can back up with personal experience, is to always raise your hand and say yes when people ask you to join a team or a project. To me, always saying yes to opportunity and putting yourself out there when you see opportunities you can take, and taking those intelligent risks, has gotten me very far and helped me get promoted pretty consistently. Don't be afraid to take on something that's a little scary, because that's where you're going to grow and stretch the most. I heard this thing recently about how luck isn't real, it's just that some people are more open to opportunities than others. That really resonated with me because I've always felt kind of lucky, but reframing it made me realize it's not really luck and arbitrary, it's that I've just always been this opportunity seeker. I see things as potential and possibilities, and that mindset has gotten me pretty far.

I would go back to what I mentioned about taking risks, learning beyond your comfort zone, and raising your hand. Be willing to ask questions. I think that's one thing I've learned, is to not be afraid to ask questions. Especially being new, you don't want to look like you don't know, but I've come from a space of understanding that it's okay to not know if you know how to ask the right questions. You need to get to the meaningful answers, and then also use your questions as a tool to build connection. When I joined Taco Bell, I didn't know anyone or anything about the industry, and I really dug into that. I built kind of an arsenal of people I would go to and say, 'Hey, what does this mean again? Hey, can you send this to me?' And that built a lot of connections for me, and now they're my leading partners.

The big area of opportunity I'm leaning into is being a bridge between different departments and different teams, and that is all human skills. You can't necessarily bridge the gap with software. You need to have someone who can translate both languages that are being spoken and find some cohesion. I think there's going to be continual opportunity for people to still have interaction and engagement to be productive. What we're also seeing in the food service space is that customers want human interaction. Look at Chick-fil-A and companies that want to bring back that human touch. We are craving that as a society, and I think we crave it in our personal lives too, especially as adult women wanting to have connection. How do we continue to build connection in a meaningful way? I think that's the opportunity for the future. As for challenges, AI is coming on board really hard right now, and a lot of people are worried about what it will mean for their longevity and relevancy. I've really dug into learning as much as I can about how to utilize it effectively in my job. I'm not afraid of it. I partner with AI and I see it elevating me. The challenge is not losing the human element to things, not just having AI take over and think for us, but still recognizing that we have our own human element that we need to keep adding in and not lose sight of.

I was raised with work hard, play hard, and I work extremely hard. I show up for myself in my self-care, I show up for my kids, and I believe in consistency and curiosity as really big drivers for me. I'm always showing up consistently and being an integral part of teams that they can rely on, but I also come to the table very curious. I'm open-minded and I want to learn from other people. I'm not going in with 'I have all the answers, here it is.' I'm always looking to collaborate. It's really important to me to build relationships. That's a huge part of my personality and also how I've seen a lot of success in my life, building true, genuine partnerships, collaborations, and relationships along the way. These values bring me success in my personal life as well as my professional life.