Winter Walker

I attribute my success to my family. I'm a strong believer that you can't get anywhere on your own, but just having people that went before you that kind of paved the way - the prayers of my mother, my grandparents, and also the support of my spouse. Just being right now what they would consider a career student, because I'm back in school working towards my PhD, that takes support of your household. So I wouldn't be able to take classes and take off to study if I didn't have a supportive husband, if I didn't have a family that believed in me and my goals, and they continued to push me. And also, now that I've been in the Coke system, I have some wonderful mentors that believe in me when I kind of don't believe in myself, and they would say, Winter, keep going, don't give up, don't let anything stop you, you got this, just keep going. So I would say those relationships with the people closest in my life, I would attribute my success to, because I wouldn't be able to do it without them.

The best career advice I've received is to believe in yourself. Oftentimes, for a person like myself who is very ambitious, sometimes you meet people who don't have the same drive or the same ambition, and sometimes those people, if they are close to you, they can kind of rain on your parade, for lack of better words. But I think if you believe in yourself and believe in your own abilities and your own dreams, I think that you can reach anything. So if I had to give anyone any advice, I think that would be the best advice - to believe in myself, because not everybody is going to believe what you believe. But if you believe it hard enough, strong enough, then I think anything you set your mind to will come to pass.

I would say never give up. The road may be tough, but don't give up. I think coming into a corporate career, especially in the STEM field, it can be difficult for women, especially women of color. Getting that first position is always going to be hard, but once you get your foot in the door, the sky is the limit. Just never give up, because right now, what makes it so hard is that a lot of these positions are niche positions - they're like 1 in 100, and you have thousands of people applying for that same position. But if that is your dream and that is your goal, don't give up. The right door will open for you, and once you get into that door, don't allow anybody to close it. Just keep going, just keep going towards the stars.

I would say the biggest opportunity is that I work for a global company, so opportunities are unlimited because the company is so large. I have the ability to pivot - although I'm a scientist now, the more I learn and the more I grow, the more exposure that I have, I'm in the position where I can always pivot into something else. For example, I really have a true passion for developing younger women, so if I wanted to pivot into an early career role working with college students entering the corporate system or the Coke system, I would think that is an advantage that I have working with a global company, because you can take your career in any direction that you choose once you get into the door. It's all about networking and meeting people in different departments and just taking a chance on yourself, taking that risk with your passion.

I would say showing up as your authentic self is most important to me. I'm really big on integrity and character - my own character and the character of others - and honesty. But I would just say showing up as your authentic self.