Xochitl Lara

I owe my success to all of my amazing leaders and the people who took a chance on me from the beginning. From being naggy via email asking for interviews, to trusting me every single time I raised my hand, they never said no. I'm sure even at times they were hesitant, but their trust in me is what gave me the courage to keep raising my hand and rise to the occasion.

To Kimberly Bizu, thank you for letting me witness the way you built extravagant, female forward events, spaces that championed connection and female partnership. To 4AM Skin, thank you for extending that same generosity, and for trusting a college student in Texas to be part of your incredible team of five, all the way from New York.

To Eric Silverstein, thank you for handing the keys to your company's entire social media presence to a twenty year old who had no business being trusted with that much, and believing I would rise to it. And to everyone at Decoded Advertising, thank you for uplifting me and opening a door the moment I stepped out of college, when I had nothing to offer yet but confidence and curiosity.

The best career advice I've ever been given is that nobody is truly keeping tabs on you, and that is the most liberating thing I have ever realized. For most of my life, I carried this weight of feeling watched and judged, even while doing exactly what I loved. I assumed everyone around me, classmates, coworkers, followers, strangers, was tracking my every move.

But the truth is freeing once you actually sit with it. Nobody who is happy with their own life has the time to sit and critique yours. Everyone is far too busy chasing their own dreams, working through their own anxieties, living their own story, to make you the main character of theirs. That means I get to fail. Over and over, in public, in private, in ways big and small, and it costs me nothing but the fear I put on it myself.

That realization is what gave me the courage to start over completely, more than once. To pursue public speaking, to start writing, to apply for opportunities I felt underqualified for, to keep raising my hand even when I had no idea if I would catch it. Failing forward stopped feeling like a risk and started feeling like the whole point. Nobody is keeping score the way I once feared they were, so the only person I actually have to answer to is the version of me who was too scared to try.

That is the advice I carry with me now. Nobody is watching closely enough to stop you, so you might as well go all the way.

Put the pedal to the metal, work extremely hard, and ask hard questions. Be observant of what is important to your manager and your team. Make up for your junior status with organization, communication, promptness, and responsibility.

Lean into your agency over your position, add to the culture, and make others' lives easier. Remember, you don't know what you don't know, so ask questions and give yourself grace to learn during training.

Advertising is a field where women are genuinely represented and appreciated, and that has shaped how I see opportunity in this industry. It feels female dominated with a good mix of perspectives, even though leadership in some workplaces can still skew more male. I believe representation at every level matters, not just in the room but at the top of it, and I am lucky that my team and company reflect a pretty equitable balance. It gives me hope that the industry is moving in the right direction, and it motivates me to be part of that shift as I grow in my own career.

I believe in curiosity, accountability, authenticity, integrity,, mentorship, and humility. There are no dumb questions, only lazy ones, so I make it a point to ask insightful questions rather than staying quiet out of fear of looking unsure. (Shoutout my WPP leadership team for teaching me this!)

I lean on mentorship because I know I don't have to have all the answers, and having the humility to seek out mentors has taught me more than trying to figure everything out alone ever could. I am fine being wrong or not knowing something, because that is how I actually learn. I would rather digest new information through real experience and ask the questions that get me there than pretend I already know it all.