Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This podcast is brought to you by MHA of Dutchess county and produced by CMJW Entertainment.
This episode of the Vital Women of Washington Heights is proudly sponsored by Levia Med Spa.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: You're listening to the Vital Women of Washington Heights.
[00:00:19] Speaker C: Hi, Carmen. Thank you so much for joining us.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Of course.
[00:00:23] Speaker C: So grateful to take this, you know, to get this opportunity to. To talk to you about, you know, everything. Yeah, exactly.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Welcome.
[00:00:30] Speaker D: We're happy to have you on the show on this snowy, wintry day.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: I'm out in Rhode island, so. Oh, I'm in the Rhode Island Service Center.
[00:00:40] Speaker C: Wow, Girl, you always traveling.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Yeah. All over the place.
[00:00:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:00:45] Speaker D: Is it snowing there?
[00:00:46] Speaker B: It was snowing this morning. I don't know because I don't have a window in this office, so I have no idea what it looks like outside right now.
[00:00:53] Speaker C: Yeah, probably is snowing. So first of all, let's, let's, let's talk about us. I'm Iris Douglas and this is Yvette o'. Sullivan. We are ini. We are the Vital women of Washington Heights living in Dutchess County. And today we proudly present Ms. Carmen Gozado, who I personally know because I worked at Raymore and Flanagan. She is the VP of people and engagement and hr. And I'm really happy to have you here because I had the best experience at Raymore. So we want to talk. We want to experience. We want to talk about empowerment. We want to talk about how did you get there?
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:01:30] Speaker C: Thank you for being here. Appreciate it. Of course. Yeah.
[00:01:32] Speaker D: Well, yes, today's show is about women empowerment. And I always like to do because it's part of the Dominican culture. So I like to tie in our Dominican culture into every show that we do in today's Botinche. We're going to be talking about Alva Vasquez who is a 27 year old Dominican astronaut. And I am very proud to say that she comes from my mother's hometown, Camborio Santiago, which is a huge honor for the people from my mother's hometown to have this young scientist.
But in thinking, thinking about what she has accomplished, it also made me think about what women have accomplished today. Women as yourself, as vice president of the company, one of the vice presidents. And looking back, I was like, you know, in the 1950s, there were like 33.9% of women in the workforce. I do not know what the numbers are today, but it's definitely not the 1950s. And back then, who knew that a Latina woman would be vice president of a company? And like today I'm sure there's many vice president females in the workforce industry, so what an honor for you to have earned such a title to accomplish as a female Latina.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you. I. It is.
It's one of those things that you work towards, right. Your entire life. You want to be able to, you know, grow with an organization, but you also need the opportunities. So I think, you know, I've been given that opportunity here, so I appreciate that.
[00:03:14] Speaker C: And I like to share that. When I first met you, when I was in the showroom and I saw you walk in with. With the Goldbergs, I was impressed.
I was super impressed. I was like, wait, Latina? And, you know, we just kind of linked in and clicked in, and I was just so proud of you. So when Yvette, you know, wanted to talk about women empowerment and wanted to kind of share, said, I know the girl, I know the lady, because I was very impressed. And you run a very big ship, girl.
Very big show.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: Yes. I just support a lot of people. Yes.
[00:03:44] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely. There's a lot of showrooms.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:47] Speaker C: A lot of show.
[00:03:49] Speaker D: So, Carmen, reflecting on your career, what's the most significant?
[00:03:53] Speaker D: No, let's say that you heard throughout your career that gave you the resiliency to want to continue to push through and to reach the level that you have reached as VP today.
[00:04:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I thought this was an interesting question.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: I've had a lot of people in my life that has. Have given me some advice, right. And opportunities to grow.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: But looking back, to be honest with you, looking back, you know, if I had to think about my younger self, right, when I was, you know, starting out and especially in. In. In one of my more significant jobs, which was MasterCard, you know, you know, I would. I would say to myself, well, what am I going to do next? Right. And I had to think about my career development because at the end of the day, that's what. That's what matters, right? You have to manage your own career. You have to learn who you are, what you want to do. And when you know those things and, you know, you think back at how to start it, right?
You start feeling a little bit better about how much knowledge you need here or how much knowledge do you need there? And so, in thinking back and reflecting on my journey.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: My career, you know, the question is, you know, what was the most significant? No. Right.
[00:05:16] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: You know, it's funny because I can't remember not getting a job. Does that make sense? So I haven't been told.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: No specifically, but I will Give you an example.
When I was working at MasterCard, I worked for MasterCard for 12 years, right? But my job there started off as an administrative assistant. I went into an admin role for.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: International associates, right? Employees, and learned a ton on that side. But then I wanted to do something different. I went into a learning and development job. I was a manager in learning and development. So I developed a ton of different training programs for the associates and worked in that capacity for a long time. And then there was an opportunity.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: The company was going through a reorganization at the time, and my job was not in jeopardy, right? So I was still going to be the learning and development manager for as long as I wanted the job.
I did not want to stay in that role because I enjoy moving around. I enjoy growing and learning different things, which is one of the reasons why I love the HR role. Being an HR professional allows you to dip your toe into every single part of the business, right? So I went to my. My manager and I said, I would like to be what they call an HR generalist, meaning that you know a little bit about everything in hr, not just learning and development, not just benefits, not just, you know, whatever, anything else, anything specific. And I thought the opportunity to learn about just general hr. I wanted that opportunity from them because they were going through a reorganization. I thought this was a great opportunity to market myself in that role.
[00:07:11] Speaker C: Charman.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: I lost you there. I'm, like, talking, and I don't even know where I left off, by the way.
[00:07:19] Speaker C: When you were working in MasterCard and you found an opportunity because the organization was revamping itself and you found you wanted to go into hr.
[00:07:27] Speaker B: So I connected with the senior vice president of the HR generalist of the HR professionals, and I said, I would like an opportunity to move into that role. Can you give me that opportunity?
And she says, well, Carmen, you don't have a lot of experience.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: And unfortunately, I don't really have a role. I need somebody that had the experience.
So I said, okay, well, thank you for taking the time to talk to me. That was the first time somebody's ever really told me no. Believe it or not, you know, that wasn't ready.
And I went back to my leader and I said, I want you to lay me off. I want you to give me a severance package because I need to do something different.
And at the same time, I just bought my house, and my family thought I was crazy to say, you have no job. How could you buy a house? And I said, no, I'm going to be good don't worry. And essentially I said, I'm going to start marketing myself as an HR profession, as an HR generalist. And I got a severance package from MasterCard, and I was able to work towards that. I got a certificate for HR generalist. I did all these different things before I started looking for another job.
And I got an interview right away.
I think it was like two miles away from my house at the time. And the person was excited, hired me, even though I didn't have the HR background. But I told him I did.
I told him I knew exactly what I was doing.
Just give me the opportunity and I'll show you. And sure enough, that's where my HR generalist experience started. And I started dipping my toe in all these different things. I did learning and development. So I already knew that. I developed courses on discipline. I already knew that, you know, I managed a mentoring program for.
I should say an internship program for the internship for all the interns at MasterCard. So I already knew the employee relation size. So all of those little things I already knew. And I said, you know what? I know that I could do this. And I got the job with the pharmaceutical company and, you know, was promoted there as manager of learn of a manager in HR and just progressed from there. So that was significant for me when I was told, I can't teach you, I can't develop you. You know, I need somebody that has more experience. So to me, I heard a no, I can't do that.
And I just said, no, that's not. I'm not going to accept that, because I truly believe that if you want something, you can go out and get it. And that.
That was my.
[00:10:09] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:10:10] Speaker D: You advocated for yourself and I did. You knew you were ready for more, so you created that opportunity instead of waiting for somebody to create it for you.
[00:10:19] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:10:20] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: It was very significant in my life when I made that decision.
[00:10:25] Speaker C: Well, it's like Yvette said, you. You created that opportunity because you knew what your skills were, you knew what you could do, you know, and you just, you know, you leveled it up. You went and you took your courses and you figured it out and you took the time off to do it, you know, and that's what a lot of women need to do. But, you know, sometimes we get in our heads and we don't move on when we, when we hear that, no, sometimes we. We get. No, we, we. We regress, you know, step back, you step back. But sometime you can't do that. You have to say no, I can do this.
[00:10:55] Speaker B: Listen, men don't do that.
Men go into a job and they say they may not know 110% of that job, but they say they do and they get the job.
Women have a tendency of saying, well I don't know, I maybe this percent I don't know. And this part, I don't know, maybe I'm not good for that job. And rather than thinking that way, think in terms, okay, maybe I don't know that right now. How can I do that? And today is so much easier, right? Today you can go on the Internet, you can go on ChatGPT. Tell me about this, tell me about that. Whatever AI tool is out there, you can do it. And so I do truly believe that we have so many advantages today as a woman than we did when I started almost 30 years ago. Right in H R. Totally agree.
[00:11:42] Speaker C: So when I worked with Raymore and Flanagan, I was a lead and there was someone that I was, they were shadowing me. And she said that exact word, she said, I can't do this. This is not for me. How am I going to sell this? And I said focus on mattresses, focus on mattresses. And she did very well. And you're right, women, sometimes we tend to be shy, oh no, I can't do that. Or afraid. We have fear. But we, I think we have now take the reins and I think we're, we're better, we're in more in control of what we want to do professionally.
[00:12:14] Speaker D: Yes, absolutely.
I believe more and more women know how to self direct them, you know, in their career and the risk that they want to take.
[00:12:25] Speaker D: Tell us a little bit about like throughout your career, how have you managed when you're dealing with profit and loss, when, when you are in, in sales or when you know, how does that affect a person's mindset or mental health state when you are affected and you're not seeing those profits but you're seeing more losses.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: So from a professional end, right. As an HR professional, I mean I work with obviously a lot of salespeople, right. And I work with a lot of driving teams that are commission based, which are considered not sales, but they're commission based associates. Right. They make money on delivering their products.
And then I have the sales team, you know, I, I think it's important.
The mindset has to be, I can, we can still succeed. You know, one of the things that I admire about the company that I work for is that they're very smart people. They know when to.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: Switch to something different. If something is not working. You know, as an entrepreneur that's. You have to try something, and then if it doesn't work, let's move on to something else, you know, and when you think about, you know, profit and losses and things like that, I don't get bogged down with that. And to be honest, I don't get bogged down with that. I get bond down more with the behaviors, with the culture that you want to create with people, the opportunities you want to do, you know, talk to people and have this mindset where we're gonna get it done it, you know, and one of the things about us, especially here, is we raise the bar on ourselves. It's kind of like, you know, you. You're constantly raising the bar. And so if we can't do that, then we're not going to be successful in anything that we do. Right.
[00:14:19] Speaker C: Can I share about raising the bar? Because it's. It's walk the walk, talk the talk, raise the bar. You know, be one team. You know, you. It's always like, treat the employees like you would treat the customers, you know, and that's. That's what was. So.
How can I say? I was never in sales, girl. I was never in sales. And my first leader was a woman, female, hired me, and she just kind of told me. She said, listen, this is your business.
You have to advocate for yourself. You have to figure it out and come to me when you need something. And that's one of the things, leadership. You are. You're. You develop these leaders. You know, you work with these leaders, and these leaders come to us and they kind of sit us down and say, maybe you should work on this and work on that. That's a big thing. And going back to Yvette's question about how do you deal with profits and losses?
It's very hard when you have to meet that week and you don't, you know, you can't make that money. And it's mentally stressful because you, you know, you don't want to get called in the office and, hey, what's going on? Which actually, they do it very gracefully when you're like, you know, when your numbers are not good. But I definitely appreciate the fact that they are very compassionate to a person when they're not doing well, because that's important. How can you. How can I help you? That's what I always heard from my leader. How can I help you? Your numbers are not looking great. So I kind of appreciated that from the company, so.
[00:15:41] Speaker D: Well, I like what Carmen said. That you have to leave room to pivot and know when you're going to. To pivot and come up with a strategy. And I think with everything in life that we do, we need to use that particular strategy and not stay stuck.
Yeah.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: And listen, as, you know, as a woman, as just a general, A person that runs a household, for example, right, you're going to have some loss and you're going to have some gains, and you have to determine. You're going to sit down and do your budget, right? You're going to sit down and decide, okay, these are the things we're going to spend money on. These are the things we're not spending money on. You know, I'm going through the process of retirement, right? So my goal is to retire in a couple of years. And, you know, my, my accountant says, I need you to keep a spreadsheet of all of your expenses.
So when we sit down and we have a conversation about what is it that you actually need and what do you want, then we have those number, Right? So my, you know, I, I think about that even from a business perspective is, you know, do I really need this piece of paper as opposed do I need this stapler? Right. Like, what do I really need? I need the paper because I need to write on that paper. I need to make sure that I can articulate what I'm saying on that paper. The stapler I don't need. I, I can fold my papers together. It's not a big deal. Right? So you got to think about all of that.
When you are generally in business, generally running a household, any part of your life, you have to think that way.
[00:17:17] Speaker D: Absolutely.
Carmen, during your career, can you name a mentor that you admire, whether it was a female or, or a man?
Who did you rely on to provide you with guidance?
[00:17:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, that's a good question. And I thought about that when you sent me the questions. I thought about it and I thought, I, I have had many mentors in my career. I didn't just have one person that guided me. I was very lucky because I had the opportunity to work with really great people. And I will say that most of the people that I worked with, most of people that I see as a mentor to me were women, you know, women of color, just, just different types of women. Right. It was, it was an opportunity for me to work with. You know, I had an SVP that took me under her wing and, and taught me how to write, training. And then I had a VP that did the same thing. She sent Me away to.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: You know, a course where you learn how to write, training. Like, they invested the time to talk to me, to show me the ropes, you know, and I appreciate that. That was something that I can't even, you know.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: I. I can't. When I think back at it, it's been multiple people in my life, you know, and again, I would say if there was one man, it was probably just one, really. And I can't even think about. To be honest, I can't even think about whether or not it's the gentleman that gave me the opportunity, right, to be an HR generalist. I don'.
I think that I drove myself in that role, and I made sure that I, you know, did everything I had to do to get there.
But prior to that, it was women, and it was multiple women. It was different types of women as well. So it's funny, because I didn't be. When I started at MasterCard, I didn't have my degree.
And I thought, you know, I really want to get my degree. I mean, that's a goal, right? You always want to, you know, get yourself in a different level, right? In your. Whether it's a job, whether it's just your own mindset, right?
[00:19:36] Speaker D: And I.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: And I wanted to get it, but I never did. I was a young mother, very busy, you know, working, taking care of my household, my family. So it was really hard. And I had a friend that said to me, come with me to the college. I'm going to sign up from some courses, you know, continue my education. You should come with me. And I'm like, I'll go with you. And so she. When we get there, she goes, do you want to sign up for a class? I'm like, no, I don't want to sign up for a class. I don't have time.
[00:20:03] Speaker C: And she's.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: And I sat with her in the hallway. I could. I can close my eyes and see this. And I sat in the hallway with her near some lockers in the school, and she's going through her coursework, you know, her classes that she's selecting. And then she did not take no for an answer from me. She says, I think you should sign up for the psychology class. And I'm like, I don't know. I don't have time. Carmen, you have time. Sign up. That was my first class. And I said, okay, I'll do it. And that's when my. My journey on educ education started. And I'll tell you, there were times where I didn't have a sitter at night, I took. I brought my daughter to the class, and she would sit in the back and she would do her homework while I was in the front line in the front row, you know, listening to what the teacher's telling me to do because I was at that point, once I commit to something, I'm going to finish it.
And that I had to do that. And I sure enough did. I, you know, I was very lucky. I transferred from a community college to, you know, Mary Mountain College, and then from there I graduated from Fordham University. So, you know, I said, I. I'm just. I'm not going to say yes, I'm going to do something and then not follow through. And that's been. That's a big deal for me. I taught my daughter that way. You know, she went to college and she didn't like her roommate. She wanted to come home. And I said, we made a commitment for six months, and you're not coming back until we're done. And sure enough, she stayed for the entire four years in the school because she, you know, as like me, I showed her to be driven. And, you know, I wasn't going to give up.
[00:21:42] Speaker C: And that's how you strive, right?
You strive like that when you commit yourself. But it's interesting you said how a friend of yours was the one that took you, because Yvette and I are always looking at, what can we do? What can we do, you know, to upgrade, to do? So you saying that it's inspiring, you know, firing to hear that a friend, a female, a sister, helped you elevate yourself to be seriously where you're at because she motivated you could do it. You could do it. How important?
[00:22:10] Speaker B: He did not take no for an answer. And that was. And I KE saying, no, no, no, I can't, I can't, I can't. And I don't have time. Right, because you have to have time. And she did not take. She's. And. And, you know, she pretends she's taking no, but then when I sit down and she's no, you can do this one. You can do this one.
And I appreciate that. I remember that, like I said, I can close my eyes and see myself sitting down on the hallway floor and just talking to her and. And her telling me to do it. And I went home, I said to my husband, I said, what do you think? And he goes, if this is what you want to do, let's do it. And I kept it that way. That's what I did.
[00:22:46] Speaker D: To me, the beauty of being A woman is wearing many hats and knowing how to balance things, and even if we come across barriers is knowing how to overcome those barriers. And also, I, I like how you said, you know, accountability, accountability is very important, that when you decide to do something, you need to follow it through. Because sometimes I feel, you know, people don't take that seriously when they decide to make a commitment. And if it doesn't work well, then they give up very easily. So I love that drive, you know, as a Latina woman, how, you know, accountability, how you have that drive and you also install those values in your daughter, which is huge.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: When I graduate, I graduated high school in the Bronx. I lived in the Bronx. I graduated high school.
The high school was not a great high school. I was not a great student, which is another reason why I thought, I don't want to do this. I don't want to have to put myself through this. And honestly, I wasn't a good student. I graduated high school and I put on my shoes, a skirt, a oversized blazer, and I walked the streets to get a job. And I wanted a job. I wanted to be a bank teller so badly. So badly.
And I was filling out applications and, you know, just basically walking the pavement to find the job that I wanted. And I didn't get an opportunity to work in a bank. I think if I had, I probably would have still been in the bank all this time because that's, you know, that was like, I was like, no, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this. And I didn't have an opportunity to do that. Instead, I found a job in a children's store and that's where I stayed and, you know, moved on from there. But it was after graduation, I knew that I had to, I had to get, I had to do this. And it was an opportunity that it doesn't matter what it is, it doesn't matter what you want to do right there and then just try to do something.
And that's really what I say.
[00:24:51] Speaker D: So what would you say to your 18 year old self now with all the experience and all the accomplishments that you have gone through?
[00:25:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I would say exactly what I just said is, don't stop.
You know, I, you know, again, I was very fortunate because I had people in my life in different jobs where they said, you know, you can do this. I worked at the Food Emporium, okay, for many years. I think it was like 10 years, maybe more, I don't know. But it was part time. And then it was Full time. And when I went into the food emporium, I worked in one store, I worked in another store. You know, I was a cashier and I, I never stayed as a cashier because that's not what I just wanted. I just didn't want to be a cashier. I wanted to have multiple jobs. And I said to my, my store, my store manager, I said I, I could do something else. What do you give me something else to do? So he would constantly give me, you know, the front end or managing the front end or you know, stocking or whatever it is, right? And I consistently said I need to do something different. And he gave me the front end manager job one day and said, I'm going to promote you to this job. And then all of a sudden I got promoted to being a bookkeeper. All right? I don't know math to save my life, but I was a bookkeeper and I said okay. And I did that for many, many years as well. So, you know, you, you have to, if I had to say anything to my 18 year old self, I would say to.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: Do better in school, honestly, to really work hard because I had to work extra hard because I didn't do that.
Right. And if I could tell my teenage self something is focus on the education, focus on, you know, driving that as opposed to worrying about, you know, making money, getting a job, you know, and look, the way I grew up, I needed to make money. I didn't have, I wasn't privileged, I didn't have any of that. I, you know, my mother moved around a lot and I was, you know, from a single parent home, you know, so you, that resilience has to be there and you have to make sure that you could follow that up with action all the time. And I think for me, I probably would say to temper myself because I could get a little agitated very quickly now I'm older, right? So now I can, you know, now I can see myself and say, okay, Carmen, calm down. But when I was young, I was a little hot. I was a hot top. I mean, I, you know, and so I would probably tell myself to just calm down.
It is hard when you know that you have to survive differently. And you know, calming down is not.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: Part of what you can do. You can't stop, you know, part of.
[00:27:50] Speaker C: Our culture too, Carmen, you know, Latinas, we have that to stop that, the energy. All right, you know, so it's the truth. And I was hot headed too, you know, and I was like working from clinic and doing this and doing that. So anyvette was. We're always talking about everything that she's done as well. I mean, it's. It's amazing. So it's. It's. It's in our society system. It's in our system.
[00:28:15] Speaker C: How you are. Like I said earlier when you walked in with all these guys, because it was just you and all these men.
How do you. How do you. Do you feel comfortable expressing yourself? I mean, just. Just trying to get the logistics. How do you feel when you're around the Goldberg, not the people that you work for? You know, how do you feel? Because they're all men.
[00:28:38] Speaker B: Yes. And, you know, this is the thing. You know, there is a perception that maybe my me, I can walk in and be confident in myself and so on, Right. I think that's important. You have to be confident in yourself. But this is the thing.
[00:28:54] Speaker B: That doesn't always happen, right? And your ability to manifest that is you have to do that. You have to manifest that confidence.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: And I'll be very honest, you know, when I have to speak to one of the Goldbergs or VP that and I'm not comfortable with the subject matter, it. It's not easy. You know, you do the best you can. I'm not the most. I. I always say I'm not the most articulate person. I don't have these, you know, I don't speak with this big vocabulary, if you will, you know, so sometimes you do feel a little less than. Because you don't have that ability to.
Higher than you are. Right. But I'm also a very humble person, and I know that about myself.
Right. I know that that's important.
[00:29:47] Speaker B: To recognize in myself. And so therefore, when you do that, you're able to, you know, speak to people no matter what role they're in.
You know, and there are times where I get nervous and somebody, you know, a leader, an owner, comes and talks to you. You're like, oh, hey, how are you? You know, and then you don't know what to say, Right?
And that's. That happens. And it's. You know, sometimes you can kick yourself when that conversation is over and say, ah, I should have said X, Y and Z as opposed to this. And, you know, but you figure it out and you have to. You know, there are times I've had a lot of new partners in my career, right? Meaning, you know, business partners. And, you know, you have to figure out how do you develop the relationship with them and then feel comfortable having conversations with them using whatever topic that we're going to talk about. Right.
I may not be the most business savvy person, but I can tell if somebody doesn't care for me. Right. I can tell that if you don't, if you don't like me, I could see that.
[00:30:52] Speaker D: Right, right.
[00:30:53] Speaker B: And so walking with all of these, you know, men, I mean, they're very respectful, they know who you are. They, you know, you try your best to articulate what you want from them and, you know, you move forward. It. I don't, I don't make a big deal out of that because.
[00:31:16] Speaker B: Maybe because of who I am, because I'm just not that person. I don't make a big deal. I mean, I walk into a room and I say, hi, hey, how you doing? You know, and that's it, you know, if you want to talk to me, you talk to me.
[00:31:27] Speaker D: But I believe that's the key, being humble, that humility, whether you know or the subject matter or you don't know the subject matter, is what's going to carry you through because your light is going to shine no matter what. And you're showing people, you know, who you are in your heart. So to me, that means a lot.
It's not so much, you know, the degrees or what people have accomplished. It's how you carry yourself.
[00:31:53] Speaker C: Your authenticity. Your authenticity, basically. And that's one of the things that I was, you know, when we had these meetings at the university, it's. Your authenticity is what matters. You have to be honest. You have to be authentic. You know, you, you, you have to be because that people, it's gonna show.
[00:32:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:11] Speaker C: You know, when you greet, when you have an opportunity coming through the door and you say, hi, welcome to Raymore, you have to be authentic. They're gonna feel that energy.
[00:32:19] Speaker B: You know, listen, I'm very lucky to work for people that care about me. You know, my leader cares about me and she is constantly asking, how am I doing? You know, when you have that, that it's good because you're able to excel, you're able to give more. I can give you as much as I can, you know, as much as you want, as long as you treat me well. And that's important. And as a woman, we don't see that, you know, in ourselves. We just see each other. You know, we're like, oh, well, we're a woman. We have to do everything, you know, when really they have to do it for you too. And you gotta, you know, that's the only way to be successful in business. You have to create alliances. You have to create partnerships that are, are good for you and for that person. Because if you can't do that, forget it. It's, you're not going to be successful. You know, you can't, you do not work alone. This is what I always say. So you don't work alone. You know, I have a team of people that it thank God that they're with me because they are so great. And, and I'm very fortunate to have people like that and create a culture that they know they can come to me if they need something.
[00:33:26] Speaker C: You also created a talent show, which we didn't have for a while. The talent thing going on, that was amazing. That's something that you and Michael kind of, like, how can I say, incorporated into, like the Christmas thing, into the awards ceremony. Talk about how you find that talent and you kind of help people with that talent.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: I am very fortunate because, again, you know, I've had the opportunity to find good people, to be surrounded by, right? Because look, I have two very big markets. I have, I, I, you know, I have a lot of people that I support. I cannot manage two markets by myself. I could pretend I can, but I really can't, right? And so finding the right people for the role is, it isn't, is critical. And then you have to trust that those people are going to do the right thing. And if you don't have that trust, if you don't have that opportunity to build the trust and build their, you know, confidence in that can do the job, then, you know, I, I'm not really sure what else you can, you can't do everything alone, you know, so I, I, I do, I delegate more today than I did a year ago or two years ago. You know, there was a time where I kept everything to myself and I did it myself. But I've had to learn as my markets grow that I can't and I have to write. I have to hire the right people and put them in the right places. And I've had that opportunity to do that, you know, and finding that is not easy. And you go through a lot of different people before you connect with somebody and say, I think this is the right person for my team. Right? And so I've had that opportunity to build a good team and find, you know, people that, that have the talent. I mean, we do that right now with recruiting, looking for salespeople, looking for operations people. You have to write. You, you know, you want to find the right people for this environment, right? We could be great at so many things, but at the end of the day, if they're not great to join, they're not able to join us because they just don't have the ambitious, the ambitiousness to do it or, you know, the opportunity in their mind. You have to have that mindset to want to do this.
[00:35:38] Speaker D: That being said, Carmen, we're coming to the conclusion of our show.
What is one thing that you want to leave our list listeners with as VP in, in this industry that you have learned and perhaps you want to share with our listeners?
[00:35:56] Speaker B: Listen, that's a good question. I think that for me.
[00:36:01] Speaker B: My.
What I would like to relay is that you never, you should never stop, you know, never stop developing yourself.
Never accept the word no, you know, you can do this.
And you know, I have had, again, I've had really great people in my life, which is the other thing I would say is find people that will advocate for you, that will support you, that support your, your vision of who you want to be. And I think that that's really important is as you continue your career and as you continue through, you know, having these, you know, talks about where you want to be, where you want to go, find the right people to support you. Right. Build those relationships and con and just keep going. Don't stop.
Because stopping will.
If you have to stop, I don't know that you're going to get back on that horse. It takes a long time.
[00:37:01] Speaker C: That's a good one because then you have to reset. You have to reset yourself again.
[00:37:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Your mind has to keep going.
And if you can't do that, then you're stepping back. Right. You're, you're, you're, you're, you're stepping backwards, not forward. And yes, you're going to have a lot of failures. So, yeah, there's going to be times, I mean, there are times where I can present a project and it doesn't go anywhere. Right. And that's okay. I always go back to it and I always say, okay, let, let's try this again. Now, there's different leaders. Let's look at this differently, you know, so that's why I don't, I do not believe in stopping. I believe that you have to keep going.
[00:37:38] Speaker C: Don't give up, don't give up.
[00:37:39] Speaker B: And you have, and you have to have people around you, surround yourself with people that feel that same way.
[00:37:47] Speaker C: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Carmen. We really appreciate, we appreciate your energy. We appreciate you, what you have to say. You know, we want to, we want women to be empowered. You know, that's our mission. We want women to understand Latinas. We got this.
[00:38:05] Speaker B: Well, I mean, listen, I hope that you. I hope I answered your questions, you know, the you, you know, expected. And I think that, you know, I think this is a great thing to give an opportunity to.
To speak their mind, to figure out what they want to do and, and to know that there are people out there that can support them, can be with them. Right. And, and, and try and do the best, you know, for them.
And I think that just work for everybody.
[00:38:34] Speaker D: Thank you so much, Carmen, for.
[00:38:36] Speaker B: Yeah, of course.
[00:38:37] Speaker D: Taking out the time to be here with us today.
[00:38:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:38:41] Speaker B: Thank you so much.
[00:38:42] Speaker C: All the best, girl. All the best.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: All right. Okay, I'll see you guys soon.
[00:38:45] Speaker C: Thank you. Appreciate it.
[00:38:46] Speaker D: Okay, bye.
[00:38:48] Speaker A: This podcast is brought to you by MHA of Dutchess county and produced by CMJW Entertainment. Thank you once again to this episode's sponsor, Levia Med Spa.
