Colleen Beers Shares Career Advice and Passion for Diversity

Reshared from Colleen Beers’ LinkedIn

It’s Women’s History Month y’all!

As a mother of six, wife of one and woman among millions, if I can give any advice to all the ladies out there, it is to lead by example. I’m so grateful to work at a company like Alorica where I’m personally encouraged to be bold, and my teams run with it when I challenge them to do the same. Because after 30 years in the biz, I can say with certainty that YOU are your best advocate, and you have the power to make things happen for yourself.

When I first started out as a call center agent in my 20’s, I didn’t know it would take me to where I am today—the President of North America and Europe Operations for one of the largest digital CX providers in the world. But I saw others shatter the status quo before me (and certainly after me!) by first delivering on their promise and then going for those new, kinda scary and bigger opportunities. I decided to follow that example and lead in the same way. So, don’t wait for someone to come tap you. Never say “no” to a chance to learn more skills. Make mistakes, learn from them, and move on. As I often say, “get over it.” You never know where the next opportunity lies when you do these things. Most importantly, don’t follow a career path; build the one that’s meant for you.

This month is about honoring the women in our lives and committing to #BreakTheBias—the theme celebrated around the world for International Women’s Day. Furthering diversity and inclusion is, and should be, a top priority for us all. Besides being the right thing to do, it enhances our business, company culture, and especially our people. At Alorica, we even have the numbers to prove it—our female population has grown since last year with now 62% of our global workforce made up of women. Not only that, but as the largest certified and award-winning minority-owned BPO, we have also increased the number of minorities within our U.S. workforce to 71%. Why are these facts important? Because strong representation of groups, such as women and minorities, matter to our employees, our clients and our customers—even more so now as we look toward the future of work. And it matters to me that as a company, we are making progress. There’s much work to be done, but we are taking meaningful steps in the right direction.

As we continue Women’s History Month, I’d like to take a moment to celebrate some qualities that make women special: how much we care as well as our passion, sensitivity and resilience when dealing with change. These qualities, which have sometimes been misconstrued in the workplace as weakness, actually demonstrate our strength. We aren’t afraid to show these skills with conviction, strong execution and thoughtful leadership, and sometimes wearing bright-red heels. WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE…watch me!

Read the original post at: https://bit.ly/3IsgqKP