Career Confessions with Andrea Martin

In today's episode, we have a guest interview with Andrea Martin, she is the Career & Leadership Coach

 As a first-gen Peruvian American, a mother of two, wife, people leader, and coach, she understands the dynamic of what it takes to wear many hats while still moving towards your goals. 

As the founder of Andrea Martin Consulting,  Andrea has extensive experience navigating the corporate world on her own terms. She has coached 100+ women on enhancing productivity, career development, and decision-making skills to create a more balanced lifestyle.   

As a coach, Andrea understands that it is not always easy juggling the list of daily responsibilities effectively. This is why you must have a structured and practical plan in place to avoid becoming overwhelmed and over-stressed. 

Andrea also has a podcast, called Career Confessions that she launched this year. 

EPISODE LINKS

• Connect with Andrea Martin on Instagram
• Is your career mindset holding you back? Take the Career Mindset Quiz, Today!
• Click Here to learn more about my career coaching services. 

Thank you for listening, please Subscribe and leave a Review, and Follow me via IG @ManifestYourCareer

Visit my site for more information: https://manifestyourcareer.com/ 

Transcript

Norma Reyes: 0:07

Welcome to the manifest your career podcast. I'm your host Dr. Norma Reyes, a Latina career and life coach. With this podcast I help successful women learn how to combine their intuition and logic so that they can manifest their dream career. By listening to my podcast, you'll learn how to go from feeling stuck and lost on what to do next to having the clarity, motivation and strategies to manifest the career of your dreams. Each episode, I'll teach you the skills, strategies and mindset you need to get in alignment with your career goals. Now, let's go ahead and get started. Hey, guys, welcome back. This is episode 37. And today's guest is Andrea Martin. She is a career and executive leadership coach. As a first gen Peruvian American, a mother of two wife, people leader and coach, she understands the dynamics of what it takes to wear many hats while still moving towards your goals. As the founder of Andrea Martin consulting, Andrea has extensive experience navigating the corporate world on her terms. She has coached over 100 Women on enhancing productivity, career development and decision making skills to create a more balanced lifestyle. She understands that it's not always easy juggling a list of daily responsibilities effectively. And this is why she suggests that you have a structured and practical plan to avoid becoming overwhelmed and overstress. Andrea also launched a podcast earlier this year called Career confessions. So make sure to go check that out. Now let's go ahead and get started with this interview. Okay, well thank you for being with us. So tell us about your family background. Where did you grow up? And who did you live with?

Unknown: 2:25

Absolutely. So I was born and raised in South America. I was born in Lima, Peru, and I lived there till I was about 13. With my, my dad, my mom and my younger sister, we are about five years apart. And we've always joked that we are twins separated by yours. Even though we're very different. We're very alike. At the same time. We moved to the United States right around that time when I was 13, to Houston, Texas. And it was the four of us moving because of my mom's job. So I've definitely, I've moved to many places after that. But my whole childhood has been a very close family unit, a lot of big family get togethers. And that's something that I know for my family I want to have, because you know, it's just my husband and my two kids. But I want to have a lot of family gatherings as well. That's important to me.

Norma Reyes: 3:15

Yeah, definitely. So when you were young, and people asked you, what did you want to do when you grew up? What do you recall telling them?

Unknown: 3:24

Yeah, so I was a huge fan of The Magic School Bus show growing up. And I was obsessed with it. And I, since I was very little I told my mom, I wanted to be an aerospace engineer. And mainly because I wanted to be the first woman in Pluto. Definitely a very sad when it was no longer a planet. But I remember watching that show and just thinking about, well what career can or a job would get me to do something like that. And I think my parents were always a little thrown off. Because the majority of the universities, especially in South America, the main engineering that you find is industrial and let alone for a nine year old to know that like that's not really something that they were thinking about or not knowing in our close family circuit was an engineer. But I just it wasn't so much that was into engineering. It was more of what what could get me to do those things. And that's how I found out about engineering. But it all started with Magic School busters really after watching that growing up.

Norma Reyes: 4:26

Yes, I love the Magic School Bus. I'm probably I thought I was the only person that loved it because no one else likes to watch it. I can hear just hear the little song in my head now. So you didn't see that before that and that's the closest thing but were there any early career role models that you had that you envisioned yourself being like?

Unknown: 4:48

Definitely my mom, you know, I saw her working in corporate jobs definitely growing up and what I what I saw in her was a lot of humble yet hungry behavior. You're aware, she was very impressive, but I always knew my mom was important. That's kind of how I would phrase it is I didn't know what my mom did. But I knew she was important. And I knew that when she took me to her job, people were excited to talk to my mom. And I noticed those interactions doesn't mean the first time I realized that I wanted to be in some sort of role that she had or be as, as, quote unquote, important as she was, because I knew that she walked around, everyone would tell me Oh, you're you know, you're her daughter. Oh, wow. Yeah, let's, you know, come in here. Let's do this. And I just felt like, I was like, There's something here. And I didn't even know what it was. It was influence that she had, but I didn't know exactly. I just knew that I wanted to embody her behavior.

Norma Reyes: 5:42

Yeah, yeah. Even as you said it, I was like, oh, you know, people were drawn to her. That's nice. So can you tell us about your educational background? Did you attend college immediately after high school?

Unknown: 5:57

I did. I really didn't have a whole lot of mentorship when it came to college applications. And I was, I started high school, really with English as a second language. And I think a lot of people underestimated what I could do, therefore didn't get the information that I needed to have in order to have the tools to be successful. And I remember my mom and I just sat down and we were like googling what is an sh t, I hear I hear that something is being scheduled. And what I did is I kind of just grabbed some people. And I said, Mom, so and so and so. So look like they really know what they're doing. When it comes to this. We should just do what they do. In we just started like following the honor to honor kids and be like, okay, hey, what are you taking the LSAT? Okay, so I know that you're going to college right after this. Okay, and what are you studying? And how are you picking your colleges. And I just knew that I saw the people that I respected, and I kind of wanted to be like in high school, and they were going to school right after. So I decided to do the same thing. And, you know, education is very important for my family, especially when I look at what my parents did to get us to here and give us the resources that they had. So it was almost like you have this opportunity, take it right away. And I ended up finding that I wanted to do chemical engineering, which is why I ended up going to school for and I wanted my independence. So we were in Houston. And I ended up going to Lubbock, Texas, which is in the opposite corner of the state of Texas, which is a country the way we asked my mom. But I was like I'm still in state tuition. But I'm gonna be over here. And I ended up going to Texas Tech for chemical engineering,

Norma Reyes: 7:34

Texas Tech. See, I also wanted to get a way from home, but I was only an hour away at Texas State. So yeah, this was gonna ask and you know, chemical engineering is probably a career that's kind of known in Houston because of all the oil, I would think,

Unknown: 7:51

yes, that I know that now, funnily enough, I didn't know that that and I was I didn't even know oil and gas. Actually, back when I was in high school. That was not even something that was on my radar, which is funny enough, what I ended up going into in my career after, but I the reason I picked chemical engineering was I was talking to the admissions counselor at Texas Tech. And I told her I want to do engineering. And she goes, Well, there's many options. I said, which one's the hardest? And she goes, Well, I hear chemical is the hardest, and I go okay, I'm gonna go for that one, then.

Norma Reyes: 8:23

Wow, that's how you chose it. I would be the opposite. I wish I had thought about doing engineering. I think for me, the big push at the time that I was in school and the school that I went to being good at computers was something but I feel like engineering I probably could have excelled in that field. But I like you you know you said like you hadn't even heard of oil and gas even though you were in Houston, which is really funny to hear. But myself like I'd never heard of engineering, even though I have heard of in Hindi Atos. Right. Like that was a big thing. Like Latinos like oh my god, that's an engineer right there. You got to go talk to him. But I don't know why I didn't like translate for me that that is also an engineer and that's a field that maybe I don't know maybe I was just trying not to connect with my Latino roots at that time. So you start college tell us about your college experience because Lubbock is very different for anybody listening. So in Texas, Houston, there is a pretty good mix there of people I would say and then you go to Lubbock, which is probably like 99% White, I would think I've never been there personally but I do know that there's a big difference. Tell us about that.

Unknown: 9:40

Very, very different and I so to kind of give you some background, my high school experience especially coming in as a I would call it a fresh immigrants like day one immigrants you know, I had a very thick accent and here you are as a teenager with an accent. and not really sure if you fit in not trying to find your people, you know, I'm looking around and I am not in the classes that I thought I should be. And because I was already further ahead in math coming from coming from Peru and so I felt like I didn't quite fit in, in my high school. And I that took a couple of years to get the hang of it and find my people, which ended up being my choir, like, why are people but I knew when I was going to college, what attracted me to Lubbock was not so much Lubbock, I guess I should say, but Texas Tech, and they have a space in the campus is called the engineering key. And essentially, is all the buildings from every single discipline, and there are one side of the campus. And when I was walking through that, I felt that I belonged in that key. So it wasn't so much about who I was looking at, but it was more of the environment I was in this is somewhere I think I could be in. And what I loved about my experience at Texas Tech was everyone that was there wanted to be there, at least in the engineering department versus I went to a high school have a graduating class of like 900, where there was just so many people versus a class of like, which ended up being 23 chemical engineers are graduated. So all of them became my very, very close friends to this day, I speak to every single, every single one of them, I have them, you know, on some sort of connection, obviously, not every single day, but maybe once a month or something just to check in. So I love that experience. I was super nerdy throughout my high school and college experience. And I loved having friends that we would do, you know, all nighters study for a final and there was just a lot of camaraderie that happened during the engineering times. And I could go back in time, and I was like, wow, I really took it for granted how awesome it was. But I think about it, it makes me smile.

Norma Reyes: 11:51

Yeah, even as you described it, I'm thinking how beautiful to have such a community there for you, you know, supporting you along the way, especially in your college experience as a first time, you know, in the country going to the college, and having that I can imagine was a great support for you. So before you started and entered the workforce, was there anything else you thought about doing besides chemical engineering? Or did you already have that set?

Unknown: 12:23

So I, you know, my original plan was going to Pluto, then Pluto didn't really stop being a planet. So I had to come up with a different plan. And my second plan was, I always found really interesting, a lot of interest in prosthetics in the biomedical side biomedical engineering, and that was on the first thing I thought about was, it would be awesome to work at some, like biomedical kind of focus. And, and when I started looking at colleges around in Texas, you know, that was not something that was very widely offered. So chemical was like a second, like, I guess, the sister of biomedical engineering. So originally, I thought, Okay, I'm going to go to the pharmaceutical route. I'm going to work in pharmaceuticals. I, I cannot tell you why, truthfully, but I knew that I had my eyes set on working in pharmaceuticals, which, obviously, that's not what I ended up doing. It really came down to one conversation at the job fair, that led me to start my career in oil and gas. I was walking around, and I stumbled upon a recruiter. He said, Tell me more about yourself. And I think it's because I look like I wasn't like trying to shove people out of the way to talk to someone, I was just being me. And I wasn't just, you know, no, no, I think it just I just looked normal versus when people were like, pushing people out of the way. And I was like, This is too much. I'm gonna go around. And he's like, Hey, you talk to me, I want to talk to you. And I him and I really, like hit it off. I was like, you're like, I like who you are. Is this a company culture that you guys have? And he said, Absolutely. And we're looking for people that you know, actually speak Spanish, and we're looking for people to be international. Is that something you'd be interested in? And I go, Well, tell me how would you challenge me? I work like, what would that look like? And he said, Well, we work with explosives and radioactive sources, does that interests you? And I said, Absolutely. Okay, where do I sign up? So I ended up interviewing with them during the job fair. Then a week after I interviewed again, and I had a job with them shortly, shortly after the second interview, which after I told my parents that I had signed an international contract, there were a little bit of a shock factor, you know, especially for my, my Latinos, you stay close to family. So signing an international contract wasn't they weren't too thrilled about that.

Norma Reyes: 14:43

Yeah, yeah. I mean, that yeah, it's big. I mean, how old were you at then? About 21?

Unknown: 14:50

Yep. Yeah, pretty much.

Norma Reyes: 14:53

So was this right before graduation, or was this about to, you know, a year out or

Unknown: 15:00

Yep, it was about a year out. And that was the fall semester before graduating. So I had about which my fault. I mean, my last senior year was nice, because I already knew where I was going. And which, you know, that might have not been the case for last couple of years for anyone that had a job senior year might have there might have been a little more stressful. But I was, you know, back then that was, I signed my contract in the fall and started the following summer.

Norma Reyes: 15:25

Yeah, a lot more stability. So that's nice. So you start, tell us how your idea of what a career was changed. After starting that employment.

Unknown: 15:35

I learned a lot. So I started working in the field field. So I was working in oil rigs in Brazil, Abu Dhabi, and Mexico. For the majority of the time, I was leading operations that were roughly three to five days long, and crews between four to 10 men and I was the only female many of many times in a rake filled with 100 plus people. So I definitely learned early on how to why realize early on, it's really important to advocate for yourself to create boundaries. You know, here, we were sharing trailers with the whole crew. So I have my own space, but it the other day, it's all connected. And just being very aware of my surroundings. How do I how how do I want to be perceived and having the influence even though I'm the youngest person here, technically the one in charge? So how do I get people that are twice my age twice experience to follow my lead. So I think my first lesson coming out of right out of college was the power of leadership. And that's why I'm a big proponent when I talk about leadership, because if you have leadership and communication, you can do anything in the world, I think. And I worked pretty crazy schedules, I'm not gonna lie, there were some times where it's probably not something I could ever do again, especially even after having kids. And even after being like sleep deprived from having kids for, you know, the last four years, there's no way I could do it again. But I learned also to work isn't everything, and it will be fine. If you take breaks, I work six months with no days off, and like going back to back from jobs not coming back to my place. That's not something I would do again. But I guess I did it earlier in life. So I learned that lesson soon enough.

Norma Reyes: 17:22

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's an experience in itself, something completely different. So once you entered the work field, and you're working, was there a point in time that you're like, This is completely different than what I was expecting,

Unknown: 17:36

I kind of knew it would be different. And I knew I chose something different for a reason. I knew it wasn't gonna be your office setting. And I knew that everyone, all my other friends had gone into like refinery work, or some more of like the midstream, which is more focused on designing equipment. So I was doing field work I knew would be different. I think what really was a turning point for me was when I was not taking care of myself in health wise. And I vividly remember going to the doctor and him telling me I had high blood pressure. And here I am is like 25. And I just knew that, okay, well, this is unsustainable and not good. And there's something that's going to have to change. And I know I want a family and I know I want some more stability, I would like to come home every night and be able to sleep in my own bed. So I realized that, hey, I learned a lot through this, I kind of gained the street cred and working in the field. But it was time to find something with a little bit more stability. And that's where I realized that it was great money, actually was probably the biggest lesson because I was making really good money. And realize, wow, okay, if money isn't everything.

Norma Reyes: 18:48

Yeah, you got to learn that early. I'll learn that lesson too. Just kidding. And money really isn't everything. And so can you tell us in share the journey from there to your next employment until you put in your notice recently, but yeah, take us along, so we can hear that.

Unknown: 19:07

So in the oil and gas industry working in the field, and what I was doing was considered like the service side. And I knew I wanted to be on the operator side, which is on the other side of the table that people making the decisions that people calling the shots. I was like, I want to be on that side of the table. And I knew if I wanted to be part of some of the bigger players, I needed to come back to the United States. So I decided to put in my my notice with the company that I was in at the time I was in Mexico. They actually encouraged me to not quit and they ended up telling me that I could go in a personal leave of absence. Well, I figured out if I wanted to come back to them or not. So during this time, I decided to go get my MBA. You know, I think I always think school is a very great place to learn and also figure out next steps and I ended up taking a leave of absence with them. cuz I thought you know what you never know, I'll just I'll leave the door open. But I started my first semester working with my MBA program. And this is how I actually ended up going to Oklahoma was going to University of Oklahoma. They have a master's in business with energy and finance as a focus. I started my first semester. And then one day I stumbled upon in the job fair that there was an internship with an equity firm in a private equity firm in New York. So I did a small internship with them. I learned a little bit about the private equity side, I thought that was super interesting, I realized that an office setting and really the next step was for me, so I ended up telling them that, you know, would like to cancel my leave of absence, because I'm definitely going to be going to a different, a different route. And then it was spring semester, and I was starting to think about, I did my MBA full time, and it was three semesters. So I'm in the middle of my MBA, and I'm thinking, Okay, it's time for me to put in my name for a full time position. And here I am everyone's, I mean, this is my thought, right? Everyone's gonna want me because I have all this experience, and just incredible, and everyone's gonna be begging me to go work for them. And reality hit that everyone was saying, hey, you've made too much we really can't make that make like that comp doesn't really fit our plan, or you have too much experience for an entry level. And we're only looking for people that are juniors in or, you know, juniors or seniors. And I find myself actually thinking well, okay, so no one wants me like, like, no one. Okay. And I it was a little bit disheartening, because I'm like, okay, how am I gonna make this switch? Well, I ended up applying to an internship that summer between my last two semesters, very humbling experience, because here, I come from calling the shots, leading large operations. And you know, knowing what I'm talking about to starting over with the sophomores and juniors in an internship, and I decided I'm going to be the best intern they've ever had, because I'm going to have a full time job after this. So I interned with them for the summer, my might the SEC, in this, this company was an operator. So it was exactly kind of in the field that I wanted. I interned with them. And then I stayed on full time. And I was with them for about two years. And this is the power of LinkedIn, I was contacted by the last company I worked for, and they said, Hey, we're looking for someone with your expertise, would you want to come interview, so I switched companies to a bigger operator in the United States. And over the last six years, I climbed through the engineering ladder into a production manager role, which really, my role was leading operations in the northeast, with very high stake environment, a lot of cash flow. I mean, I think our our yearly cash flow was over $2 billion. So a lot of responsibility. But I learned a lot through my time. And what I learned really, through climbing the corporate corporate ladder, and all my career changes in the leadership roles that I've had is there really takes adaptability, and strategy and just humble, you know, really staying humble to wanting to grow and take new steps, even if it's scary at times, which is what the foundation of how I built my own business and career coaching, which I'm officially transitioning to that full time, you know, as of two weeks ago now, which it was definitely a very hard decision for me to make. I have, you know, have an incredible team that reported to me for the last several years, and I have a lot of really great gifts and notes of you know, how I changed our lives that it's very, very rewarding, and also very emotional at times to think back because you get attached to your team. I mean, especially when you love what you do.

Norma Reyes: 23:48

Yeah, I can't imagine. Thank you for sharing that with us. So tell us a little bit about some of the your networking experiences that helped you and your career.

Unknown: 23:58

I've always been very much intentional with networking without feeling like I wasn't myself. And what I mean by that is, especially being a woman in a male dominated field for over a decade, like I don't evolve, I don't hunt, I don't want to go to a happy hour. So that removes three major events that are very big, especially in oil and gas. So I just had to find how networking worked for me. And I remember a story from you know, one of my previous bosses told me, you know, you should schedule more lunches with people to just network. And I said, No, I don't want to and he goes, Wait, why? I was like, because I have 202 at home. And my lunch hour is literally the only 40 minutes that I have to myself all day every day. And I want to enjoy that because I recharge. I watch an episode of like bones or criminal minds, and it's my only meet time of the day and it's If I network with someone, I'm not going to be president, and I'm going to resent them from taking the only 40 minutes that I have for me. So I decided I have to find a way that I could network without feeling like it takes away from my family. And without feeling like it's inauthentic. So I started just scheduling 20 to 25 minute you know, coffee chats with leaders of the organization. And I didn't want to play it small I went for the people that most people are, quote unquote afraid of to even talk to or you know, I just went for the for the senior VPs, the executive VPS, to the CEO, I said, I would like to 20 minutes of your time, I have some ideas, I would always bring something to the table, especially when you network with someone that's higher than the executive role, you definitely want to make sure that you want to provide value to their time. So whether it's an initiative that they're doing that you want to provide value to, but I always make sure we left that 20 minutes with me showing what I bring to the table by giving them value. And rarely did I talk about myself, it was more about what value can I bring? And then the last two minutes, say, I would love to schedule more time with you. Are you open to scheduling a quarterly check in with me? And they? I've never had anyone say no. But you have to be willing to put yourself out there and reach out to those people that you think are very busy, which they could be, and they probably are. But not everyone's reaching out to them because of those reasons. Because they're afraid.

Norma Reyes: 26:26

Yeah, yeah, I love that. And I have heard that before. Who I heard it from was male or Latino who had moved up in several different fortune 500 companies. And that was his strategy. And that he would share to go to the C suite and start reaching out to them. And that's how you do it. And so for those of you listening, that's how you do it because people aren't doing that. And as scary as it sounds, just remember, they're people just like you are they wake up the same way they put on pants and go to the restroom and eat as well. So they're not this, you know, untouchable? Person. All right. Well, thank you. And now can you tell us what has been one of your most influential experiences in your career?

Unknown: 27:14

The most influential experience in my career? Honestly, I think I learned a lot when I transitioned from an individual contributor to having direct reports, I always say even if you're an individual contributor, you should bring leadership to the table every day, that's how you're gonna grow. But once you have those people under you, there's a lot of responsibility that comes with that. And, you know, last year in particular, I feel like it was a very, very growing moment for me, you know, not only COVID, but the oil and gas industry was suffering. And also the company that was working for was going through bankruptcy, we had a four layoffs probably in the span of 12 months, and keeping a team engaged and high performing during that time can be it's not, it's definitely not a simple task, it's intentional. I found that I really, one of the things I learned about myself was I want to be me and stay true to my values in the good times. And the bad times, whether things around me are good, are things around me are bad. And my team saw that. And I think they knew that no matter what, uh, to the extent that I could, I could have their backs. However, what I found myself was, I was using one hand to kind of prevent issues coming to them, and the other hand kind of pushing them forward. And that right, there was exhausting. I mean, I'm gonna be very transparent, like having that was very exhausting. And I think you it's really easy at times to look from the outside in to a leader or any sort of supervisor and boss and maybe dissect what they do well, what they do bad easily, but ones are in those roles. It there's a lot of responsibility that I think until you're in those moments, you really cannot explain. But I realized how important it is to coach people and meet them where they're at, be empathetic to the fact that everyone has many different things going on. And that fired me up even more to go into career coaching even a step further. So it was a very pivotal moment for me, because I'm learning what I love about what I'm doing, even in the hardest of times. And I realize, well, we have so much room for growth in the corporate world to help leaders lead in an authentic way. So there's a lot more there but I'm still dissecting what I've learned through a very pivotal year. A lot of journalism involved in that though.

Norma Reyes: 29:42

Yeah, yeah, no, I completely understand it is really difficult when you're also trying to manage your own energy, when there's a lot of shift and change in COVID has hit a lot of industries in so many different ways, even the ones that are still surviving. Moving forward, there's still so much organizational change that really affects everyone at all levels. And being in the middle, a middle leader, it's a lot, I think it adds that extra layer. So, with that, that kind of explains a little bit of some of the frustrations you probably had. So I'll ask a different question. One of my favorite questions. So in your career so far, what are some unexpected events or happenings that occurred that you transformed into a success?

Unknown: 30:33

I think, honestly, starting out, I had a lot of experiences working in out in remote areas where I, I was in dangerous situations. And a times I think, my first instinct in the first time that I encounter a situation like that, I didn't know if I should stay quiet and just not make, quote unquote, buzz about stuff, or stand up for myself and say, This is not something I tolerate. Well, I mean, we're firing Latinos, right? So I went, the route of this is not something I tolerate. And I knew that there might be, you know, like, I might not make the most of friends around me. If I if I say, hey, these things are unacceptable. And just to kind of, maybe paint a picture of, you know, if you're one woman in a group of 10, there might be some magazines left around that are inappropriate. And I remember a very specific moment that I walked into a trailer, and I saw things on the table that I didn't want to see, no, should no one asked me if I wanted to see them. And they were all looking at me kind of like, what will she do? Like, you know, what will she do? And in that moment, I said, Is this the standard that you guys think it's okay, and does this show respect to me? And immediately everyone was like, a dog with their ears down, you know, tail between their legs? And they were like, No, of course not. This is this is not something we would tolerate. And it's like, okay, was if I were your daughter, it would this be okay. And immediately they're learned, like, Okay, we need to, they started behaving differently. And in fact, over the course of the next couple of years, I mean, they became, they were the opposite. They were, you know, very understanding. But I realized, like, in that moment, I could have felt two ways of, it's okay, pretend it's okay, because you're new, or you're the, you know, you're still trying to get your foot in the door here. But at the end of the day, learning to stand up for yourself when you know, things are not right, that is so important. And that became a success for me, because throughout my whole career, I had to do that multiple times. Obviously, in different situations, it's a little bit more extreme. But once you do that in an extreme situation, then the smaller ones are easier. Right? So standing up for yourself early on taught me a lot.

Norma Reyes: 32:55

Right, right. And I loved how you turned it back to them. Right. It wasn't about you in how you felt it was the fact that they did something and do they think that is respectful? And I mean, I'm sure it wasn't intentional, either. Just No, it

Unknown: 33:09

wasn't. I think they're just they were just used to it. And you know, they're used to that women being around and but they had to mean, that's part of being inclusive, right is thinking about who is around you?

Norma Reyes: 33:21

Right. Right. I love that. So, one last question. Looking back, were there any missed opportunities in your career that you look back and think, Okay, I'm glad that didn't actually pan out. I'm glad for that missed opportunity.

Unknown: 33:35

About a couple of years ago, I was going after the Okay, let me back up actually was five, three years ago, now, I was going for a production supervisor role, which is the step before production manager. And in the production supervisor role, I knew I was putting my name in the hat a little bit early. But I, I'm a big believer, like put your name in the hat, like, what's the worst thing that can happen? I put my name in the hat. And one of my peers ended up getting the role. And I look back, and I'm so happy that I didn't get that role. One because the peer they got the role and became my boss was an incredible leader. And I learned so much from him. And to this day, he's still a dear friend of mine. But also it allowed me to hone in on the some of the things that I knew were missing in order to be the leader that I wanted to be So had I had been put in that role. Could I have learned that? Could I have bridged that gap? Yeah, I think I could have, however, at the expense of what and usually when you're in put in a position like that too soon is at the expense of people, there will be a missed opportunity with the team. And I'm happy that I got to learn from him. And that moment, it was kind of, you know, disappointing that I didn't get it. But looking back, I'm so happy that he got it because I got to learn from an incredible leader for many years.

Norma Reyes: 34:52

Thank you. Thank you for sharing and I like how you described it at the expense of what, right cuz a lot of times we don't think about that part like, yeah, you know, we might be able to jump on opportunity. But what are we missing? What was there anything else that you wanted to share in regards to career advice with the listeners?

Unknown: 35:12

I think one thing that I kind of managed or kept at the forefront as like, my own little quote that I read to myself is to stay humble and hungry for for learning and personal development. But to never be afraid of knowing that what you have inside of you is enough to dream bigger. And yes, you can go after more certifications, you can go after more training, you can always stay learning. But if you're waiting for those things to go after bigger goals, then you're doing yourself a disservice. And don't be your own roadblock, I think learnings like Am I being my own roadblock like I I like to ask myself that question. When you have all the ducks in a row is like, okay, so what are we waiting for? Okay, it's just me, I'm making I'm being my own robot. So don't be your own roadblock at times. We can do that very easily.

Norma Reyes: 36:01

I love that. Yeah, don't be your own roadblock. Oftentimes, we are our worst your own roadblock. So now share with us, I know you just transition from working full time to now full time running your business. Share a little bit with us on that.

Unknown: 36:17

Yeah, I'm so excited. And I was, you know, I thought I was gonna be super scared because I've you I mean, let me tell you I, my last 12 years, I've had jobs that have been 7am Start Time, and 7am. And I can't tell you, I don't think there's ever been a week in my whole career that I haven't worked like 50 hours. So I'm used to like the grind, and especially fast paced environments. And that was wondering what's going to happen ones, I own my own schedule. But the last week has been awesome. Because one, I'm able to support my clients in a different way in the weekends. And then I blocked off like the last two days as my weekend. Even though it's Wednesday and Thursday, I am loving owning my own schedule. And it's going to require a lot of organization, a lot of checking myself, you know, I have my own coaches that I work with, I recommend that everyone should have a coach because you gotta have someone in your corner calling you out when you need it. I mean, I have like three coaches. So I recommend maybe only three, but I recommend one. But it's been, it's definitely been great. So my husband and I have worked my coaching business together, he's the backend of a lot of things. And we were talking last night and we were joking that we need to have staff meetings together. Because we're starting to get to the point that we need to get organized, you know, we have a an official three year old and a four year old. So with two kids, you gotta you gotta be organized because they have their own their own schedule. And they're not in daycare for like another two weeks. So we are juggling entertainment while growing a business. But I'm very excited. I have some big goals, some scary ones. I would like to work with organizations as well, I think there's a lot of opportunities for leaders to help build a different culture in their organizations, regardless of what's happening. So it's very open ended right now. But I think that's entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship is very open ended it I don't think you ever finished your to do list.

Norma Reyes: 38:19

Right? Yeah. sets, and lists and lots and lots of room to grow to and you know, pivot and change as needed. Well, that is it. But tell us how we can connect with you.

Unknown: 38:33

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that. I'm very active on Instagram at Miss dot Andrea de Martin. And you can find me on LinkedIn as well as linkedin.com/andrea Martin MBA, you know, follow me, talk to me. I love connecting with with everyone. And it's actually super grateful how I met you. So I, I love social media. I think it connects a lot of people that I would have never had a chance to meet in real life.

Norma Reyes: 39:00

Yeah, yeah. Yes. And you have your podcast too.

Unknown: 39:04

I do have my own podcast. Thank you for reminding me that. My own podcast. It's called Career confessions, which is in every platform that you can imagine.

Norma Reyes: 39:14

Yes, yes. And all the links will be in the show notes. Well, thank you so much, Andrea, for being on. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the manifest in your career podcast with me, your host Dr. Norma Reyes, a Latina career and life coach.