We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melissa Drake a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Melissa, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
I grew as a leader by serving in leadership positions. I was a part of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers leadership development program which provides training to its chapter leaders. I believe this is what shaped my confidence and self-esteem.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I have been a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers since I was a freshman in college. This experience has allowed me to work with other non-profits like FIRST Robotics, Girls in Tech, and Coding in Color. As a result, I and other colleagues began a new non-profit called TechWomenAZ which will provide resources to women that want to begin a career in tech or that want to be more successful in their career in tech. We are a small organization and just rebuilding from what we were doing with Girls in Tech Inc., GIT. GIT was a global organization that closed their doors last year. We were a GIT chapter in Phoenix and had to shut down. Thus, we started TechWomenAZ. In the fall we are hosting an event “Building and Protecting Your Personal Brand”. We are partnering with Women in CyberSecurity who will be the panelists at the event.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I am a life long learner. Developing my leadership and organizational skills are important. I keep developing my leadership and communication skills. Time management I learned from Franklyn Planning and I still use those concepts. I participated in programs like Toastmasters to develop my presentation skills. By serving in leadership positions, I have become better leader. I train others in time management and organizational development. I am a mentor for students and colleagues.
As I got older, I became more confident and overcame imposter syndrome. I learned from my mistakes. I don’t concern myself with what others think.
My advice, develop your soft skills and give back to others as you grow. Find programs, organizations and schools that can help you develop your soft skills and tech skills. There is no need to go to a four year college to do this.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
Currently, I am reading “The Let Them Theory” by Mel Robbins. Most of what is said in the book I practice but there are some things I am learning. I am always looking for resources to improve myself. One key message she gives is to focus on what is important. For example, traffic to work always made me moody, which is not a good way to begin the day as an educator. So I just stopped. I cannot control the traffic so why get worked up about it. I began to listen to audio books and more music during my drive. This is Mel’s message, ” Let Them”, which is what I have been practicing for a while. I am less stressed. There are still some things that bother me that I just need to let go. This is a work in progress.
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