Melissa's journey of reinvention was born from necessity. As a successful executive in corporate
America, Melissa was on top of the world. The year was 2008, and Ranstad, her current employer, had offered Melissa an attractive opportunity to relocate to and manage the Oracle account out of their Rocklin location. She willingly said yes, packing up her family and moving up North to our region. She was excited at the promise of tomorrow and all the potential for her family to enjoy their new home. They embraced the move and all was well. The Washington's were happily adapting to the move and making Placer County their home. Then came the bomb...one fateful day in October of 2009, Melissa became a statistic of the economic downturn and was laid off.
Although this was awful news for Melissa and her family, she remained optimistic that her experience and skills would land her a position with another company equally as prominent. A Navy veteran, Melissa was resilient by nature and refused to allow the layoff to detour her in the least. Instead, she would regroup and get back into the game without a hiccup, so went her plan. She allowed herself the time to catch her breath and then jumped two feet into her search for the next phenomenal opportunity. Despite her optimism, the reality of the 2009 economy and the impact it was having on the job market soon sent Melissa right back to square one. Instead of getting discouraged, her unwavering resiliency allowed her to shift her focus off of her difficulties and instead use her forward momentum to help others. Her problems would soon work themselves out as she achieved the greatest success of all -- using her talents to help other people solve their problems and make lasting changes for their future.
Melissa was actively interviewing for opportunities that met her background and qualifications using avenues such as LinkedIn without much success. Meanwhile, she found a need within her community for educating other job seekers on ways to leverage the internet. They needed guidance to effectively use tools like LinkedIn to discover job opportunities and network within their fields. Melissa stood up to meet this need. She began to host small workshops within her home to share her knowledge and experience with small groups of people, teaching her audience how to navigate LinkedIn and create a personal brand. Finding value in her workshops, the people she helped would tell others about Melissa and the valuable information shared within her group. Melissa found herself focusing on helping others find work and achieve their career goals through her role as an active Volunteer Director of Active Job Seekers of America, a role which she still holds today.
During that time, Melissa's personal efforts shifted to making meaningful connections and networking. She was reaching out to CEO's of different organizations and gaining recognition within the business world however she could. Her groups grew in size and soon Melissa made a valuable discovery; her personal brand was formed by repetition in helping others achieve success! By focusing on growing others, she had grown herself and set the pace for her new reality. Her hobby would soon become her new career and would bring the golden opportunity of monetizing her talents. Her niche -- the Sacramento job market.
Smart move! LinkedIn needed someone with Melissa's skill set and keen business sense to coordinate an upcoming 1,500 person event from the bottom up. She rose to the occasion and soon found herself flying to Ireland, Monterey, and ultimately Singapore to handle the logistics of LinkedIn's rapidly expanding events. Although initially on a temporary contract, Melissa would find herself working with LinkedIn long after the term of her initial agreement. Through effective personal branding and consistent effort, Melissa would realize success once more. Her story became a testimony to others solidifying the need to use her strategies to reach their dreams as well. She began to offer a checklist which covered those strategies that naturally evolved into a book, "Get Back To Work, Smart and Savvy Real-World Strategies To Make Your Next Career Move". (GetBackToWork) She intentionally kept the book short and sweet so as to appeal to the busy reader while ensuring they would get the valuable information within.
How does Melissa make sure she is maximizing her efforts while remaining deliberate with her time? She visualizes where she wants to be, schedules her day in a manner that is well organized, and routinely exercises self accountability. "It's all covered in my book", says Melissa with a smile. "I set out to inspire, educate, and motivate." Get Back To Work is a great avenue to promote these principles as it covers strategies on how to do this within your life. She also gets calls on a regular basis to speak publicly about "defining your own success". Melissa tells others to find their passion and then figure out a way to meet a need through that passion. Her passion -- helping others achieve their dreams. "Assist others in achieving their dreams and your dreams will come true," states Melissa. As her success continues to make a positive impact on our community, one can only imagine where she'll go from here!
To support a local entrepreneur and learn how you can use her strategies to gain personal success, pick up a copy of "Get Back To Work" at amazon.com, Barnes & Nobles in Roseville, Avid Reader at Tower in Sacramento, or RIGHT HERE IN LINCOLN at our UPS STORE! You know I'm all about keeping the revenue right here when possible.
Also, be sure to check her out at: http://melissawashington.net/. Be sure to get a copy of "Get Back To Work" for your library and help support Melissa's dream as she's done for so many others! In addition, you can sign up for her free job-seeker's newsletter right there on her website!
Melissa is an amazing woman; kind and genuine, she's always willing to use her talents to help others achieve their goals.
Feel free to leave a comment! I'd love to hear from you. :)
Mitzi De La Cruz
CalBRE 01929064
916-871-8132
No comments:
Post a Comment