Carly Grantham

Age: 35

Occupation: Chief Operating Officer, Tallgrass Business Resources

What’s the best advice you ever received?
Take risks in your career – women will apply to jobs they feel they are overqualified for, try applying for a job you may not feel fully qualified for. That’s what I did and how I got my first job with Tallgrass.

What would most people be surprised to learn about you?
I didn’t go to college until after I had started my career in marketing. I stumbled into my first marketing role a couple of years before my daughter was born and went back to school after her birth to get my associates and bachelors. I took two years off and then got my MBA, which I finished in December 2016.

What do you know now that you wish you had known earlier in your career?
I’m not sure that I would want to know anything earlier in my career. My accomplishments and my pitfalls/mistakes created who I am now. Those experiences were extremely valuable to my career path.

How do you ensure a balance between work and your personal life?
I work for an organization that makes it perfectly clear that family is first. I leave work at work and am able to make sure that my time with my family is 100 percent focused on them.

What’s something people should know about your generation in the workplace?
We’re all different. I manage all generations, many of which are considered in my same generation. They are all different and expect to be treated individually. I can’t treat any one employee the same as another, even within a generation.