We asked some brilliant entrepreneurs, artists and creatives to reflect on lessons they’ve learned at prior jobs. We’ve shared highlights below.

Amye Brunette

I learned this from both of my parents as well as with a prior boss: Every client matters. Growing up with two entrepreneur parents, work ethic was instilled in me at a young age. As I got older and into various jobs/careers with lots of bosses (good and bad), I learned a lot about serving clients and taking care of their needs. My job prior to buying this company from my mom was as a mortgage loan processor in Manhattan Beach, CA. My boss was a super laid back beachy guy – very easy to work for. No matter the commission he was making on each client, all were treated equally. I gave my everything to every person I served there. I took this into becoming a business owner and serving clients of different levels. The lesson I learned is: gratification, on a personal level. Read More>>

Hawah Kasat

One of the most important lessons I learned came from my early days running a nonprofit I co-founded called One Common Unity. For years, we were operating out of the back of my house, with barely any funding and a vision that felt almost too big for the world to hold at the time—using arts and education to interrupt cycles of violence and inspire healing in youth and families. Read More>>

Rania Maisonneuve

There’s one job in particular that taught me a really important lesson—one that still sticks with me to this day. Because from that one booking, it taught me a lot. It taught me something I didn’t fully understand until later.

Since I was about 12 years old, I’ve had a passion for something that, back then, I didn’t even realize could be a real career. I just knew I loved it. It made me excited in a way nothing else did. The thing is, I was extremely shy growing up. That’s what most people knew me for—quiet, reserved, always in the background. But as I got older and started to understand the industry I wanted to be in, I realized it wasn’t the kind of field where being shy would get me very far. It’s the kind of business that demands you to step out of your comfort zone, to speak up, to show up, and be bold. Read More>>

Pearl Scott

I was a singer in the U.S. Army. It was a huge contrast to my ethics and prior expectations of life, but it seemed like a great challenge to see how my music can create an impact on the more tortured of environments. In training, I was able to push past so many physical and mental ceilings I had over being a woman and an athlete. However, it conditioned uniformity in me that took a hit to my creative individuality. While stationed at Fort Liberty, I did my best to seek outlets to remind me of the artist I once was, but found myself lacking when I would inevitably return to my life on base and have to return to the soldier I was rewarded to be. After 4 years, I knew it was time to untether and wash my mind of the military. It is not an easy feat, and I still find myself falling back into conformity mindsets to this day. But as a musician, I am so much better off having a creative outlet to write, sing, and release all that trapped me in that existence and start again on my healing journey. You can find topics of ‘choosing me’ ‘self love’ and self discovery in my music. Read More>>

Da’Lene DePriest

Take the risk. Do the scary thing. Be the Boss.
I built cabinets and furniture for my family business for 25 years. I worked with my Dad, my PawPaw, my Godfather and a few uncles, construction guys. I was the only girl. Actually had 2-4 people on and off. I trained 1 too many reluctant guys. So, I hired my friends, ladies same age as me! The guys were Not excited. Best crews I ever had. It was an idea I got from my Mom. The real behind the scenes Boss.
Every time me and Dad “disagreed” she told me she couldn’t wait till I got a backbone and to stop hiding my light. Read More>>

Hitoshi Sagaseki

I started working for a Japanese cosmetics company as a packaging designer. While working on several brands in Japan, I was able to learn about advertising and store design, and acquired a wide range of creative skills that are useful in my current branding work. I also spent two years on secondment to the New Business Development Department, where I was involved in the launch and marketing of new brands and learnt the basics of business. My experience of working in Europe and U.S. also helped me to gain a broad understanding of the market, which is very useful in my work. Read More>>

Leonard Kim

When I started working at Keck Medicine of USC, my boss wanted me to really take my time and settle into the first project. He gave me 90 days to interview all of the chairs of each department and really nail down what the main priorities were. He also wanted me to examine what we were creating and what other companies were creating. Out of all of that, I was able to thoroughly lay out a strategy, which I had to present to executive leadership. The outcome of that was being able to take a social media page from 10k to 250k followers, see web growth go from 90k monthly pageviews to 500k (800k currently), pick up an additional 2 million reads on an additional platform, 150 media syndications in places like TIME, Forbes, Sporting News, Medical Daily and more, and resulted in the company going from $900m annually to $1b annually in the duration I was there, seeing year over year growth of 25%. Read More>>

Natasia Nolan-Hodge

I had an opportunity to work at a big-four consulting agency. I was super excited and intimidated at the same time. What made this exciting was the opportunity to work for a global organization that garnered prestige while learning/gaining new skills. What was intimidating was having to step out of my introverted comfort zone to make new connections. When I joined, I did not have a project lined up nor did I have connections. I was starting from scratch. In these organizations, you are matched with a performance counselor – their role is to help make connections and ease you into the culture. My performance counselor was not a good fit and was not helpful. Her demeanor was aggressive, overbearing, and unsympathetic. It was a shock I wasn’t prepared for. I met a few people like this throughout my tenure there. Being introverted it felt like I was facing never ending challenges. The lesson I learned from this experience was to stay true to myself. Read More>>

Alicia Baron

One of the most important lessons I learned in my career came during my time at Restoration Hardware, where I had the privilege of working with some incredible mentors. Two lessons, in particular, have stuck with me and shaped how I approach my professional life:

-You don’t work a day when you love what you do.
And,
-You can only control the things you can control. Read More>>

Kahmaré

The most important lesson I learned was back in my sophomore year of college but I truly didn’t learn until my junior year! In school I learned the basics of framing, camera operation, script writing and production 101, for some reason Kahmaré thought because she knew the basics that she knew everything. I was on top of the world, u couldn’t tell me nothing, if I already knew something I would let it be known that I know that and didn’t have my mind open to learn. I had an internship over the summer where my ego was crushed and I was humbled because there was so much more for me to learn, such as lighting, color grading, pre production and more. I shortly came to realize that I didn’t really know anything and even the basic stuff I knew I still didn’t really master it! Read More>>

Lizzie Assa

In 2001, I was sitting around a small table in a stuffy classroom on NYC’s Upper West Side. I was in graduate school earning my master’s of Science in Education. My peers and I were sitting with our advisor, discussing our student-teaching experiences. One person said, “I have a child in my class who is just so manipulative…”
We all nodded with understanding. All of us, except our Adivsor.
I’ll never forget her response because it forever changed the way I look at behavior in early childhood.
“Young Children are not manipulators. Children who present that way are asking us, the adults, to help them with an unmet need.”
I was floored. I was forever changed. Read More>>