We recently connected with Lareena Phillips and have shared our conversation below.

Lareena, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Just as they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I feel the same about success. I think the key to being successful is to identify what success means to you. Some may see reaching a certain level of profitability in their business as being successful, others may see rising to a certain level in corporate America or the public sector as successful, and others may see raising their children to be kind, driven, hard working, and productive citizens as successful. I think if you lean into whatever you find most important and take daily steps towards accomplishing that goal, you are on the path towards success.

As a working mom, my goals toward being successful include a combination. I find success in giving my job my all, and doing the best that I can at accomplishing the mission of the agency on a daily basis. I balance that with knowing my job as a mom requires an even heightened level of dedication towards building and lifting my children up in a way that will allow them to reach their goals. And what does that all take – it takes a lot! For me, leaning into my faith each day keeps me going. I have to be organized and forward thinking. I have to be patient and practice self care because I can’t pour into anything if I don’t pour into myself. I have to work out, those endorphins are a game changer! I have had to build relationships and have people in my corner for encouragement on the hard days. I definitely do not have it all figured out, and each day is a work in progress, but I know for a fact that I’m on the right path and I feel confident knowing I give each day my best effort.

Lareena, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a wife, mom of three boys, and lawyer living and working in the Triangle area in North Carolina. I went to UNC Chapel Hill for my undergraduate education and for law school and after graduating from law school, began my career at the esteemed Charlotte, NC civil rights firm, then called Ferguson, Stein, Chambers, Gresham, and Sumter. After having to relocate to Raleigh, NC due to my husband’s job, I began my career working in the government sector at the Attorney General’s Office.

In the midst of building my career, I’ve been just as dedicated to building my family. I have a teenage son who is a scholar and athlete, playing travel basketball. I have identical nine year old twin sons who are following in their brother’s footsteps, but also play soccer and flag football in addition to basketball. I’m their biggest advocate in the classroom, their biggest fan in the stands, and their personal chaffeur.

I think that what sets me apart from others is my work ethic, my ability to see things from many angles, and my ability to relate to all people. My first job with the firm allowed me to learn from some of the most incredible and smart human beings on this planet, and that experience helped shape who I am today, as I carry those lessons with me of never leaving any rock unturned, thinking broadly, and not taking anything for face value.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

A time when I had to pivot in my career was when I had to leave my private practice law firm to move to a different city. When I began my career as an attorney in Charlotte, NC, I hit the ground running. I joined the firm ready to take on the challenges of civil rights work with an office of civil rights giants, and I worked really hard to advocate for my clients and to be a strong member of my legal community. I was co-chair of the Leary Bar Association, Charlotte’s black bar. I was having a ball, working hard at my job and building strong relationships with the Charlotte legal community.

All of that came to a screeching halt when my husband received a promotion that would move us from Charlotte to the triangle. I was devastated and definitely resisted the change. That was a very difficult time. While I was able to transition and work for the firm’s Chapel Hill office for a while, that arrangement was temporary and I would have to move on from the firm. I took some time to regroup and then began looking for jobs in state government.

The change from private practice to state government was challenging at first, and I wasn’t happy in my first role, but was able to find a job at the attorney general’s office that was a perfect fit. The hardest part for me was feeling like I wasn’t living my purpose when moving from a job that allowed me to advocate for the people, to working for what some deem, “the other side.” My role in state government, however, still allows me to serve the people of the state of NC, and to work towards making sure the money that taxpayers pay for health care services stay in the program, and is not used for fraudulent purposes.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I’m not sure if I can call it a lesson that I had to unlearn, but one thing that I have learned is to stop listening to that negative voice in my head. I read a book some years ago, The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, and the biggest lesson that I learned from that is that the voice in my head was really, really negative. It would tell me all kinds of lies about who I was and what I was capable of. It would dictate my perception of my success, my happiness, and it would impact how I felt about my personal relationships.

I’ve learned to take control of that voice, and to turn the negativity into positivity. A close friend of mine (Sonya Pfeiffer) would often end our conversations by saying “be kind to yourself” so instead of listening to that negative voice, I’ve learned to be kind to myself. I start each day with scriptures, devotionals, and a Peloton workout, and that has so much power in shaping my frame of mind from a negative one to a positive one, no matter what I know about the challenges that my day will likely bring.

Image Credits
Family picture taken by Laura Schlabach