Meet Carla O'Brien, SVP Marketing at Stuffed Puffs.
How do you define success?
No matter what the situation is personally or professionally, success in my mind means I can sleep at night being proud of not only what I accomplished but how I accomplished it. The journey is just as important as reaching your destination.
In moments of self-doubt, how do you build yourself back up?
When I was 30 years old, I decided to pivot my career from finance to marketing and attend Duke University's MBA program full time. Not only was I older than most of my peers, I was also a wife and a mother to a 1 year old boy with our 2nd boy on the way. There are so many times when I wanted to give up because managing a family, an intensive internship and an expansive course load were too much but I looked at my family and knew I had to keep going to show them that anything was possible, regardless of the circumstances. I continuously had to stop comparing myself to other and tell myself that everyone's journey is different and you can make yourself miserable comparing yourself to others. Someone is always going to be more successful than you professionally, someone is always going to have faster or smarter kids than you but the most important thing is to look back and realize how much you have accomplished, despite your hurdles, and look at the beautiful lives you have influenced around you.
What's the biggest lesson you've learned in your career to date?
Never, ever sacrifice your morals to try and get ahead or appease other people. There are many times I have seen others twist the truth or hold back from expressing their thoughts in hopes that it would get them ahead but in the long run, these moves have never proved successful. I am always the person in the room who isn't afraid to state my opinion or express the uncomfortable truth.
Never, ever sacrifice your morals to try and get ahead or appease other people.
What advice would you give to someone hoping to break into your career path/industry?
Passion, drive and personality can get you further than anything else. I would rather hire someone with a good attitude, an aptitude to learn and someone I could sit down and enjoy a glass of wine with any day over someone with more qualifications on paper. Brand Marketing is not rocket science, it's about being so passionate about a product that you are willing to listen and learn from those that enjoy the product and craft a story to tell others why they should enjoy the product too.
What's an accomplishment you're most proud of?
I am a mother of four children, three who are physically with me and one who lives in my heart. I lost my third son to unknown reasons/SIDS in 2012 when he was 5 months old. I consider my biggest accomplishment getting up every day since then and continuing to live, continuing to love my husband and children, continuing to volunteer and continuing to work, finding joy in the little things in life. Accomplishments are sometimes as simple as realizing that you have continued to smile, and brought smiles to other peoples faces, despite the storm you have endured.
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