Page 60 - Peter Farrelly Issue

industry and what we do. It was something where I could see the immediacy of a family going through something very difficult and how, whether it's insurance or planning, helps them in a really meaningful way. So that's a little bit of how I got into financial services. But if I fast forward through my 15 years with Voya, I went through a sort of logical progression of sales, sales man- agement, et cetera.
raised my hand for different enterprise opportunities. One of the most important pieces of advice I can offer is to just be curious, exercise learning agility and raise your hand for different things. And so that has always been something that's driven me, is just this desire to continuously learn.
But in the last 15 years, I've had the ability to run two different business units inside the firm, served as the executive sponsor of our Voya Cares program. And for me, a lot of it's just been about kind of raising my hand and taking on new assignments. And so, I didn't neces- sarily aspire to be in the chair that I'm in today. It's been kind of a logical trajectory, but passion for the cus- tomers and a passion for what we do every day and a curiosity to learn, I think, kind of got me to the seat I'm in today.[fl_builder_insert_layout id= "210612"]
I often talk about a neat quote I heard about 17 years ago, and it was just this idea of doing something that makes you uncomfortable every day. Do something that kind of gets that ‘butterflies in your stomach’ feeling. And so, I do try to show up and do that. And that's something that I recommend to people, if you're nervous to spend time in front of the client, or to spend time pre- senting or to spend time learning on the financial side, whatever it is, that to me is where growth really comes from.
Goga: That’s good advice on how to keep moving for- ward. Along those same lines, what advice would you give other people, women in particular, about their career progression? Did you face hurdles or was it pret- ty much smooth sailing?
Lavallee: One major obstacle is I always wanted to be the Head of Sales in my career, and it took me four dif- ferent times to get it. I was rejected for different oppor- tunities, and it sort of became just this challenge that I thought at some point in time I'm going to have an opportunity. So, I think that just being really persistent and believing in yourself is super important.
Lavallee: No, I faced a lot of hurdles. I think that's quite normal. So, there are a couple of things that I would say and advice that I tend to give people at different levels or tenure within their careers. I tell them that the path that I chose was not linear, it was not necessarily logi- cal. I tried different things, I switched businesses, I
The final two things that I'll mention in regard to people in their career is the importance of mentorship and com- pany culture. I have been so fortunate at different times in my career to have some amazing mentors and they
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Goga: And any other obstacles you faced?