Roadmap to the Executive Suite

Pivoting Your Career Into The Executive Suite

March 04, 2021 Claudia Miller Season 1 Episode 4
Roadmap to the Executive Suite
Pivoting Your Career Into The Executive Suite
Show Notes Transcript

How do you pivot into the high-level position that you have always wanted? Can you still be successful when you change 

In this episode, we get to hear an amazing story of Lizveth Mendez and her pivot to the executive position she has today. Lizveth is the Chief Financial Officer of New Moms and directs the financial and associated business matters. As a member of the executive team, she provides strategic financial leadership that both contributes to growth and ensures sound financial management. Lizveth has over 20 years of experience in the public and private sector, worked on community-related issues, and has been involved in politics. She will be sharing her journey to the executive suite, how to handle imposter syndrome and how it affects your career decisions and nuggets of wisdom that can help you in your own executive journey.

In This Podcast:

  • The most common misconceptions of being a woman in the executive suite. 
  • Is getting to an executive, high-level position intentional or accidental? 
  • Why it’s so important to create connections and build relationships.
  • How can you handle imposter syndrome?
  • Lizveth’s three nuggets of wisdom that can help you in your executive suite journey.

Connect With Lizveth:
New Moms Website
LinkedIn

Links Mentioned:
Get to know more about My 90-Day Job Offer Program
Application to Work With Claudia Miller.
Roadmap to the Executive Suite
Networking Templates

About me:
I started my career like many people do: in an entry level role making around $35K a year, was the first to arrive and last to leave, putting a 110% into my job…But it wasn’t enough. 

I was consistently being passed up for promotions and realized I was being underpaid compared to my colleagues. 

I knew that in order to get ahead in my career and be able to make the money I wanted… to support the lifestyle I wanted…something had to change. 

So, I started investing in myself. I worked with a career coach, resume writer, read every career book that I could get my hands on, enrolled in career courses, and studied colleagues wo seemed to be crushing it in their careers. And after investing over $20,000 in resources, coaches, and books…and spending thousands of hours over five years…I realized that many of the common advice out there did NOT move the needle when it came to advancing your career! 

Instead, I handpicked and carefully selected what worked to create my now signature program, 90-Day Job Offer, that is unlike anything that is out there. I wish a program like this existed when I was going through my career advancement and salary negotiations. If so, it would have been a fraction of the cost and saved me over four years of frustration of trial-and-error. 

Since then, my clients have taken my ready-to-use resources to advance their careers in 90-days or less, and secured on average a 56% increase in salary (to date my clients have received $30,000 - $120,000 in additional earned income per year)!!

I help women in technology land fulfilling, high-paying jobs at a company that values and appreciates them. I’m on a mission to help women in tech collectively earn over a $1M in the next year. 

Will you join me?

Claudia Miller:

This is roadmap to executive suite podcast, a place where we talk about accelerating your careers and how to get to the C suite all tailored to the ambitious woman. We're here to have fun, feel empowered and get actionable steps to get you closer to your dream job and salary, no matter where you are in your career. I'm your host, Claudia Miller, and I'm a career coach who helps ambitious women get the jobs they want, all while getting them up to $50,000 in salary increases. I've been featured in Forbes MSNBC, and a one of the top 23 Most Innovative career coaches of 2025 Business Insider. Welcome to the show, and let's get started. So welcome. Today we have Elizabeth she has more than 20 years of experience in government, non for profit and private sector working in the development of strategic planning, finances, coalition building advocacy, policy and legislation, conducting processes and analysis as well as defining and implementing new strategies. These Beth brings strong written and verbal communication and leadership skills is highly motivated and can work well under time pressures to meet deadlines. These Beth holds an MBA from the University of Notre DOM Mendoza College of Business, and she's currently the Chief Financial Officer at New moms. I'm so happy to have you here. Elizabeth.

Lizveth Mendez:

Gracias, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to connect with you and chat a little bit. Hopefully, we're able to give a few couple of nuggets to our listeners. Yeah, we're

Claudia Miller:

actually both part of from asset. So you know, I know a few years back when I was going through the leadership Women's Leadership Program, that's how I think we met. And I've always was amazed by like everything that you've done. And you know, even from that time, and now you've done even more amazing things. Now, you're CFO at New moms. That's amazing.

Lizveth Mendez:

Thank you. No, I really appreciate that. And it's actually been quite the journey. So at the time, so when I did it, that was in the summer, spring of 20. Time. So I had, I think I started the program. And during the program, I believe it's when I applied for the MBA program at a university. And I got accepted, like literally finish the program, and then started like a couple of weeks, it was sort of a great training ground for some, you know, future professional development. So that was over 10 years ago, and at the time I was doing Government and Community Relations, or the attorney general in the state of Illinois had been doing that for probably close to 10 years already. And I was looking to do something totally different. So I'm really glad that I did the program like assets, and those kinds of programs are very fundamental, professional growth. So having access to those and knowing that they exist is very valuable information.

Claudia Miller:

No, definitely I agree. I feel like that's also not only a great venue for women to network with other amazing women, but also like that mentorship and understanding everyone's in a different journey in their point of life and careers. You know, that's why I started this podcast, because I wanted to highlight and give a platform to executive women out there to tell us a little bit more like how you got there. And you know, whatever misconceptions that are not true, and really empower other women no matter where they are in their careers to be able to kind of this become a mentor, but also a guide step and a roadmap on how they can move to the next level. And if they want to eventually to the executive suite. So this is something I'm always curious, because there's so many misconceptions out there. But what are some common misconceptions about being a woman, especially in executive suite, that you found it not to be true? Or maybe you had some yourself? And once you got to the role, you're like, oh, you know, I didn't know it was gonna be like this, or I really thought about that. And like, it's totally different now that I'm here in this role.

Lizveth Mendez:

Yeah. So I think one of those misconceptions is that we all fit perfectly in a box, you know, that all women are emotional, or that executives are this way, or that Latinas are that way. And I think that at the end of the day, like, we as just humans, we don't fit perfectly into a box, because we all have different things that shaped our journey and our experiences. And so I think trying to like, we have these biases of what people are like, whether they're good or bad. I mean, they are biases, and they come on experiences. But I want to say that it is not our job, to change those biases for others, or to confirm them. I think that at the end of the day, we just have to be true to who we are. So I think some of the misconceptions of what an executive look like and how to get there. And if you follow this formula and be at the end of the day, there is no specific formula to follow. We all have to be true to our journey. And I think that's if we can sort of just understand that We can sort of change some of those misconceptions of an executive, Latina, what a CFO looks like. Because at the end of the day, like, those are just statistics. And not all statistics are true. And so we have to ask ourselves, like, do you want to be part of what everyone else thinks of when they think of an executive, or, you know, in my case, a CFO, but I think just understanding that we are so unique, and being embracing of the uniqueness that we are bringing to the table.

Claudia Miller:

I'm so glad you brought that up. Because I mean, I had my personal misconceptions. I'm five feet tall, by the way. And I remember reading an article that said, like, most executive are men, and then also executives are over six feet tall. And I'm like, Well, I guess I can never be an executive. And now I just, you know, started my own company. And now I'm the CEO. But kind of to your point, I think that when we think about or at least I do, and some of my friends do, when we think about executive women, back then it's, you know, you're wearing your red bottoms. And you have to be very strong. And sometimes you might be perceived as very pushy, and like, that's the leader. And now as I've grown up and met amazing women, even like yourself, it's, you know, that's not necessarily true, that may be something that they're trying to position maybe in TV shows and the media, but in real life, there are other amazing women who are not like that, that can still be have that feminine side of it. And you know, one of the reasons why I really look up to Sara Blakely is because she's a self made billionaire, but she does it with such a femininity, and she doesn't take herself seriously. Like she can joke around. And that's okay. So I'm glad that you brought that up, Lisa?

Lizveth Mendez:

Yeah, you know, what, and we don't have to, like, what does an executive look like? What do they look like? You know, what do they were in? Would I know paths it didn't take to get there. Like, at the end of the day, these might just be like what most, you know, statistics say that an executive has this kind of background, took these kinds of steps, went to college didn't call a college got a graduate degree was graduate degree or not. But, you know, if let's say that most of the executives that we see are men, who says you have to be a man. And if you're a woman who says that you have to act like a man, you know, I think that we have to sort of like, again, it's about embracing who we are in our journey. And I just feel that the more flavor that we add to, to the C suite level, or to the table or to the conversation, the more engaging and exciting that it is, because we all thought the same or were the same or act the same, it wouldn't be any fun. Mm hmm.

Claudia Miller:

And, you know, I, you know, one of the things that I wanted to ask is, you've had such a great impressive background, I mean, you've achieved so much. No, seriously, and, you know, I want to know, like, when did you decide like, Hey, I'm going to be CFO, or, you know, I want to be working as a deputy bureau chief, like, was there a point in time in your life that you're like, it came to you? Was it a mentor helping you guide you to this? Like, I least from what I've seen, or actually, maybe I can ask you getting to like an executive high level position, do you think it's intentional or accidental?

Lizveth Mendez:

It might depend on the person's own personal story. I mean, some people might have it as you know, as a mission in life and my achievement very early on in their professional life. But for me, I don't know if I decided or if kind of like life just decided for me. I've always known that I always wanted to grow. And I would always sort of like, think about like, goals in life. But I honestly cannot say that even when I went to graduate school when I went to, or maybe not trading, I can't say that I had CFO on my list of goals. I knew that I wanted to do something that I enjoy, and my biggest challenge and so for anyone that's listening to us, that is trying to figure out what to do. It's okay. I want to say that it's okay. If it takes you a while to figure it out. Heck, I'm still trying to move meaning that, you know, kind of life decided for me that I was going to be a CFO. But it all started with, like, recognizing that there was this burning desire, or passion or this fire within me that I knew that I wanted to do something else. And part of that drive comes from not wanting to be complacent in life. One of my favorite greatest quotes comes from Bronx Tale. And it is the worst thing to have in life is wasted talent. And so we know that there are certain things skill sets talent that we bring to the table. Sometimes we don't know like how they're going to manifest themselves. But as long as we keep paying attention to that, and we don't stop moving and working towards that, I think it's important now to you know, like sort of circle back and fully answer your call. question like, how did I decide is was that a goal? I did have a ton of help along the way, like there, I had a ton of help along the way. And sometimes it's, you know, when somebody reaches out to us, we should answer the call. And so after I earned my MBA from Notre Dame, just when I was networking, I reached out to someone that was or that is a fellow alum. And they literally picked up the call when I reached out to them. And at the end of that lunch, I had a job offer. So it was amazing things can happen when you reach out. And I think one of my personal fears is reaching out for help, because I don't know what to say how to say it, but it almost doesn't matter. And now that person that took my call, and I had a conversation with was not only ended up being somebody that I worked for, but someone that I've worked with someone who has been a reference for me for my current position. So someone who is not just a mentor, but also a very good friend, she leads a non for profit, her name is Tasha cusat. And I am eternally thankful for having met her because she really helped to change my professional career path.

Claudia Miller:

That sounds amazing. I feel like it's kind of becoming a theme now, because I actually had another executive woman. And same thing, she went out to lunch, and at the end of it, she had a new job offer. Same thing, it's just they worked previously in a company. So you never know, who might you be crossing paths, whether it's through a program, or school education, or work or through a mutual friend. And all of a sudden, that might be the person that, like you said, might be referring you into your next executive role or putting you in contact. So building that network even before you even need it is very important. And we've out

Lizveth Mendez:

knowing that it's networking so much, right, sometimes it's just getting to know people, because we all have a story to tell, we all have a great story, we all have a great journey of how we got to where we did no matter where we aren't like. So I think even just getting to know people. And that's one of the things forever be thankful for that my work with the Attorney General's Office is that I got to meet a lot of different people from a lot of various walks of life with different backgrounds and perspectives. And so I really learned to appreciate and value people and who they are because they all have an interesting story. So I think that a challenge for us, wherever we are, we're always you know, we're always looking to aspire to grow and develop professionally. And there's a quote, I'm sorry, I don't know who said this, but it's not the place that you got to, but how many people you brought with you. I'm not saying that everyone needs to get, you know, mentees, if you don't have the time to dedicate to them. Sometimes it's just a simple conversation, sometimes one conversation that you had with someone, but they were able to take away a couple of good nuggets that will help them in their career. Other times it's meeting with somebody a little bit more regularly, in that mentor mentee relationship, it is given take because it's not just about taking, but also being able to give back. I have a couple of mentees. And well, I mean, I learned from them. And I think they motivate me and they inspire me. And so it is definitely something where it's not one sided. I hope that I've been able to help them as well along the way. And I think their stories are yet to be told, because some of these are really young women that are looking to develop into their professional careers. And actually, one I've been her buddy, her mentor, and I forget who's a mentor mentee some time. Great dynamic girl. But I've known her since she was in high school and now she's gone on to college, graduated, got married and you know, continued to develop into a young, strong, intelligent Latina.

Claudia Miller:

Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, it's always like, you know, to your point is just connecting with people, you know, others may do more networking, but the connection of it that you never know, I mean, I think we might have briefly met, like I said, like when we were with us it but I know you made an impact, and you probably didn't even know. And then here we are.

Lizveth Mendez:

That's such a tremendous compliment. And hate to interrupt you. But you know what, sometimes we don't realize the impact that we have on someone and it could be very simple, you know, simple things are we some people are observing in some of those, sometimes our own friends or family, our nieces or nephews or younger siblings or cousins, or neighbor, they're observing and so hopefully that, you know, we're able to give people little nuggets or little bits of us that might be able to help them and you know, down the line develop either personally or professionally.

Claudia Miller:

Yeah, you know, one of the things that, you know, I want to ask you is you know, we're all you know, ambitious professional women, and I was actually watching this video where it said that very smart, intelligent people tend to deal with like impostor syndrome. So like, are we good enough? Am I going to do it? And I'll admit, I come through that sometimes. I'm like, Am I helping people? And then I get I reach out to my clients or they reach out to me saying, hey, Kati just got a $45,000 salary increase, or I just got a new job. I'm, you know, working at Amazon or Salesforce. And, you know, I make sure that I'm always keeping aware with trends, and I'm able to help but, you know, do you come across to that? And when you have those moments, like, how do you like, deal with it or work around it?

Lizveth Mendez:

I actually think that if you're not having that moment, then you need to check yourself, and not even going to finish that sentence. By age. But no, but in all seriousness, I think that we need to check ourselves if we don't have that sort of imposters kind of syndrome that you talk about, which is really that, you know, am I doing this right? Am I good enough or so I'm gonna find out that I'm not really, you know, have the capabilities or the skill sets for this. But look, most people don't get to where they are just based on pure luck, some do. But eventually, the truth is unveiled, eventually, that mask does come up. And there is no one at least I can definitely speak for myself that nobody is a bigger critic than my own self. So I think that that is also what keeps us humble, and what keeps us hungry. So the day that you think you've mastered where you are in life, You better wait and you better hold on tight, because there will be a situation that's going to humble you. And it's going to make you realize that you are not all that as great as you are. But what's also important is that when you strip away that network, when you strip away those, you know, some of these accomplishments, when you strip away somebody's title, like who are you at your core? Is it somebody that you're able to look at, and respect yourself every day in when you get up in the morning, and when you enjoy your day. So I think that's really the fundamental things. But for me, it's about staying humble and staying hungry. And I know that there's so much growth for me to do. I mean, I am so thankful for that for the opportunity that I have at New moms to be the CFO, but I take that responsibility very seriously. And the day that I get comfortable with my position is the day that I need to check myself because I always want to stay humble and hungry.

Claudia Miller:

That's great. And kind of like to that point. So you never really thought about becoming CFO, and like the opportunity because of your networks came to you. How did you know that learning curve, you know, other people would have said, or I feel like women tend to do this to themselves, they'll see a job posting and they're like, Well, I don't fit 100% of the job posting, I can't apply. I only fit 80% While a man can look at the same job posting and say, I think I could do everything. And they might only know 10% of that. But how did you like, come across it like, Alright, I need to learn like how to budget? And I'm sure it probably maybe you'd learned some things through grad school. But tell me a little bit more about that.

Lizveth Mendez:

Yeah, no, I think you're like 1,000% Spot on. And I would actually add one other layer to it is sometimes even within the Latino culture, we tend to do that to ourselves. And I probably did that to myself for way too long, where I was like, Well, you know, my work ethic is going to open opportunities. And yes, my work ethic opened up opportunities, but I had to go knock on those doors. And so I think that's just a cultural thing. And we can't really change it and or Latino culture is not the only one that is like that. There's other cultures like that, where aggressiveness maybe isn't quite one of those qualities that are looked at, and, you know, smile on their little frowned upon, you know, because there's this sense of always continue to be humble. But I had sort of like the fundamentals when I went into graduate school. And the way that I got into graduate school was because of some of the work that I did with some nonprofit organizations. So then that like sort of added another layer of my experience and my background, and my background has been in operations and strategy. And then I built on that with budgeting. And I was at the Bureau of asset management for Cook County, I mean, we were running in overseeing a $60 million operating budget, and a $300 million capital plan. And so to be the deputy CIO, the second person in charge of that, like, they need a lot of experience and background into it. And so while I have had never been a CFO, no CFO or CEO, or anybody else come into their position, right out of college, so there's always a little bit of a, like, learning curve within it. But I did have the skill sets and more than anything, it was just a really good fit at New moms. We have a great mission. We have a great team that is headed by an amazing leader, like somebody that I am so eternally thankful to get to work with and for. So I think one of those things is knowing that we believe in ourselves. So because as people see our skill sets, and we might not because I think you alluded to this earlier about the that imposter syndrome, we're not like truly believe in ourselves, but we have to, and people wouldn't give us opportunities just for the sake of them, because there's a lot at risk. And part of it is even their own person's reputation about who they brought on to the team. But one thing I knew, like, even when I started at Cook County, that I was not going to let down Tasha cusat, or Kim Fox, who was the Chief of Staff at the time, and more than them, I also knew that I was not going to let myself down. But I'm very thankful for the opportunities. And I think that if I could just say that, you know, to anyone that is listening, that I think we need to believe in ourselves. And so it's just that sometimes others do, and we question it, and that shouldn't be the case, there shouldn't be that disconnect.

Claudia Miller:

Yeah, and I mean, like to that point two is, when you see a job posting out there, you're not supposed to fit 100% of that job posting, if you do, that means there's not a lot of opportunity for you to grow. My rule of thumb, you know, it's I least have 50 60%, but honestly, I've applied to jobs where I thought I knew 30 40%. And then when I started the job, and like, I really don't know much about it, but I'm going to learn, and then you know, they've been successful in my roles. But again, it's about, you know, really having that faith in yourself. And, you know, one of my things is, everything can be learned, if I don't know something, it can be learned, I can go on YouTube, I can, we live in the age of information, where you literally can google and type anything, and you can learn that skill, you know, that same day, if you want it to. So never like doubt yourself, and then start looking at kind of like, well, you did these best, you looked at your background and said, Alright, I've managed, you know, a $60 million budget. And not only that, I did this through this nonprofit, and I did this through my, you know, my graduation, I mean, your master's program. So it's like, sometimes we have to create those opportunities, or those learning opportunities for ourselves in order to get to that next level. And for you wasn't, you know, strategically done, it was just like, you just followed your passion, you always wanted to continue to grow. And it seemed like everything, you know, was a perfect match for this current role that you're in as CFO. But if somebody's out there, like who wants to be CFO, you know, every CFO has a first CFO job. Just like, every manager has always been a first time manager, there's going to be that time where you're gonna have to, you know, be that first time and look for your mentors and look at resources to help you really succeed in the future or that role. And if you don't know something, just ask and reach out to people. Great. So then Lee Smith, I wanted to ask you, was there a point in your career that changed it for you? Or did you arrive into this gradually, kind of like mentioned, like the CFO position?

Lizveth Mendez:

Yeah. So it's interesting, because when I was in 2010, before I went to graduate school, I felt like, you know, I was doing Government and Community Relations. And so I thought I would do that, because it's what made sense. It's what I've done in the past. And so sort of, you know, kind of tying in the last conversation that we had about our skill sets and how we get to that first position. So I kept looking for those kinds of opportunities. And while I look for them, I was never really jazzed by it. And then I went into operations and strategy. And I was like, Oh, I really like this. So then, when I was looking to transition into a different role, I kept looking at operations and strategy kind of roles. But I found myself being really, really jazzed by like, the numbers, I loved working with numbers and analyzing and doing the data to be able to make decisions. And that's how I kind of landed into my role. The CFO is because I have the skill sets. But I also learned to be true to myself to really recognize the things that I enjoyed doing. And just because it's something that we've done in the past doesn't mean you have to keep doing it, you can always build on different skill sets that we have. So for me, it was actually being able to go to graduate school, which I understand it may not be the opportunity for some individuals, it was a good choice for me, and then taking on a challenging role that was very different. So going from Government and Community Relations, to being Deputy Chief Administrative Officer. So it's like all the operations side of things, and then going into a very different role, which was in asset management, where now there's like these big budgets that we were working with $300 million capital plan and $6 million operating budget, and then sort of shifting that into a very different space, which is into the Chief Financial Officer. So I can definitely look back into my professional career and see where those pivots have happened.

Claudia Miller:

That's amazing. I'm so happy to have you here. At least Beth. Well, thanks so much for sharing, you know, I hope listeners, you know, find a lot of value just like I did from having you here and sharing your insight to your experience the amazing pivots and then how you've kind of gone through your journey with your career and still doing amazing things. And I know this is just the beginning. So I look forward to seeing what you have to your future upcoming successes as well. Any last words that you'd like to say to some of our listeners that you think that may be helpful for them where, you know, they're looking to move and accelerate their careers,

Lizveth Mendez:

I would like to make three and there's always like, you know, people that are going to give us great nuggets of wisdom. So here are my three. So one of them is to dare to drink. So life is going to set setback. So I would say don't give yourself your own setbacks, don't create those limitations for yourself. So dare to dream, because that's the way you will be able to achieve. The second thing that I would say is, you know, to back it up, back that thing up. So find all whatever your goal is, and back into it. If it takes you 1000 or 1 million steps, it's okay, but just figure out what that goal is, and figure out a plan and start working. And as long as you keep moving forward. That's all that really matters. Because at some point, you will be able to get to that ultimate goal, whatever that is for yourself. And the third thing that I would say is that if there is a setback in your plan in life, because there's only certain things you know, so many things that we can control. Don't let that be a setback for yourself, like setbacks could be permanent if you choose to let it be permanent, or it could just be a temporary thing. And maybe you just wind yourself up again, but always try to keep moving forward. Thank you so much for the opportunity to chat with you. I feel like our time just flew by. But I'm happy to connect with you any other time. My name is Lisa. And that's the V as in viva. Thank you so very much.

Claudia Miller:

Thanks for coming, Lisa and I'm so happy to have you. Thanks for listening in. If you liked this episode, you can go to our website roadmap to the executive suite.com For show notes and sign up to get alerts. All new episodes will be posted every Thursday. Talk to you next week.