Advice for Women: Navigating the Corporate and Political World - Karen Boykin-Towns
I was recently interviewed by Her Agenda, a digital media platform empowering women from all facets of life.
I discussed the beginning of my career in government and some advice for other women professionals seeking a career in government and business.
Here are some excerpts:
“I got my start from a man named David Patterson. He was the 55th governor of New York State. When I met him, he was a newly elected state senator from Harlem, where I’m from. I was a junior in college lobbying for increased financial aid for independent colleges, asking legislators for support. He was very nice and he understood the issues. That summer, I went to work on his re-election campaign. I thought it was really nice, so when I was a senior, I went back into lobbying for the same thing. He remembered me working on the campaign, and he said that if I was interested in working with him when I graduated, he would love to have me as part of his team. So, I got my start working with him in politics, and I worked in the state senate for nine years. I think that was a foundation for me to then be able to go into corporate America and have a successful career and all the other things I do.
“I suggest that women who would like to get involved with politics start by getting involved with your community, going to community board meetings or school board meetings, you get to meet the elected officials. You get to meet some of the players within the government. You have to be involved.
“But, the corporate and political world can be tough. There are times when you may feel that the organization you are with is compromising your values. That’s why it’s important when you’re looking at companies where you’re going to work, you’re spending time making sure that the company is a good fit for you. You have to have a sense of your own values of what’s right and what’s wrong, and the internal fortitude to know that if the situation doesn’t feel right, to move on. If they tell you, you can’t be there anymore, so be it. At the end of the day, we should never compromise our values for anybody or anything.
“I think that sometimes we get duped into thinking that we need to have some big job or some lofty title to have an impact and that is so not the case because we all have power. We all can influence the sphere in which we operate. It’s about using your voice. That may be in your tenant association, it may be within your block association, it may be a church, it may be within your division or your department of your job. We need to be courageous. Understand that you can have an impact, big or small, regardless of the issue. The NAACP is the vehicle that I use in which to be an advocate, but there are so many organizations one could look to be a part of. And listen, organizations need us.
“We must balance our lives to avoid getting burnt out. Know that self-care is not selfish. Sometimes, I am so busy thinking of the next three or four things I need to do that even when I’m supposed to be relaxing, I’m still thinking about the things I should be doing. I’m trying to get better with it. I get acupuncture. I try to get enough sleep each night. We try to balance as much as we can, and we do the best that we can.
