Advice From Women Who Made It to the Top

Music from the likes of Aretha Franklin, Cyndi Lauper and Katy Perry blasted from the speakers in an Office of Personnel Management auditorium on Monday, where more than 100 women from inside and outside government gathered, waiting to be inspired.

OPM organized the event to showcase successful stories of women who climbed the federal ladder to executive positions, hoping to motivate and educate anyone looking to enter or advance in government. Political appointees and Senior Executive Service employees spoke to the crowd and online viewers to share their experiences and offer tips for women looking to follow in their footsteps.

The panelists took diverse paths to their senior government positions: Carmen Cantor, for example, spoke of her journey from a U.S. Postal Service worker in Puerto Rico to Florida and eventually to Washington, D.C., where she now serves as the director of civil service human resource management at the State Department. OPM Acting Director Beth Cobert went directly from a two-decade career in the private sector into a Senate-confirmed position at the Office of Management and Budget.

The women offered a range of advice, from when to workout (Cobert said in the morning) to how aggressively to pursue temporary duty assignments (very aggressively). One common theme emerged: Take chances.

“For me, it’s all about new challenges,” Cantor said, telling the story of when she was offered a job to stand up State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism. “I almost didn’t take the job because I didn’t think I could do it.” Cantor instructed the audience to learn from her near mistake: “Just jump and do it.”

Patricia Silvey, the deputy assistant secretary at the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration, said the SES has not been everything she imagined, but still encouraged women to strive for it.

“Don’t be afraid to try new things,” Silvey said. “Innovate in terms of yourself.”

For some on the panel and in the audience, the mere existence of the event was inspiration.

“What a pleasure it is to serve on a panel with all these wonderful women,” said Michelle Lee, director of the Patent and Trademark Office. “I serve on a lot of panels and there are usually a lot of men.”

Christine Gonzales, an attendee who works for the National Education Association, said after the event that hearing the triumphs of the panelists gave her “chills” and her eyes “filled almost with tears.”

The speakers also encouraged the audience members to challenge themselves by listening to those who think differently. 

“Surround yourself with people you trust and you respect,” said Alexis Smollok, the supervisory air marshal in charge for the Federal Air Marshal Service, “but not like minded. You want that different opinion, that different perspective.”

Lee agreed, and said that should apply to both personal and professional experiences, and exemplified the importance of events like the one at which she was speaking.

“You want more women,” Lee said. “You want people with different perspectives, from different industries. And that’s critical, not just as a social matter but as a matter of good decision making, good business, good execution of any agency’s priorities.”

OPM’s event came as the agency has emphasized increasing diversity in the federal ranks, focusing in particular on senior leadership positions. A 2015 OPM report found more women were on leadership tracks in government than in previous years, with female employees comprising about one-third of the SES. A report on data from fiscal year 2011, however -- the latest in which the Bureau of Labor Statistics collected the information -- found the share of women in the federal workforce was slipping from recent years, and had barely ticked up from 10 years prior.

Miryan Gerdine, a 20-year veteran at the Health and Human Services Department, said she was impressed with the different paths panelists had taken to the SES -- a goal she one day hopes to attain. Hearing from people who have done it, Gerdine said, provided motivation.

It serves as "a reminder," she said, “taking risks. Things that I know, things that I’ve read. But being in a room like this with women who are definitely milestones ahead of me, hearing that reinforcement is critical.”

Gonzales, the NEA employee, said down the road she would consider shifting to federal service, adding she would want to make it to the top ranks.

“You’d want to go in all the way, full force,” she said. “So SES is the way to go.”