RECOGNITION at the company who noticed an influx of women joining Eze . She wanted to create something that would advocate for everybody ’ s careers within our company and create a resource of professional workshops and guest speakers .
“ She approached me and asked if I ’ d be interested in getting involved as a Chief of Staff and I said , ‘ Absolutely , I ’ d love to . I ’ m 100 % supportive of this and I ’ ll help in any way I can .’ It was also a great opportunity to start on the ground floor with that and from there we went and opened branches in all of our different offices . So , we have a branch in London , we have another in Hyderabad in India , so kind of all over . I was very fortunate to get in right when they were starting it .”
Alison was also a branch director of International Association of Administrative Professionals from 2017 – 2019 . IAAP is based in Kansas City and has been active for a little over 70 years . Alison has been a member for years and attended many of their workshops , as well as becoming a Certified Administrative Professional through an IAAP certification course .
“ After being involved for a few years I saw they had an opening for a branch director in New York and New Jersey , but I wasn ’ t 100 % sure of whether I could do it or what it would be like . But I decided to just take a leap of faith and apply for it and see if I could do it . They wound up picking me !”
“ Working in finance is very fast-paced and you have to be on top of every little detail . And really it pushed me to be my best every day and to make the role even bigger than what it was ”
Her role as branch director included overseeing different workshops , professional development resources and networking events in New York and New Jersey . Alison is very passionate about seeing the EA profession grow and succeed and although the role has come a long way , she hopes the future holds even brighter things for EAs .
“ I ’ ve been doing this for a little over ten years and even over the past ten years I think the perception has changed a lot . It used to be quite secretarial , maybe not quite as many responsibilities and a lot of people might still have that perception unfortunately … I think it differs from company to company , because maybe a company hasn ’ t had hard working and driven assistants in the past … then that ’ s their perception of how all assistants are . But I think it ’ s changing and definitely changing for the better . Like in New York City there ’ s a lot more opportunities and a lot more high-level opportunities like in Silicon Valley .”
With all of her extra-curricular work , Alison is a busy lady and finding the balance between her EA responsibilities and external support work is a hard task .
“ I ’ m a firm believer in always having a checklist and always planning things that are up and coming . If you have a calendar , I always have at least 20 different things a day that are my to-do list to tackle . I ’ m constantly trying to think ahead and of what needs to be done . If I think of that I ’ ll write it down and be like , ‘ Okay , I need to do this on that day .’”
Being organised is essential as an EA , otherwise you could become overwhelmed and forget things . Alison believes it ’ s imperative to be forwardthinking and organised and checking in with your managers and executives to make sure everything is going okay on their end , too .
But while Alison has had a successful career as an EA and adapted to the role quickly , there have been challenges she ’ s faced along the way .
“ One of the biggest challenges is that sometimes you get things dropped on you last minute . The nature of the role is to be a strategic planner but also to be there for your executives , or to some extent your whole office . If things pop up , you ’ re the one they can rely on .”
But for Alison , it ’ s been helpful to have a sense of balance with what you ’ re doing and almost expect for there to be problems that crop up . That way if something comes up last minute , mentally prepare by saying , ‘ Alright this might happen or there ’ s a chance I may have to stay late to do this ’. Alison is a firm believer that the role of associations or networks as part of the EA experience will continue to grow , especially on an international level .
“ What I loved about the Executive PA Media Awards is that you had so many international awards , specifically for each region and they were open to global entries . I think it ’ s so important to connect with people across the world and see what ’ s going on . I think we can learn so much from each other . It ’ s definitely been a huge part of my career just having people to talk to who have similar roles and people you can go to in almost a mentor sense has been really great .”
But despite all of her success and growth as an EA , Alison was delighted to have received the Outstanding Contribution award at the 2018 Executive PA Awards .
“ I was so excited . I really didn ’ t think that I would win ! I was so excited to have contributed to the profession with my involvement with IAAP and other organisations . It ’ s huge for me and so exciting and people that I work with are excited too and keep asking about it . I think it ’ s amazing what you guys do with the awards and locations and a strong advocate for all the organisations that support our profession , so it ’ s really been amazing .”
Alison closed out our interview with some inspirational words for those in the EA profession . “ It ’ s come so far in the past ten , twenty years and I ’ m just excited to see it keep growing and I think it ’ s important for everyone in the profession to give back and keep pushing forward . Because that ’ ll take it away for people coming after us .” S
Nominations open shortly for the 2021 Executive PA Awards . To nominate visit https :// executivepa . com / awards
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Issue 1 2021 | Chief of Staff 23