Explore the key leadership lessons shared by Cydni Tetro, Seraphine Kapsandoy, Melanie Jones, and Kat Kennedy at the final WBIL Impact Den event of the school year. Learn actionable tips on confidence, leading with change, and building team success.
The last WBIL Impact Den Event of this school year was a huge success, and we owe it all to four amazing women:Cydni Rogers Tetro,Seraphine Kapsandoy, PhD, RN,Melanie Paris Jones, andKat Kennedy. This event looked a little different than our usual events; this time we were lucky to hear from all of these women in a spectacular, and intimate, series of Q&A’s. If you weren’t able to attend, don’t worry, I have you covered! This article will outline the key takeaways from each guest.
The host for this event was the amazing Cyd Tetro. Cydni is a strong leader and a trailblazer for women in both the tech and business industries. She is the definition of a renaissance (wo)man, as she does it all. Ranging from being adjunct professor at BYU, to being an investment committee and board member for the Utah Innovation Fund, to being a leadership speaker and author. Although Cyd was our host for the morning and interviewed the three other women, we were also able to collect absolute nuggets of gold from her inputs.
Before the Q&A began, Cyd explained to us that, due to her position and leadership, she often has many, particularly women, reach out to her about career struggles. Whether those struggles are due to not enough confidence, not having supportive management or leadership, not getting the promotion, having a hard time adjusting to change, Cyd had four tips that encompass it all.
1. Work for people thatvalueyou!
2. When opportunities come, take the offer every single time (you won’t get it again).
3. Give and take feedback... it’s how you get better.
4. Be the person people want on their team byshowing up!
What it comes down to is your own self, Cyd explained. Life is hard and curveballs will be thrown at you from every which way. At the end of it all though,
"You are the architect of your career and leadership style"
Seraphine is a force to be reckoned with. Currently, she is both a nurse and is working in tech. For nearly 22 years now Seraphine has worked for Intermountain Healthcare, working her way up to her now position, Regional Clinical Informatics Director. She is also currently the VP of population healthcare and clinical operations. Although extremely successful now, life wasn’t always so easy for Seraphine. She told stories of hard times growing up, losing loved ones, and about experiences she had when first moving to the US from Kenya. When asked about her first encounters with leadership she mention that she just had to just jump in and figure it out. She mentioned that the key to this is finding your passion and just keep going. Her philosophy on leadership is to ask yourself
“Am I of service?”
At the base of it all should be caring for others and being comfortable with, and to lead with change. It is important to recognize that leadership is a partnership, and for a partnership to be successful it must bring out everyone’s best. Seraphine, like Cyd, had four tips of her own:
1. Learn to lead with change
2. Get to know yourself
3. Continue upward
4. Network
Although all great advice, what touched me the most was what Seraphine mentioned at the very end. She made sure to let everyone know that they need to “invest in yourself”. A simple, and seemingly obvious phrase, but when you actually think about it, it is extremely difficult. But, as you invest in yourself, you increase your own capital.
Melanie is an inspiration and role model for leaning into change, and learning to never stop believing in yourself. She started the portion of her time by explaining that most of her life she was in manufacturing, and yet she is now in publishing. She admitted that it was a big change leaving her job that she had been at for nearly 30 and go into something new. Melanie took big risks, and she explained that “Sometimes you have to leave the nest if you want to grow”. She is now the editor-in-chief for Utah Business.
Listening to Melanie’s story was nothing short of encouraging. She spoke a lot about feelings of insecurity and not feeling like you belong. This hit home with me as well, and I know that everyone has felt those same feelings before as well. Melanie described insecurity as a “performance inhibitor”. That as you find ways to feel like you belong, calm down, recognize you don’t need to be perfect, and lean into your own strengths you willalwaysbring value. Although difficult, sometimes you just need to
“Put on your big girl pants... and go get the job!”
Being a leader is not only finding your own position, and personal being all those things, but also helping others. She explains that leadership to her means having high expectations but not being prescriptive, and most importantly it means that sometimes you must “borrow your confidence to others”. As you do this and as you climb this infinite ladder you will make thing better now and for future generations.
Last, but certainly not least, we heard from the incredible Kat Kennedy. Before the event I personally had multiple encounters from guests coming to specifically hear from Kat, and now I understand why. When it comes to being a girl boss, Kat has got that covered! She is smart, persistent, charismatic, and always shows up... even when she is sick but has to speak at a UVU WBIL Impact Den Event. Kat grew up on a cattle ranch where she learned computer science and engineering. She has taken everything that she learned in her life and has made a name for herself in the VC world. Currently, Kat is general partner for the Kickstart Fund.
Kat recounted her first experiences as a leader. When in her first leadership position she got a terrible review from one of her employees... it was then that she realized she had to change. Instead of giving up she knew she needed to “find the lesson in the failure”. She explained that
“A leader needs to be on the offensive line; not be the quarter back”
The way successful leadership is measured is through team success, not individual success. This requires both diversity and a lot of perspective.
Like Melanie, Kat also touched base on insecurities. One thing she said that stuck with me is this, she stated, “youare your biggest barrier”. The number one block to success is your own self, and at the root of that is insecurities. Kat emphasized that you don’t need to have all the answers, but you do need to know yourself and your bestandat your worst. Then you help your team do the same. We’re all overcoming our own insecurities.
I recognize how lucky I am to be surrounded by these incredible women, learn about their experience, and take in their advice. Through these four women we all were able to learn some remarkable lessons on leadership: leading with change, showing up, caring for others, ditching insecurities, finding your value, and more. As a young college student, I know I will apply it to my best abilities, and I hope you do too.
The WBIL wants to extend a hand of gratitude and love for Cyd, Seraphine, Melanie, Kat, all the other incredible guest speakers we’ve had this year, and everyone who attended our events. We love learning with you all.
