"If You Don't Tell Us What You Want, We Can't Help You Get There." VP Erika on Breaking Out of People-Pleasing and Advocating for Your Career

She Won a 40 Under 40 Award and Kept It Private. It Took Her 12 Years to Say Out Loud She Wanted to Be an Executive. People2.0 VP Erika on Self-Advocacy for People Pleasers

She received the SIA 40 Under 40 award. It was a big deal. And she kept it almost entirely to herself. She didn't know how to celebrate it externally without coming across as cocky. She treated it like a private accomplishment. Then she called her former leaders Kip Wright and Sunny Ackerman for advice on how to own it and talk about it. Their response changed how she thinks about her entire career: "Erika, if you don't tell the people around you — your internal sponsors, your mentors, everyone outside — we don't know how to help you get there."

That conversation also came with another realization. It had taken her over 12 years to say out loud, to anyone, that she wanted to become a company executive. Not because she didn't want it. Because the impostor syndrome was that loud.

Erika is VP of Strategic Account Management at People2.0, a SIA 40 Under 40 honoree, and by her own description a recovering people pleaser. She spent most of her early career waiting for leaders to notice her, navigate for her, and tap her for opportunities. It worked — until it stopped working. When she hit a plateau at Manpower, she realized: "If I didn't take those steps on my own, I would have stayed where I was at and probably gone stagnant."

In this episode, she breaks down what changed and how.

You'll learn:

• Why she kept her 40 Under 40 recognition private, what it felt like to not know how to celebrate her own win, and the mentor conversation that finally unlocked her ability to speak about her accomplishments.
• What it means to hit a career plateau as a people pleaser, and the moment she understood that waiting for others to drive her career was a strategy with an expiration date.
• Why she reached out to former leaders Kip Wright and Sunny Ackerman when she was ready to make a move, and why outside perspectives from people who know your results but are no longer your direct managers are some of the most valuable career input you can get.
• The 3 criteria she uses to choose mentors and sponsors who will actually move the needle for you.
• How she negotiated for work-life balance after years of traveling up to 90% of the time as a mother of two, and why the interview stage is the highest-leverage moment to ask for what you need.
• Why data-driven conversations change everything in salary and promotion negotiations: "For the past 24 months, I hit my targets at X amount" is a different conversation than "I think I deserve a raise."
• How to talk about your accomplishments in a way that reads as confident and grateful rather than arrogant, including what to do if you don't have formal SMART goals to point to.

About Erika: Vice President of Strategic Account Management at People2.0, SIA 40 Under 40 honoree, recovering people pleaser, and vocal advocate for women owning their career narrative. She has built her career across Manpower and People2.0 in strategic accounts and sales leadership.