Sometimes, you have to reinvent yourself to hit the next stage in your life, personally and/or professionally. That is just what M.T. Ray, Vice President of Talent at High Alpha, did when life threw a few curve balls in her career path.
After growing up in the Northeast, M.T. and her family spent time in several cities across the U.S. as job opportunities for her husband presented themselves. As the self-described “trailing spouse”, M.T. followed her passion for human resources (HR), roles through each city she lived.
After settling in Indiana, M.T. landed a job at Apprimo, where all was well until the economic crash of 2009. After being laid off and searching for new job opportunities, M.T. realized this was a time to reinvent herself through learning new job skills. “Get back up when you get knocked down,” says M.T. – and that is just what she did. Throughout the course of a year, M.T. dove into networking opportunities, including via social media, small business events and free training classes, as well as blogging. She also set a goal for the next step of her career path – to work at ExactTarget.
She was able to achieve that goal, heading to ExactTarget’s HR department with a small team of five people. How did she do it? “Working hard, grit, perseverance, and adaptation.” Over the course of her tenure, as the company was acquired by Salesforce, she was able to grow the team to nearly 50 people, the second largest HR office for the company in the country. As she evaluated her next opportunity – to move to San Francisco to continue her path with Salesforce to try something new – she decided to make the move to the small business world, joining the High Alpha team.
Now building a team at High Alpha, a venture studio that that helps launch and finance startups, M.T. has reinvented herself again, bringing her large company skills to a growing business. Her passion? Ushering more women into the tech space. “There are tons of opportunities for women in tech and a shortage of resumes.”
For her entire career, M.T. Ray has reinvented herself, from learning new skills to taking new job roles, not matter the stage of her work life. Her advice for those that might be thinking they need a reinvention? “Speak up, be true to yourself and own your own destiny – don’t be afraid of change.”
Interested in hearing from other women in the Indy community about their professional journey? Join our LinkedIn Group or sign up for our email list to get the latest information on upcoming speakers and events!
Thank you again to our sponsor, Edge Mentoring! Use this link to get $20 off their upcoming event, EDGE|X coming to Indy October 7th.
Photo credit(s): @rosie.grayce, @lesson.ly, @allytbrett