Leadership Development Leader Shares Career Lessons and a Growth Mindset
“When I saw what Alissa’s photography did for others, how she captures the inner essence of a person in her headshots, I wanted that too.” That is what Kate Chevarley Vong, a leader in Human Resources, said about why she came to Alissa for a headshot.
“I grew up in Boston, attending the oldest public school in the country, founded in 1635, the Boston Latin School. Everyone had to take a test to get in, but it is (still) free to attend. I took the test, was accepted, and attended from 7th to 12th grade. I met wonderful people from all different backgrounds there. The top-notch classical education I received opened a door to Harvard.
At Harvard, I received a liberal arts degree, developing my critical thinking, researching, and writing skills.” Speaking of developing, Kate has had a lifelong theme of leadership development and learning in her career. “The theme of learning runs back to my first job out of college. I moved to Japan to teach English to high school students in a rural area. It turned out, the students weren’t the only ones who learned. Me too! I hadn’t studied Japanese and had never been to Asia before. It was a humbling experience as I had to learn how to ask for help. I was functionally illiterate. But through it, I built strong relationships with people I worked with. I thought I would stay for a year, but I renewed for a second year because I was just grasping the language and understanding the culture. Gaining that global experience early in my career has made me a better leader and shaped a significant part of who I am. I’m so grateful.
After Japan, I returned to Boston and worked as a fundraiser at Harvard Medical School. This job allowed me to take business classes for free at night, which helped me to apply for dual MBA and Master’s of Industrial and Labor Relations degrees at Cornell University. From there, I joined American Express as part of their HR Global Rotation Program, went on an international assignment in the UK, spent time as an HR generalist, I eventually transitioned into leadership development and performance management, leading programs for the company at scale.
Then I had the great opportunity to join Microsoft, leading performance and development for over 200k employees to support high performance across the company. I had a chance to reinforce Microsoft’s growth mindset culture through the programs and learning resources that my team developed.
Recently, Kate has had the opportunity to transition from big tech to biopharma and recently joined Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a pioneer in RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics in the Cambridge/Boston area, as Global Head of Learning and Leadership Development.
Kate offers this advice: “Don’t be afraid to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Things are changing fast. Instead of being afraid, be adaptable.
Focus on your own learning and development. Build new skills and capabilities with a growth mindset. You might not know something yet, but we can all learn something new, particularly in this new AI era.
There was so much to appreciate about Alissa’s headshots. The combination of taking time out of my day to get my hair and makeup done was a pleasure. Also, it was great to be able to take lots of pictures in a comfortable environment when you have an expert who optimizes on your behalf!”