Meet the BuildHERs: Monét Means
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Monét Means knows there’s more than one way to build a successful career, and she has the pivots to prove it.
As a senior organizational development partner at Electrolux Group, she helps leaders create workplaces where people can grow, perform and still be themselves. She’ll bring that perspective to BuildHER as part of the Women Leading in Charlotte executive panel.
Monét’s strategy for walking confidently into a high-stakes room starts before she ever arrives. “If you look good, you feel good,” she said. For her, that means choosing an outfit that feels authentic and helps her show up as the professional she knows she is, even if that outfit includes gold shoes and pearls.
Monét calls her career story “the art of the pivot.” She has worked in public education, led a school for children with special needs and served as a children’s pastor. On paper, the roles may look unrelated. But a common thread connects them all: helping people become their best selves.
Her most meaningful pivot came shortly after college. Monét left a great job in Washington, D.C., put everything in storage and moved to South Carolina to care for her mother. Others may have thought the decision was “the most unhinged thing,” but Monét knew what mattered. “I got to spend the last two years of my mom’s life with her,” she says. “It was the best time of my life.”
Perhaps that’s why she has no patience for rigid career rules. “The whole idea of the corporate ladder deserves to go in the trash can,” Monét says. A career is more like a game of Chutes and Ladders: sometimes you move up, sometimes you slide down and gain skills that prepare you for something new.
She’s equally honest about getting noticed at work. “Sometimes you should feel like the shameless self-promoter.” Doing great work matters, but so does making sure people see it.
The key isn’t copying someone else’s approach. Whether you’re networking, building confidence or making your next move, Monét encourages women to “do so in a way that’s unique to you” instead of “following someone else’s blueprint.”
Join Monét at BuildHER on Nov. 13 for the Women Leading in Charlotte executive panel and learn how to advocate for yourself, embrace new opportunities and bet on your potential.
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