Today we’d like to introduce you to Winifred Summer.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My career journey began in the healthcare industry. Because I’m very caring and nurturing; I found a lane but honestly, I always knew that there was something else out there for me to do with my gifts and talents. My parents wanted me to be a nurse but I wasn’t going to do all that. At 16 years old, I was working inside a hospital and I’m glad I did! I was able to see the good, bad, and ugly of healthcare, and being a creative person who loves literature, it didn’t align with who I am naturally. What I noticed about my time in healthcare was I was so fixated on the healthcare provider. I was watching how they treated people and how the organizations treated them. It doesn’t surprise me that I ended up working in HR.
I would research work culture and HR policy because I felt like organizations we hiding information and bending the rules. I earned my master’s degree in Human Resources Management and graduated summa cum laude. I take pride in being an HR person with a heart to serve. HR people tend to have a gray cloud over their heads in the eyes of some employees. Having been in 3 very toxic work environments; I understand how stressful things can be and what it feels like when HR doesn’t seem to have your back. I wrote my most celebrated book, The Toxic Job Playbook, to help people. Everyone from leadership on down. Even people who are in the early stages of their job search. I am so proud of it and how well it has been received.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Being an author was always a dream of mine but I never thought I would be writing a non-fiction book about the workplace. For me, the struggle was internal. I had to quiet the voice that said I need to stick to poetry and fiction, that I wasn’t far enough in my HR career to write a book on the workforce, & that nobody would want to hear what I had to say. I would start and stop a lot during the writing process.
If it wasn’t for Instagram; I don’t think I would’ve finished. My social media supporters were so interested in this book. I started talking about it way before it was done and the response was so good. They were with me while I was in grad school, they were with me when I was working crazy hours, they were with me on my release date, and they bought many copies. They are my tribe. They kept me going when I second-guessed myself.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have done some speaking, which I truly enjoy. I love talking about career change most of all. I studied healthcare management as an undergrad and decided that it was worth it to go after something else many years later after several experiences in the workforce. It is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life and I thank God for a chance to impact lives through HR, creative writing, and speaking. Speaking to the youth is important to me as well. There is this idea that you have to have it all figured out at 17 years old. I don’t think that type of pressure is healthy. My message is not to be afraid to reinvent yourself over and over again.
I am a first-generation American of Haitian descent and there is also pressure there because of what your parents sacrificed to give you the opportunities here in America. You always want to make them proud. What I have discovered is operating in your purpose you will make them proud regardless because that is honoring God. My proudest moment was graduating from Walden University with my master’s in Human Resources Management. I wrote a list of things I wanted to accomplish and I prayed about it. The way it all happened was absolutely a miracle. It isn’t so much about the degree itself, it is about the act of obedience. Putting the opinions of others in the trash and doing what God put me here to do.
Taking the first step without seeing the rest of the staircase and before you know it, you’re on the next level. That is special. I could’ve stayed where I was for the rest of my career and been able to pay my bills just fine but I would not be fulfilled the way I am now. I want everyone to experience this feeling.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Faith and being a good listener. I believe signs are all around us. My writing has been celebrated since I was a child.
My empathy for people is like a magnet. People have always come to me for information and to vent because they trust me. I remember being at the bank and the bank teller telling me that I could be doing so much more with my talents.
Often times we let certain things go over our heads but I have learned to pay attention. My parents shaped me and I am honored to have come through them but I do know that I am my own person and that God has things for me to do that even they may not understand. I have a very big heart and that is a superpower because it pushes me to act.
Pricing:
- The Toxic Job Playbook is $16.99 (Amazon)
- Blame The Manager $4.99 (Amazon)
- Interviews That Changed My Life $2.99 (Amazon)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.winifredsummer.com
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/winifred365
Image Credits
www.photomemike.com
