CEO Rebecca Contreras Talks About Her Mistakes as a Young Woman, Working as a White House Staffer

<p>Episode page: <a href="https://markgraban.com/mistake155">https://markgraban.com/mistake155</a></p> <p>My guest for Episode #155 of the <a href="http://myfavoritemistakepodcast.com/">My Favorite Mistake podcast</a> is <a href="http://www.avantgarde4usa.com/about/leadership/rebecca-contreras/">Rebecca Contreras</a>. She is President &amp; CEO of <a href="https://www.avantgarde4usa.com/">AvantGarde LLC</a>, an SBA certified 8a and Women Owned Small Business firm she co-founded as Majority Partner in May 2011.&nbsp;Her firm offers a “one stop shop” approach to addressing complex organizational, people and technology needs.</p> <p>Rebecca Contreras is the author of the book <a href="https://amzn.to/3vazIQr">L<em>ost Girl – From the Hood to the White House to Millionaire Entrepreneur</em></a><em>,</em> which recounts her journey from becoming a welfare-dependent teenage mother to advising a sitting president, to driving a successful 100-person company.</p> <p>Rebecca is a social and business entrepreneur who started her fifteen-year service in government in a welfare-to-work program for Texas icon Ann Richards.</p> <p>Rebecca then spent nearly twelve years working with George W. Bush, first in Texas as his Director of HR then in the White House as a Commissioned Officer supporting the Presidential transition, followed by other roles in D.C.</p> <p>In today's episode, Rebecca shares her “favorite mistake” story about trying to move past some mistakes she made as a young woman. When she was becoming part of the White House staff, she was open and transparent about her past mistakes — was it a “crapshoot” that might not have turned out well? How did Rebecca move past her early mistakes, including dropping out of high school and becoming a teen mom?</p> <p>We also talk about questions and topics including:</p> <ul> <li>Mentoring and coaching girls today</li> <li>When President Bush called you to serve, why did you have imposter syndrome? How did you recognize that and get past it?</li> <li>West Wing protocol mistake