Gina

Toliver

To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re spotlighting Gina Toliver. Gina is a retired vice president of Human Resources with Marriott International, where she provided strategic human resources support to the HQ Finance Business Partnerships and HQ based Americas Finance as an HR Generalist, as well as the Talent Management lead for global market finance. She played a key role in ensuring the building of finance talent globally.

Gina’s work with Dress for Success started several years ago when she was looking for an organization to which she could donate her professional clothing. As she learned more about the organization, visited their office, and met some of the clients and volunteers, she realized how wonderful of an organization it was to get involved in.

For several years, Gina was a client mentor, volunteered at events, and continued donating her clothing. She loved being a part of the positive atmosphere and saw the gratitude the clients had for the people that were sincerely helping them. It was a feel-good experience she wanted to continue. Gina expressed that Dress For Success Washington, DC is a great organization for women who want to get back on their feet, feel confident enough to rejoin the working environment, and get access to the tools and resources that can help make them successful.

Check out Gina’s advice to women in a professional environment!

Who is the best mentor you’ve had, and what advice did they give you?

The best mentor I had was actually my father, and he probably didn't even know he was my mentor because I never asked him to be. I watched him and I listened to him. And he taught me a lot of things, but I would say that three things he taught me that helped me in my career were…

1. Surround yourself with people you can learn from.

2. Treat everyone the same–with kindness and respect.

3. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

What advice would you give to women starting out in their careers, reentering the workforce, or looking to make a career change?

So for a woman that's just starting out, and someone that's new in their career, I would say focus on being true to yourself. You want to make sure you feel comfortable in the work environment and that you're true to yourself. Things that I think are important for anyone no matter what job you have, no matter what company you work for, are to…

●      Be Punctual

●      Be Responsible

●      And Communicate

I think those three things, no matter what job you have, are key.