How This C-Suite Executive Turned Career Pivots Into Power Moves

​xoNecole: You've had a diverse and successful career that included several pivots, working in global diversity communications with NBCUniversal to being a talent assistant on a very major TV show, to becoming a professor and now in your current role at Hachette Book Group. What would you say are three key career advancement actions that you would say helped you sustain those pivots?

Gabrielle Gambrell: At CBS, I was there for seven years being my millennial self. That's the longest job I've ever had, and I'm excited about my current role in the ship, because I plan to be here for quite some time. I just absolutely love it. But when I was at CBS, I was working hard, reporting to the chief communications officer, doing amazing things, working on the Super Bowl, working on the U.S. Open, working on the Grammys, working on executive comms, helping to prepare things for the CEO of CBS Corporation. And I was in my 20s just living my dream, but I wasn't making a lot of money, to be honest.

A mentor taught me early on in my career that you have to ask and advocate and prove every dollar, every opportunity you want, and every dollar and every title that you want. And so I then learned to create a brag sheet.

​xoN: Wait, let’s pause there for a second. A brag sheet? Explain what exactly that is and how women can start unapologetically logging their wins, especially with today’s challenges of unemployment and underemployment?

GG: It’s typically updated on a weekly basis, and so I look at that to say, "What did I do this week that was transformative? What did I do when my boss said, ‘Good job. Amazing work?' What did I do that's never been done before? What did I put into place to elevate the brand and company?’"

And so because I always maintain that brag sheet, I can always advocate for myself. I can always kind of flex, if you will, to say, ‘Hey, these are some of my successes, and this is why I deserve x, y, z. So that's one thing that, like completely changed my life.

"A mentor taught me early on in my career that you have to ask and advocate and prove every dollar, every opportunity you want, and every dollar and every title that you want. I then learned to create a brag sheet."

​xoN: Well, that's awesome. And because there's a lot in the news about women being laid off, women not being hired, and a lot of people are unemployed right now. How do you maintain confidence with this sheet when you’re going through the ups and downs of career transitions?

GG: We're in a very, very unique time where someone can be immensely talented, so talented and face employment difficulties. And what I've also been privy to is people just coming to you all the time, where people are sliding to your private messages on LinkedIn, saying ‘How are you doing?’ ‘I got an opportunity.’ ‘Have you thought about this?’ ‘Have you thought about that?’ Most of the time I hear about people obtaining opportunities from their networks. To be honest, it's not from simply applying for a role.

Heaven forbid you get laid off and you no longer have access to your work email, so you can't go look in those folders to see what your successes and wins were. So, it's always making time—no matter where you are in your career—and making that a part of your schedule, making the brag sheet a part of your routine. It can be in a Google Doc, spreadsheet, or whatever way you want to keep track of those wins, even when you’re looking for the next thing.

​xoN: I love that, because you're right. You can be kind of a worker bee, and then later on, when you're looking for work, it's like, ‘Well, what did I do?’ Now, in your current role, what has been a major win for you?

I have a phenomenal boss. I work with amazing, brilliant people at Hachette Book Group, and I'm very grateful and blessed and happy to have the role that I have.

We recently had the Changing the Story Festival, which was a diversity, equity and inclusion festival. I’m proud of that. I'm proud of moments like when the CEO and our entire staff had a day of listening to panels and seminars and hearing from diversity, equity and inclusion experts, and made a clear correlation to how diversity, equity and inclusion positively impacts the business. Those are the things I'm excited about and make it amazing to work for this company.

​xoN: It’s always good to continue to be excited about your job after decades of working in industries. What would you want your legacy to be overall in your career?

GG: When, I think about legacy, when I think about brand, when I think about when it's all said and done: God is so good. I'm a woman of God. I'm grateful for God's blessings. I am so very, very blessed. I want people to say she was a great person. She contributed to society. Her family meant the most to her, and when I think about my legacy and what matters most to me, at the very top of that list is family, my children.

I'm at a place in my life that if somebody doesn't honor or respect me being a mother, that's not the proper place for me. If someone doesn't honor and respect that I will I'm going to be at parent-teacher night, my son does taekwondo. He's five years old, and he's a blue belt. When he gets his next belt, I will be there.

I would want my legacy to be that I am an innovative, creative, forward thinking person whose values include family, motherhood, who has an interest in all things media.

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