Author: Amy Frazier, Managing Director, Client Experience, Sales Enablement & Proposal Center of Excellence Leader, PwC

When I’m not at work you can find me?

We have a large family, six kids with more than half of them on their own now, so when I’m not working, you will find me spending quality time with my husband Mark and our 2 girls who are still at home, riding ATVs when we can and spending quality time in my quilt studio cutting up fabric and sewing it back together.

What’s the best work-related advice you ever received?

It was in the early part of my career as a senior associate, and I remember my conversation with a Partner like it was yesterday. I have always been an early riser, avoid the traffic, enjoy some quiet time to focus, even save some money on parking and so I would arrive at work very early (6:30 a.m. early). This was before so much focus on flexibility and work your way initiatives. What I didn’t realize until the Partner said to me the words, “perception is reality” is that I was signaling expectations that everyone should arrive as early as me. Without me being explicit in my expectations and my intentions, it set the tone of perception. I have carried that phrase through my entire career to check my blind spots and actions and how my behaviors may be setting the tone for others. I am so grateful for those words of wisdom.

How do you know you’re making a difference?

Making a difference has meant different things to me throughout the course of my career.  Early on it was recognition, financial acknowledgement, being identified to lead strategic initiatives.  One thing though that has remained constant for me is seeing people around me grow and develop in their career. I remember and still have the first thank you card that I received from someone on my team. They went out of their way to acknowledge me for the experiences I had provided them and the guidance and coaching I offered. That I encouraged them to step out of their comfort zone and to be challenged and to learn. Once I have a vision of where we need to go, the most important focus for me is to empower the people around me to lead the vision, own their part and come together to accomplish great things as a team. When I see it come together, with me stepping out of the details, I know the team is growing and developing and it just makes me so proud.

Power is about to celebrate its 7th anniversary. How has the organization grown and evolved in that time, and what has been its biggest impact?

When I joined the founding Board of Power, there was a vision, with little to no resources and we needed to build it. When I took over as the Chair, we had made significant progress with sponsor support, membership growth and board engagement to lead the vision of the organization, but we weren’t yet in a stable place financially and with longevity in mind. We were still too dependent on a small group of passionate women and men focused on survival. I committed to expanding the passion throughout the Board and our committees, position us to be better positioned financially to weather storms (and boy we had one with COVID), focus on succession planning that looks into the future so that we became much more than this small group. We have made huge strides in finding stability, we have a full Board that is as passionate, if not more, than our founding Board and we are investing in our infrastructure to position us to grow.  I’m very proud of our progress. It’s a philosophy of pay it forward and leave things better than when you got them!

As Chair Emeritus, how will you continue to make a mark on the organization? 

For me, now I feel I can shift my time to participate more in the programs, serve as a mentor and promote even more the mission and value that Power offers to companies and our members looking to advance women emerging leaders.