Full interview with Melissa Raczak
 

What did you want to be when you were young?

When I was growing up I first wanted to become a Las Vegas dancer. And when I was 16 years old I took my first accounting class and I was determined that’s what I want to do, become an accountant. But I haven’t done that for 20 years.

What happened to your Las Vegas dream?

I realised I wanted to earn a good living, own my own house and I didn’t think that being a Las Vegas dancer would give me that. And that’s why I wanted to step into business.

Did you make conscious choices when it comes to your career steps?

I made very clear conscious choices about my career. I was very determined to be in the business world, determined to make a good income and I was determined to live on my own and be independent. I was not gonna depend on any man.

Do you think that your strong determination caused your burnout?

About 10 years ago I had a burnout, and a lot of that had to do with me losing myself to the process and focus too much on work, determination, a lack of self-confidence, understanding my internal strength and always trying to be who I wasn’t and trying to be the sheep with the 5 legs.

What helped you to be you again?

Sadly to say what helped me to get better was the burnout. It took me on a journey, with a lot of people around me helping me. So one piece of advice I give you is: have a coach and a mentor. Because there I learned to focus on the things I want to do, to ask questions, and actually share the struggles and be more vulnerable with people around me. So share when you’re struggling and ask for help.

Is that also your advice for students? Because a lot of students have a burnout nowadays?

A couple pieces of advice that I would like to give you as a student is: check in with yourself on a daily basis. Ask yourself: am I doing the things that I wanna be doing? Is this taking me a step forward? Drink enough water, minimise your social media, get enough sleep, and make sure you move and exercise. And one last tip is the power of breathing.

Why do I think breathing is so important? Because we live in such a adrenaline-driven world, we actually breath to high up in our chest, so if we can just learn to breathe, deep breath in 3 seconds and out 3 seconds it can change the whole chemical balance in your body. And you can do it everywhere, anywhere, all day.

The power of the breath can really relax you. We all have stress throughout the day, constantly having stress. And if you just learn to bring your breath down to a normal state of relaxation it will give you more energy, it will make you more conscious of your thinking and actually it will open up your creativity. Which will make you more effective.

What are the biggest challenges in your position?

Some of the biggest challenges on a daily basis in my position is finding the balance. There are so many great things at my company, at Deloitte, that I love to do. I could work 24 hours 7 days a week, and every day there are choices. I have 2 daughters at home, I have a husband, and I have personal friends so it’s a constant juggling of those things and prioritising each day and for me personally making choices.

How do you make those choices?

I wake up every morning and have a moment of, you can call it meditation, or focus on my day. Thinking about what do I want to achieve today. What are my priorities? And I really reflect on how I feel. So if I wake up extremely tired, that also determines things that I want to do that day. And when I wake up really energetic, and I have a clear vision on all kinds of tasks, then maybe I grab on some more tasks that day. But I take a conscious choice every morning to think about the things that I want to do.

When did you start with this way routine?

After my burnout, as I learned that I really needed to have more focus and make better choices for myself. So for me that was a moment of centring myself each morning and thinking about what do I want to make of this day.

Did you have someone who inspired you to do that?

I had many thing that inspired me. One person is Isabella, who is my coach, she’s a huge inspiration to me. And I read some great books. Thrive, from Huffington, the president and CEO of Huffington Post. I can highly recommend that. A lot of great tips in her personal story inspired me.

Which part of you work do you like the most?

What do I like the most about my job? Two things. The colleagues that I work with, because it’s actually a very young generation that works at Deloitte, the average age is 31, so they keep me feeling young and inspired. And secondly our clients. Their challenges, their innovation that they’re trying to do and how they’re looking to the future to be relevant. And how we can help them stay relevant.

You’re also a board member of Women in Cable and Telecom, could you tell us more about that?

I’m also a board member of Women in Cable and Telecom. Why am I a part of this? I really believe we have to continuously stay in and build networks. I find this membership very important for me to stay relevant in my work and that’s the industry that I work in. I also believe, especially for women, continuously invest in your network. Invest that time in building a network, no matter what industry you’re working in, or the community. Stay connected to people, because you will the power of what a network can bring you.

You are working on empowering women. Do you have someone who inspires you in this role?

One of my key purposes in life is to keep women working. I’ve seen too many women fall out of their working career and there are a lot of women who inspired me over the years, like Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, some great leader who have made an impact. And I want to help other women realise their self-strength and inner-strength of what they can bring into society.

Do you think women bring different energy than men?

In the world we are today I do believe the feminine and male energies bring great balance together, and we as a society have always continuously felt a woman’s place is in the home. And so I think over the years women really struggled with that. Now we have the opportunity to have the right to work. Just 50 years ago, in the Netherlands, women were fired when they got married, they were sure fired when they had a baby. In today’s world we find that unbelievable. So now is the time that women are able to have those rights, but at the same point there’s still this inner deep care that they have and that’s an inner struggle, or fight that we have of how do I keep working full-time, to achieve a career, and how do I insure that I raise a family?