A big thank you to all my former colleagues and forever friends of AT&T. You have been champions and have made my 25+ years of service a true joy. I, too, retired from AT&T. My last day was December 29, 2021.
Reflections with Gratitude
I appreciate all that I’ve learned and how I’ve grown. My goal was to provide great value to the company, and I hope what I leave behind is a measure of my intent.
Eighteen months after my employment began, I became an organization consolidator, bringing together accounting/finance departments, systems, and processes at the regional and national levels. Those roles were tough going at times; however, I met so many good people who trusted me to do the right thing, take care of others, and take care of what had to be done compassionately. Thank you, George Goeke, for believing in me. Your decisions over the years changed my life, and I’ll keep telling you that until my end.
As time went on, thanks to some key leaders, I got a chance to be a trustworthy builder of teams, policies, systems, processes, and later communities. I’m grateful for the opportunity to flourish, and I’m thankful to the leaders who gave me wind beneath my wings. If you ever had that kind of support for any length of time, you know how liberating that is to test your abilities without constraints. Thanks to many and especially to Joan Marsh. Your leadership was what I needed.
I’m most proud of the people and connections over my 25-year career. Whatever success I had was because of the teams I had the privilege to lead and the colleagues I had the privilege to partner with. And while I did not get a chance to call everyone personally, please know it pained me to send an “I’m retiring” email, but time was not my friend over the last few weeks.
For our Latino Leadership Collective, Celeste Carrasco, John Bruns, and the team leads will continue moving the effort forward. I’m proud of our Collective. We got a lot done, and in the coming weeks, there will be a video that tells our story. If that were not enough, we also forged significant partnerships with Fidelity to help educate our community with care and grace.
I’m also incredibly proud of the AT&T Women of Color program, which Anne Chow founded. It was an honor to be one of the AT&T WCC Champions for two years. Thank you, Anne, for creating this opportunity. I remember the day you offered me the chance to be a Champion. It was an honor to use my passions to advance economic empowerment through personal financial flexibility. Anne, your leadership and kindred-ship inspired me to listen within and undertake this work. I feel good about it.
What is next?
Well, I believe financial plans aren’t just for retirement. For me, financial plans allow us to grow and change. And that is what I’m doing.
I’m going to start a venture (bootstrap) with the mission to close the wealth gap for women and underrepresented communities. I’ll use my coaching, community building, relationship networks, and educational passions as tools and products to help achieve the objective. I hope to balance this mission-based business with more time with family and friends. That is what life is all about anyway. Right now, I’m busy building, so feel free to join the waitlist if you are interested when I launch.
To all who offered support of this new venture, I’m profoundly overwhelmed by your graciousness and generosity. Thank you for believing in me and the mission. I’ve felt called to do this work, and your literal support is comforting and an answered prayer that I will never be alone on this mission.
Over the last few months, I’ve been reading the retirement messages stating that people make a company meaningful and memorable. It is true. Well, I’ve got many memories, and I’ve played with champions. Thank you!
Closing
To all my leaders, colleagues, and friends over the twenty-five years, whether you are still at AT&T or have gone on to a new venture or adventure, here is an inspirational video of how I see you. You are true champions with Courage, Honor, [good] Attitude, Motivation, Perseverance, Integrity, Optimistic, Never [giving up].
Official Video - The Champion by Carrie Underwood and Ludacris
Anytime I hear this song, I’ll be thinking of you.
Onward for us all,
-Rachel