Member Spotlight - Christine Schlomann - Congratulations on your retirement!
What advice would you give to young women today? 1. Be open to challenges and adventure. If you are given an opportunity to get outside your comfort zone for a project or assignment, jump on it! If you see a project or job you want to do but aren't being selected to do, ask to be considered for it. If you have a success, let people know about it. 2. Reject being too much a part of the virtual world. Be certain that you work a substantial part of your time in your company office rather than your home office. Go out to see clients or customers in person every chance you get. If you hope to advance in a company or with a client or customer, you need to be present and not just virtually available. 3. Find and develop mentors and coaches and advocates for yourself. While one in a million can achieve success all on their own, must of us need help and support from others to be a success in our chosen profession. 4. Wear red!
How did CREW help your career? It provided me contacts that turned into friends, advocates and coaches. I have gotten to meet so many spectacular people in Kansas City and across the country that I would not otherwise have gotten to met, let alone gotten to know, if I hadn't joined CREW. The people I have met through CREW have inspired me both professionally and personally. I learned a lot about areas of commercial real estate that I had not and would not have been exposed to simply by practicing law. I learned that in absolutely every aspect of commercial real estate (and a lot of other areas, too) there are incredibly successful and helpful women just waiting to lend a hand. Finally, I benefitted my clients by developing a terrific network of professionals to whom I could confidently refer clients as well as other attorneys. I became a "go to resource" which had a lot of benefits of its own.
What was the most memorable moment of your career? There have been a lot of memorable moments. Working on the sale of five Las Vegas casinos was very memorable. The Las Vegas gambling industry is very different. I learned a lot. Winning my first jury trial was terrific but every time I won for my clients it was exciting and memorable.
You served the community in many ways. What is your advice about connecting, collaborating and serving? You absolutely must find ways to volunteer and give back. Make sure, however, you volunteer for something that you are passionate about. Make sure you invest a big part of yourself in whatever project, group or cause you volunteer for because just like CREW, you only get out of it what you put into it. Don't sign up as a volunteer just because you will get business out of it because most likely you won't. You must be genuine in everything you do.
If you had it to do all over (knowing what you know now) what would you do the same/what would you change? I would definitely go to law school again and become a lawyer. I love practicing law. Its always challenging. It is never the same and it requires constant learning not only about the law but about whatever your case or project involves such as finance or gambling, or real estate development, or operating a hotel or flying an airplane. You can never know everything there is to know about even a small area of the law. You have to like learning something new everyday. If I were to change anything, it would be to have found more mentors and coaches within my firm and the bar in general.