Julia Muzquiz,
My very first job was at a Veterinary Hospital. After putting in 500 hours of volunteering during my senior year in high school, I was beyond excited that I was offered a position as a veterinary technician.
I didn’t know of the verbal abuse that was before me.
I grew up in a sheltered home so the older technicians thought it was funny to make me uncomfortable with sexual jokes. I wasn’t paid overtime when I stayed late and I was told I was replaceable. I was asked if I wanted to ‘push the drugs to euthanize’ a dog that I had grown attached to. I’ve had other jobs where I wasn’t paid appropriately, my time wasn’t valued, and I was told ‘you’re so dumb’. I felt joy helping animals but found it hard to be passionate about my career path. The owner of the practice used intimidation and fear to run her business. I never felt like I made an impact on the people and animals around me and found it hard to communicate.
Finally after 7 years of working with animals, I decided to change paths. Although, I had great experiences at other jobs, I found my home at Chuze. It’s been such a drastic change from what I had experienced before. I’ve been mentored, supported, and encouraged by Nick, Farel, Nate, and the dream team of the OG DOTMs Carissa and Jackie.
A prime example is that this past weekend at our SoCal Leadership Retreat I was surrounded by people that made me feel loved, who wanted to be around me and took a genuine interest in wanting to know me as an individual and not just Nate’s wife.
Going through those tough experiences years ago and even when I face challenges now, makes me appreciate our culture and our people so much more and how rare it truly is to have the atmosphere that we do.
MY WHY is to play a part in impacting that each employee feels valued, like they belong, like they’re part of a team, and like they’re part of something extraordinary just as I do everyday.
My WHY is to impact our future employees and how we communicate with them. Our collective whys and their impact on our members and employees stand a real chance at changing the world and I’d like to think I play a part in that.