VIDEO: How Fannie Mae’s Samantha Acosta leads with a focus on visibility and growth

Ragan’s Council Career Conversations, a recurring series within Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council,  gives council members a chance to illuminate their career paths and unpack lessons learned along the way

In a recent interview with Samantha Acosta, director of enterprise &business communication strategy at Fannie Mae, recalled the guidance a past leader had provided she was new to communications at an engineering firm. Putting her on projects to lead at the corporate level, and encouraging her to pitch senior executives, had an outsized impact on her visibility.

”My name, my work, my face, were all known,” she recalled. “And I was able to build relationships because of that.”

Acosta also recalled how much that leader pushed her out of her comfort zone.

“He put me on projects that were challenging and may have the potential to fail,” she remembered, “and fail big. The impact there is that I became more comfortable stepping into things that are more challenging.”

The third thing Acosta learned from this leader is how to value your direct reports for who they are.

“He saw me for me,” she recalls. “He knew my preferences, he knew my fears, he knew my personality. He nurtured my type A personality but also was very respectful and quick to show where it got in the way of me doing things and getting things done well.”

Ultimately, this leader also advocated for Acosta’s growth and supported her when she was ready to leave her team.

Acosta shares  more in the full episode, available here:

Learn more about joining the Communications Leadership Council here.