American Staffing Association: Don't wait for the perfect time. There is no perfect time. The time's now. If you've got the passion, if you have the experience, if you have a clear vision of what you're wanting to do and how you're wanting to serve your clients, trust yourself and go for it. Don't settle. If you think that there's like a goal that you want to go to, push past that. Keep pushing further and further. Welcome to the E2E podcast where we take you on a leadership and career journey from entry level to executive. My name is Laith and helping me take you on that journey today is Diana Mertz. We're the third time the senior director of membership and engagement at the American Staffing Association. Today we are going to be diving into Women's History Month, special Women's History Month themed episode. And we have an incredible guest to go along with that. How are you doing today, Diana? Hey, third time's a charm, third episode with you Laith and I'm happy to be here for Women's History Month. Yeah, like I said, I don't think we've, I don't know if we've even ever had someone repeat as two hosts and now you're a third, you're a three-peater. So shows how much I love co-hosting with you. I love being here. Thanks for having me. And I'm really excited who we're here with today. Sheena Ranika-Behr is our CEO and founder of Integrity Staffing Group. And I'm really excited to just interview her and chat a little bit more about her story. Before starting her firm, Sheena served as a regional director at Express and later as a vice president at Tabor Staffing. In 2018, she made the leap and founded Integrity Staffing Group, where she focuses on helping companies build stronger recruiting, retention, and workforce strategies while keeping the human side of staffing front and center. Under her leadership, the company has grown rapidly and was recently recognized as one of the fastest growing staffing firms in the country. Sheena currently chairs the Women in Leadership Interest Group, and I have a chance to work with her very closely right now with ASA. And she's also played a major role in Thrive, which is our community focused on supporting and elevating women in staffing. Additionally, she has been named to the SIA 40 under 40 list, as well as the Global Power 150 Women in Staffing list. So Sheena, welcome to the E2E podcast. Hey, thank you both. I'm so excited to be here. We're excited to have you. And Leith contacted me and said, let's do something for Women's History Month. Who do you have in mind? And I said, I really love Sheena's story and I think we need to have her on the podcast. So thanks for saying yes. Oh yeah. Yeah. So glad you thought of me. Excited to share. Awesome. So let's talk a little bit about your journey in staffing and really your rise to leadership, founding your own firm in 2018. In the bio that I just read, you talked about working at a staffing firm to then deciding to take that leap to entrepreneurship. So. Give us a little bit of insight into how you got to, you know, started thinking about launching your own firm and what that journey was like. Yeah. So I didn't necessarily have a dream to open my own business. I was kind of at a crossroads in my career and not really knowing which path to take next. And so I called my dad and I was really just raw with him about like, just, I don't know what I'm going to do. what, what I want. I love staffing. my whole career, my whole professional career had been in staffing. And I had customers calling me just really wanting me to continue to serve them and asking what my future plans were going to be. And he said something and asked me this question. said, you know, you've done this for so many people. Why not just do it for yourself? And it was really wild. It was almost like a lid just talked off of this box that I somehow put myself in. It flew open and I immediately thought it was like kind of that trigger in my mind, like, yeah, I can do this. I am going to do this. That is what I want to do. I love something. I don't want to do anything else. So just him believing in me was that first kind of thought of starting the business. love that. It's the taking a chance to bet on yourself, which is a pretty big risk. Where did you find the confidence to... to take that leap? You know, I think like my experience, one, like I had 10 years at that time in the industry and I knew that I would be successful because anything that I put my name on or I put my heart into and that I loved, that I was gonna be successful with it. And there wasn't a plan B. There was not an option to not succeed. And so that gave me a lot of confidence too. I also knew my work ethic. ⁓ And again, I mentioned that there were customers that were calling and that gave me ⁓ a load of confidence. I didn't expect to have ⁓ customers and those, some of my customers are like family calling and saying, our businesses are different today without your support. And so that gave me a lot of confidence. My friends, I have a really phenomenal friend group that supported me and talked to me kind of through some of it, pros and cons and, and, know, telling me some of the like really, really hard things I needed to hear, but also supporting me through that too. And there were people willing to invest in me and in my family, helping me realize how I could make it happen. You mentioned that you had a good line of customers coming in early on. What do you think you did to differentiate yourself from other staffing firms early on that allowed you to get that initial customer base? Yeah, great question. So, I love, there's like nothing more exciting than sitting at the table with a customer and working through some of their like most prevalent workforce like challenges. So they all look different, like every business is different, every customer is different and every solution that you work through with them is different. And so I think just being able to offer them really specialized support and resources and being an integral part of their business. ⁓ I, though, you know, it's integrity staffing. also a piece of every business. that we serve. I love that. Talk to me a little bit. I know you played college sports and I'd love to hear about how that prepares you to with your confidence and the risk that you took to start the business. Yeah, yeah. Sports at any level provides so much confidence. It also teaches you work ethic. It teaches you teamwork. It teaches you how to be coachable. And so I think all of those things helped create somewhat of a foundation of support for me to just build off of in my professional career. And, know, again, I go back to work ethic, like you got to put in the work, you got to put in the reps and sports did that for me. think teamwork, can't, you can't be successful in staffing really, you know, on any team without teamwork and the responsibility that I had for myself to put in the work because I had team members that were depending on me was key. And then also being coachable. like having a leader being able to coach. come to me and say, hey, you need to do something different. And looking at that, not as ⁓ something that was scary, but as a gift, like, thank you so much. What else can I do next? So sports helped me quite a bit. So I know taking the bet on yourself and people relying on you, you chose to start your business when your son was pretty young. How did you manage that balance with a, he was five, right, at the time? So a five year old and taking that leap into entrepreneurship? Yeah, and you know, like most of my career, was actually, my career as an entrepreneur, I was a single mom, and it takes a lot. ⁓ But when I opened the business, I wanted, and the message was, is that I wanted everyone to prioritize their family or those things outside of the business and have good balance ⁓ outside of the business so that they could have balance inside of the business. And so I had to show that. And that looked like a lot of really late nights. looked like a lot of early mornings. looked like, again, teamwork. So having a phenomenal team and I have a really, really wonderful team today that we support one another. So I take care of what I'm supposed to take care of, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it looks like an eight to five for all of us. Sometimes that means I've got to go to a parent teacher conference and my teammate is tagging me in on something, but I'm tagging in for them and I'm going to work just as hard on covering things for them. ⁓ I also, he was there quite a bit. and I, I saw a picture the other day, I found it of him sweeping before the office even started. We were laying floors. ⁓ we were busting walls down. were like getting a desk set up and he was setting up filing systems and desk. ⁓ he even now to base bill, ⁓ takes out the trash. So like he's a big part of it too. love that. And wait a second example, really from the top about. priorities and flexibility, because I think a lot of companies may say that, but if the leader isn't doing that themselves, it's hard to instill that within the culture of the organization. So you said it and you lived it at the same time, which I think gave your team the space to do that as well. So it's incredible. Yeah. Thanks. I think you can't serve other people unless you have space to serve. And so you got to take care of your own. own things first to be able to then serve others and we're in such a servant leadership or just a servant industry, you've got to make sure that everything else is in line to be able to do that. Yeah, makes sense. a little bit about, you know, we're telling your story of entrepreneurship, taking the risk, taking the leap. You didn't go it alone. You talked about your dad challenging you and really questioning you to bet on yourself. And you're like, dad spoke some truth there in that moment. But once you made that decision, who did you lean on for advice maybe beyond your dad or maybe your dad had some more advice and support while you were figuring out and starting your business? ⁓ so many people. Like it's not just one, it's not two. There's like a whole network. ⁓ Mentors were a really big piece of it through ASA. Like through ASA, I did the mentor and team match program. And that was really instrumental, I think, in my growth as a leader. And I was just really fortunate to have, again, great friends, people around me that were willing to tell me some of the hard truths and for me to be willing to hear that. But family, you my dad, of course, was someone I still reach out to. But having mentors and people in the industry really, really helped me as well. know you've been in the Mentor Match program a few times. Is there a mentor that really stood out? to taking your level to the next or your business to the next level really challenged you and has helped your path as an entrepreneur and CEO. Yeah, definitely. Michelle Simms, she's CEO of U Proplacement. I hit the jackpot with her. She was one of my first mentors through the program. And I remember one of the first like kind of calls that we had for being just so direct. She was so authentic. She was really raw with me, just very open. And she helped me gain more confidence as a leader. So like I had the confidence to open the business, but confident leadership was ⁓ also something I thought I had. But then you kind of question yourself, you know, sometimes ⁓ once you're continuing like down that role and so like she really came in a timely spot in my career and is still a valued mentor and friend today. know you credit her for speaking your name into rooms that you weren't in. and how that's been instrumental and that's that sponsorship that we talk about for women in leadership. And I, you know what, I was in that room where Michelle has spoken your name and she did that. And it's cool to see you recognizing that on the other side and how that's elevated you within the industry and within ASA. it's- ⁓ absolutely. Yeah, rooms that I didn't even know that I wanted to step into. or rooms that I didn't know that I might've had an opportunity. So like even back to talking to my dad, not realizing I had an opportunity to open the business, I didn't realize that ⁓ serving ⁓ on Thrive, the way that she suggested for me to serve, or serving with the women in leadership council, the way that she mentioned for me to serve was even something that was an opportunity for me. And she really challenged me to step out of my comfort zone. And by her really ⁓ being an ambassador for me and supporting me in a way that I didn't even know ⁓ was something that was coming for me in this was just really phenomenal and really special. I think that that story is the power of the Thrive community and the Women in Leadership community at ASA because you didn't know Michelle before the Women in Leadership group, right? That's correct. I didn't. Yeah, so I think that that just shows the value of the community. And I'm sure you have a few other people that you could give credit to as well that have elevated you since then, since really getting plugged in. But I'd love to hear your thoughts on why spaces like Thrive are so important to you, but just to our industry overall. Oh, yeah, definitely. And you're 100 % correct. There's so many. ⁓ and I, my story of falling into that thrive community was I truly fell into the community. walked into the wrong room that quickly became the right room. ⁓ and you Diana made me feel so comfortable and welcome and that that was the place that I needed to be in. ⁓ I had a network, but not necessarily a large network, ⁓ of staffing professionals. And that was kind of the beginning for me. ⁓ I met mentors. actually sat next to another mentor of mine, ⁓ Eric Wehieston. at Thrive, that's how her and I met six years ago. And she's become a friend and I've even met colleagues now today. And even those that I thought, you know, we're kind of celebrities in our industry, who've, you know, now become friends and people that I confide in. ⁓ And people that have helped me work through really tough decisions, just maybe even just to make a phone call to her to text and say, I'm walking into this really tough meeting and to get a boost of confidence. It's just really invaluable. And I'm not necessarily like a born networker. now Thrive is like the highlight of my year. It's like I get to come and hang out with so many ⁓ friends and people in the room that I look up to and they want to see me succeed. I want to see them succeed. just really, that's a great story. What do you think makes the Thrive community? so strong. think what makes the Thread community so strong is the authenticity that shows up there. Everyone is willing to be just so open about their successes. They're willing to be open and just really share about the challenges that they're going through, that they have gone through, just the level of authenticity and how much everyone's willing to share and support each other. It's really a culture of lifting others up. It's not a competitive culture. So the collaboration and the mentorship that you see at Thrive Events or those like that, it's just when you see people genuinely want to see each other succeed, that for you, just a really, really powerful environment. It's unmatched. It really is such an incredibly powerful environment. ⁓ just as an outsider coming in, when I first saw thrive, I was blown away by the amount of community and the amount of passion that came with it as a marketer. It's every marketers dream to want to have that kind of excitement. Around any product or any event that you're hosting. And I was asking Diana this yesterday while we were having this prep call, I was like, did you make thrive? And she was like, yeah. And I was like, wow, that, that is so impressive because whenever we're trying to do anything at ASA, we're trying to think how can we. replicate that energy and we, it's really difficult because it's, so authentic and it's so genuine. It's really, it's really an incredible thing to see. I would say that community made thrive. Like the community was thirsty for it and we just gave them the space to be. And I think that's what the value of associations can bring is that connection when people are looking for it. COVID was the best thing for thrive. We had had an event in 2019. maxed out the room, seats full. We had a year off. We started connecting virtually, you know, during COVID. And then that community that connected virtually was able to come back together in person, right, with our in-person events. And I think, I wonder what Thrive would be without COVID. I think we were looking for community and looking for each other. And that was the impetus for the event. But then it's really become this community of support and this space. that feels authentic and real to rise up women of all levels. You're telling your story as a CEO and founder, Sheena, but there's women at all career stages in there, authentically supporting one another wherever they're at. And I think that that's what's special. It truly is. Let's talk a little bit about the staffing industry metrics. So we're pretty gender equitable in the staffing industry, 50 % men, 50 % women. of only about a third are top level C-suite executives, women. Why do you think this is and how can we work on getting that number a little bit higher? Yeah, I think there's a lot of things. I think if I go back to kind of the mindset that I even had on starting the business or what route I was gonna take, I had kind of put myself in a box and I didn't really realize that that was necessarily an opportunity for me. And so I think sometimes whenever we may see ⁓ something generally looking different than what we look like ourselves. We kind of settle into a box, if you will, ⁓ in our minds on what we can do. And so I think there's, there's lots of things that we do one individually, like don't settle. If you think that, ⁓ you want to, there's like a goal that you want to go to push past that, keep pushing further and further. ⁓ I also think we can be a little more intentional, ⁓ on on growing women through the ranks and growing women through kind of C-suite positions. I think mentorship and our networks are a way to do that. And I think we just need to create more environments that help women feel empowered to take on some more risks, whether it's a leadership role, whether it's starting your own business. ⁓ And communities like Thrive do just that. But I also think... everyone in a leadership role and anyone in a CEO role, any founder, I would challenge us all to find just one person that you can help rise through the ranks. And that one person's then maybe going to impact another person and another person. I mean, we're going to see some change. Yeah. I just think about the opportunity that we have within the community within Thrive to lift people up and to see more CEOs that are women at the top. And I think that, like you said, putting the box around it and kind of boxing yourself out of opportunity. I think women do that in a variety of ways. know, parenting, if they have young kids, they're like, this is not the right time. There's never really the right time, because there's always a different season of life ahead of you, whatever that factor may be. But I think women may choose to step out of that path or opportunity more than male counterparts, you know, if they feel like more of the parenting responsibility or caretaking responsibility for aging parents. falls to them. And I think there's just a lot more things that might be intimidating about taking the risk, which is why I think your story is so impactful. Single mom doing that when your son's five years old is a big risk that paid off. did. It did. Yeah, it was a huge risk. I think you also just, you can't doubt it. I don't think that you can have space for that because if you doubt it, then that means there's like a little bitty tiny crease or crack that allows you an opportunity for it. maybe not happen. Like you just gotta, you gotta dive into it. If you're gonna do it, just dive into it. Was there ever any moment at the very beginning where you had, I know you said you had your dad who really was a big supporter who built you up, but did you have anything that was kind of the opposite, any outside negative ⁓ energy coming towards you where you were like, ⁓ maybe I couldn't do this because someone else was doubting you or somebody at your old company was saying, ⁓ my God, like good luck. Like, let's see how that works out for you. Yes, like. For sure. So we started in 2018, our first office, we were profitable within three months. We decided to open our second office weekly after very soon after that, there was a flood that hit in our founding office market. Half of our business was physically underwater and then a very large majority of them could not get shipments in and out. And so we had to pivot and We were able to get back on track and then we had another natural disaster hit in another market. We got back on track and then COVID hit. And I remember thinking, man, am I not supposed to do this? is this not, you know, is this gonna work? You know, like that doubt starts creeping in. And then I really quickly, I can look at my son and go, there is, there's no other option. You just make it work. You figure it out. You continue to pivot. You continue to build. And you just keep something my grandpa actually, he would, we wrote letters back and forth. Then he'd put at the bottom of all this letters, press on, you just keep pressing on and driving forward. Yeah. And Lathes kind of hinted at that. I was going to ask, is there a leadership lesson that you've learned in entrepreneurship that you want to share with us? ⁓ goodness. A leadership lesson in entrepreneurship. I would say like you have to have, you have to take care of yourself to take care of other people. And so like. you do give 100 % and you want to make sure that it's successful, but you also have to make sure that you're taken care of. so like some of that balance is, you know, like it's hard to balance as a parent. It's also really hard to balance as ⁓ somebody in a career. It's also really, really hard to balance as a business owner. And so you've got to realize like you need something too. And so making sure that you're also fueling yourself so that you can energize others, I think would be one, you know, like one good example. That's incredible, especially with the way hustle culture is kind of ingrained into our society now, especially for people at the top, like an executive, like a founder. It's kind of, as at least how I grew up was kind of like, if you're not working to the bone, like working so hard that you're exhausted, then you're not working hard enough. And so it really is so important to take time for yourself and work-life balance really is what leads to longevity in every level of your career. So you're probably one of the first people. we've had on say anything close to that and about just in your personal work life balance. It's less so about taking care of yourself and more so about working hard is kind of like the themes we hear which working hard is so important. That's why it's called work life balance, not just like chilling all the time. So that's why it's so valuable and it's so important that you say stuff like that. Yeah, I completely and we have like very much a work hard play hard kind of ⁓ mentality. ⁓ Another, a different grandpa than the one I mentioned. I worked for him through the summers and it, was something that was still instilled in me early on then. And I really try to embed that with our teams, like one for myself, but also in our teams. If I see that they've had like a really rough week or really hard week or sometimes it's like, Hey, let's go off site and have a little fun on this next meeting. We can still stop talk work, but let's go have some fun while we're doing this too. Like let's recharge together. And so I hope that gives them somewhat of the permission to, do that for their teams. ⁓ and I hope if I'm showing them that I'm taking care of myself, they take care of themselves as well. Cause we're in it for the long haul. It's not a, it's not a short, short sprint. We're in it for a, you know, the long race. Late yesterday when we were meeting, he said to me, like, we don't need to sit in the, in your office and have this meeting. Let's go find another space to sit at. And it was just so refreshing to step away because the humdrum of the day to day and the meetings back to back, you really can just get stuck in this routine. And it was like, was really nice to go and sit at this lounge area on this other floor in our building. was a different room, a different perspective, a different conversation, I think. So just stepping away helps. I mean, sometimes we'll take walks. We'll sometimes take a walk around the building or we've got an office in a downtown area that has a really neat community. like, let's just take, we can walk and talk. Or let me put a headset in and I can, walking around. You might hear a little breeze, but it's okay. I'm getting up and I'm walking around and it helps. Every little bit helps. All of that helps. Okay. So we have a lot of women who have been in staffing for a while and I know they're toying with the idea of, I bet on myself? Do I take this leap of entrepreneurship? Oh, there's all of these, know, ifs, ands, and buts that are holding me back from taking that. What advice would you give another woman in the industry about taking that leap into starting their own firm? Do it. Don't wait for the perfect time. There is no perfect time. The time's now. If you're still unsure, call me. I'll amp you up. But also lean into your network. Be respectful of their time and be thankful for their time, but don't be afraid to lean into your network. And if you've got the passion, if you have the experience, if you have a clear vision of what you're wanting to do and how you're wanting to serve your clients, trust yourself and go for it. I'm going to ask you a follow-up to that, which was when you decided to take the leap. We know there was a lot of belief from those around you and some truth serum that also came your way from friends. But what was the hardest part of starting your business? I think the hardest part was the timing. Like I didn't necessarily, again, I hadn't planned this for years. And so I was based at a spot that I was like, man, I have this family I've got to support. And I've got to do this really, really quickly. so to not to start completely from scratch and really not know where to start learning it as I meant, and just building on, on. Don't have after phone calls, you know, just calling and calling and calling and hitting it hard and not necessarily knowing all the ins and outs of business ownership and needing to do it really quickly. We were able to open in five months. I had a goal of three. went a little longer than I thought, but, ⁓ just. Not necessarily having a ⁓ kit, if you will, on how to start your business. That was really challenging. You just showed up and started doing it without a guideline to go about doing it. And I think that's the intimidating part. A lot of people would not do that. Yeah. Yeah. There's so many unknowns. And I would just say like, yeah, there's going to be unknowns in everything. But that's also the cool thing about staffing. There's tons of unknowns. You have a different day every single day that you show up to work and why not have that different day something you're figuring out and for yourself. Yeah, it's a fun challenge. It makes life interesting. You know, they stay, think the saying is the path will eliminate itself as you walk it. So might as well start walking. Yeah. Yes, exactly. All right. So you gave some advice to a potential entrepreneur interested in starting a new business. How about some advice to. your entry level self back in the day when you ended up in staffing. I would say stay humble, continue to work hard, it's going to pay off and never underestimate what you're capable of. Awesome. I think that's great. Yeah. And that's about all the questions that we have today. Sheena, you are so inspiring. Honestly, I love hearing this conversation. You are somebody who everybody can learn a little bit. a little bit from. A lot of things like starting your own business, yes, it is difficult, but it's something that anybody can do if they put their mind to it and if you just get started like you said. I really hope that the listeners today could take that lesson away and hopefully apply it to their own careers. Awesome. Thank you guys for having me. This was so fun. Thank you, Diana, for thinking of me. Of course, excited to be leading with you this year and really appreciate you taking the time to share your story and inspiring future women leaders in our industry. Absolutely. Awesome. Well, we'll be releasing new episodes of the ETE Podcast on the first and third Tuesday of every month. So make sure to subscribe to us on your favorite platform. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review. Another incredible thank you to our amazing guest, Sheena, and a happy Women's History Month to everybody listening.