AWL Alumni Spotlight
Sandee Sutera, Director, Program Manager, Infectious Diseases and Team Leader of Late Phase Program Management
Moderna
“It felt like what I wanted was just out of my reach and getting farther and farther away, and I was not well. This led to a fundamental shift in how I saw myself and thought about my accomplishments.”
Meet Sandee Sutera
We asked Sandee some questions to help us all get to know her better. Here’s what she had to say...
I feel like I am fulfilling my purpose when I am:
Bringing meaningful medicine to people with unmet medical needs, being creative, building my sons’ self-esteem and confidence and teaching them about science, nature, and art.
The kind of work I love is:
Work that is close to the heart of a business that aims to make life better for others. And the reason I love that is...it’s meaningful, impactful, challenging, dynamic and rewarding.
To me, leadership is:
1) Situational! It’s giving people what they need when they need it through authentic conversations that empower and create meaningful connections
2) Caring deeply about people! It’s caring enough to give candid feedback to best performance and help people/teams achieve things they never thought they could.
3) A two-way street! It’s developing solid trust so that people care enough to return the candid feedback and challenge directly.
4) Championing others! Lifting people up and putting them in positions where they can shine and showcase their skills and ideas.
Describe the six months you spent in the Bloombase experience for Advanced Women Leaders (AWL)?
The 6 months I spent in the AWL experience were deeply personal. Over the course of the previous year I came to a place in my career and personal life that I had never been before. It felt like what I wanted was just out of my reach and getting farther and farther away, and I was not well. This led to a fundamental shift in how I saw myself and thought about my accomplishments. It was the AWL experience that helped me bring to focus an insatiable craving for something different, and kick-started a beautiful transformation.
It was through the many AWL exercises on identifying and naming emotions that led me down the path to diagnosis and treatment for postpartum depression. This ultimately helped me make decisions about who I wanted to be personally and professionally, show up the way I wanted to show up, and helped me gain the courage and energy to make changes so that I could achieve what I wanted to achieve.
What did you get out of the executive coaching sessions?
AWL connected me with the most amazing Executive Coach, who was a confidant, a kind soul, and a guiding light.
Receiving one-on-one coaching showed me confidence that I didn’t know I had. I have a new habit of asking myself “what do you want from this?” before going into or finding myself in a challenging conversation. I have more courage and discretion with setting boundaries both personally and professionally.
Describe the benefits of being a part of the post AWL community?
The AWL Alumni Community helped me connect leaders at my company, Moderna, with key leaders at another global pharmaceutical company to develop new technical and strategic alignment between our organizations. I’ve experienced overwhelming acts of generosity from the AWL Alumni. In my AWL cohort, I met the most big-hearted woman who was going through similar personal experiences at the time. She made time for me and she empathized with me
more than anyone had before, and the impact of this on me was profound.
In the future, I hope to join my fellow Alumni for an international Bloombase experience. This is something that I know would also be life-changing and awe inspiring.