Early in her career, Tressy Leindecker was “determined to climb up the corporate ladder and worked tirelessly to do so.”
Her ambition paid off, steadily rising through the ranks at Cox Communications to become director of sales. But it also came at a cost.
“I did not have much of a work-life balance,” Leindecker says.
All that changed on June 25, 2008, when the eldest of her three children lost a leg in an accident, prompting her to re-evaluate how she was spending her time.
“It was then that I realized that my family and the time I spend with them is more important than any title,” says Leindecker, who joined EATEL in 2015 after 13 years with Cox. “It’s ironic, because after I changed my outlook, I became more successful than ever.”
Her greatest source of strength and inspiration comes from her mother. “She raised three girls on her own. She had to work two jobs to provide for us,” she says. “That is where I learned what true hard work and determination really is. Seeing what she went through for me and my two sisters taught me to work for what you want and take nothing for granted.”
Read the full Executive Spotlight Q&A with Leindecker. Here’s a sample of what you’ll find:
What’s one of the smartest purchases you’ve ever made, and what’s one of the dumbest?
Smartest purchase would have to be a mobile home we purchased when we were just starting out. We were able to sell it for more than what we bought it for, which afforded us the resources to buy land and build our first house. The dumbest purchase was a house that was in foreclosure. I bought it sight unseen, as a flip project, and ended up losing money on the deal.
