Growth Through Discomfort: Caty Greer’s Evidence Through Experience
Caty was the shy twin.
As young children the twins would remain an inseparable package deal - Caty standing behind Alex’s shoulder and telling her where they should go play next. A small finger would point to a group of kids at the sandbox, and Alex would walk over with Caty in hand and meet the group with a grin and chuckle.
This worked well for Caty - she was sociable, and loved playing with the other kids. Yet, when it came down to introducing herself or initiating conversation she deferred to her sister’s extroverted nature.
As Caty grew up, she began to come out of her shell a bit - as she entered high school she felt comfortable talking to peers and becoming involved in various organizations. Then she went to college and began studying data science and economics.
As a high achiever her classes were full of older students, most of them men, and she suddenly felt a shift in her carefully crafted confidence. Suddenly, she felt like the shy twin again - not volunteering her ideas or initiating discussions.
That’s when she joined Girls With Impact.
As she puts it, she joined GWI out of inspiration for the women involved - “I wanted to channel their confidence and as a woman in both business and STEM I needed even more confidence. I felt like I had plateaued in my self-development and this would be an opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone.”
Caty recalls the first day of the class - her coach was asking for venture ideas that would potentially be explored during the course. Caty stared at the list of ideas she had in front of her. The post-it-note was crumbled and the handwriting was messy – she had been carrying this post-it-note around for days and frantically writing down each idea that struck. However, now she was in a position to share these ideas, she froze up as her confidence wavered. Despite being in a room of supportive women and peers, she just couldn’t share personal ideas.
Caty was beginning to learn that it was the sharing of personal ideas, stories, and anecdotes that made her most uncomfortable. So she used her time in Girls With Impact to lean into this area of improvement launching a podcast called the Impact Renaissance with another Girls WIth Impact alum. There she interviewed social entrepreneurs and discussed the various ways that people could have a positive impact on the world through business. Her entire venture revolved around the sharing of ideas!
It wasn’t easy, but by the time she graduated Caty “felt like something shifted.” She began engaging in pitch competitions at her college, winning over $2,000 in seed funding for various ventures.
Now Caty is spending her summer interning with Elliott Davis as a Digital Consulting Intern. There she uses technology to assess how companies could function more efficiently and work with stakeholders on addressing these areas of improvement.
Caty is no longer the shy twin, too nervous to speak to strangers; nor is she the shy student, weary of sharing ideas. She is now pursuing a career in consulting, where the job description is sharing ideas. We couldn’t be any prouder.