I’m famous for having candy stashed in every crevice of my car. I steal Girl Scout cookies from my coworkers’ desks. My keyboard is sometimes orange from my Cheetos fingers. (I know… gross)

But the most famous story my former lululemon teammates will tell is about the time I pulled a slice of pizza out of my purse. At 9:45 am. In the middle of a meeting.

Said child will remain unnamed to avoid ultimate humiliation for the rest of their life. But before you get super grossed out, just know they had a diaper on. So it’s not like I had to burn the carpet, or anything.

“It takes a village.” This phrase rings true not only for parenting but also for advancing a career. If you ask most ‘successful’ people how they got where they are, they’ll likely name a few important people who helped along the way. It certainly applies to me: I not only had the support of my husband, I had some key ‘trusted advisors’ in my corner. These mentors shared experiences and learnings with me, introduced me to hiring managers, explained their fields of expertise (such as Diversity & Inclusion), and eventually became references when I applied for jobs. I’m certain I would not have advanced my career as quickly without them.

When I first started at Nike’s corporate headquarters, I was in my twenties and I had big dreams: I wanted to be the head of HR for Nike. But there were a lot of really talented people at the company and I wasn’t sure how I was going to show their leaders what I was capable of.

The year is 2012 and I just had my 2nd baby three short months before. I had already been back at work full-time for the past three weeks… and I was tired. Tired from sleepless nights feeding the baby. Tired from getting the kids ready for daycare in the morning. Tired from trying to focus at work. Just… tired. I had been using the lactation room every day, three times a day to pump the life-sustaining milk for my baby’s meals. And my milk supply was dwindling each day. I had no idea why. But I felt responsible and guilty.

I spent over 20 years hiding my depression from my closest friends and family, so trust me when I say I never — in a million years — imagined there would be a day when I would admit that I experienced depression in a job interview. But, here I am. Talking about that time on a website.

Negotiating sucks. Or maybe I suck at negotiating. Or maybe I’m really not qualified for HR. Or maybe I should just go back to my current job and be grateful… after I cry in my car a little…