The 2025 Women’s History Month theme, "Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations," recognizes the influence of women who have dedicated their lives to education, mentorship, and leadership.
At VEG, almost 85% of our employees identify as women. We believe in a culture of learning and take pride in promoting from within. We’re speaking with two of our leaders, Dorian Aimi and Kaitlin Brodersen, to discuss what it’s been like for them as woman who wears several hats, and how they pay it forward to others looking to grow in their career.
What is your role at VEG?
DORIAN AIMI: Director of People Content. I build frameworks for leaders for their readiness in role, starting with Day One Onboarding through their 16-week.
KAITLIN BRODERSEN: Hospital Manager of our location in Alexandria, VA.
You both have pretty different backgrounds. Can you share your journey into veterinary medicine and what inspired you to pursue this career?
KAITLIN: My dream was to become a veterinarian, but my grades in math and science did not reflect that that would be a strong suit for myself. So I gravitated towards social sciences.
At 18, I left school in Southern Connecticut State University and went to Long Island, working at a specialty emergency hospital as an overnight veterinary assistant in the ICU while I pursued my undergraduate degree.
Working in a specialty emergency was eye opening because every department is so siloed from one another. But they're actually really integral to having any type of good customer-patient experience. You need to have the ER working with every single specialty. So I think the lens in which I started to view things was from a solution oriented one.
I was very focused on trying to solve some bottlenecks and communicate better with different departments. I became more interested in a leadership route than in the patient care experience. It was then I knew I was not going to pursue becoming a Licensed Veterinary Technician. I did, however, know that I would go to grad school.
Throughout my first few years at the specialty hospital, I worked as an Inventory Associate. I started to learn more about purchasing, receiving, and cycle count auditing. I did that for about a year while I saved up for grad school, and then I moved to Baltimore. I did leave vet med for a three-year period to begin my leadership career. I was a little intimidated to begin a leadership career in vet med, so I went to pet resorts—a very unique experience. And then I found my way back.
Dorian, you come from a very different professional background. How did you make your way into leadership?
DORIAN: From a very young age, I knew that my north star was always going to be centered around helping people. Growing up, I held jobs like lifeguard, counselor, coach, babysitter, things of that nature. It was always sort of geared in one direction, but I was always very good in math, and obsessed with business. I always wanted to know a lot about how businesses operated, as well as how leaders led great businesses.
I studied business in high school, and then went on to pursue a business undergraduate degree in college. I was recruited to work at the magazine publishing house, Condé Nast, as an entry level business analyst. I loved it. It was everything that you would think working at Condé Nast was. However, for me, I felt I was moving further and further away from helping people. So I went to school at night to be a teacher while I was still working. I was there for about 4 years.
I wanted to teach business and leadership education, and the opportunity to teach came a little quicker than I thought. I was offered a job upon the graduation to start in September. On a Friday, I was at Condé Nast and Monday morning I was starting to work as a teacher with absolutely zero experience. I taught for 18 years but I always stayed close to the industry.
I benefitted from having summers off and I worked with an agency that placed me to freelance in really great companies for those 2-3 months. I worked at several finance companies and was able to keep my finger on the pulse of business. Fast forward 18 years, VEG President, David Glattstein relayed an opportunity to work at VEG. He was building out a program called VEG MBA. It's a 12-month comprehensive business and leadership program that breaks down the business, and covers how to operate the business from Marketing, to Finance, to Real Estate and Development. I was sold.
We ran about four cohorts. It grew from about 15 people to 100 people within the first and second cohorts. But there was more meaningful work that I could do, so I moved to the Leadership Development team, where I’ve worked on several different projects, including onboarding, and now Medical Director training.
Veterinary Medicine is unique in that it is a woman dominated space, but oftentimes that isn’t the case. What was it like first getting into leadership as a woman?
KAITLIN: It was both challenging and empowering starting off in my career. I was a younger leader and I think maybe if I were a man, I may not have heard, "Oh, you're a younger leader," but as a woman I certainly experienced it. Even doctors looked at me as a leader.
During my first week as a Director of Operations at a 24-hour clinic, a male doctor looked me in the eye and say, “You're a child. What are you going to do here?” Those are the things that stick with you.
But I felt extremely blessed and empowered to be a younger woman leader too. I would think of myself as the millennial manager. I was going to do things differently, provide people a nurturing space, make sure they felt psychologically safe.
I tried my hardest to look into the policies that might feel outdated. But with that being said, I had to always think about being a woman, because at the facility I worked at, there were 30 doctors; only about 10 were women. A lot of the buy-in from some of the politics of that facility were built a long time ago by men. We had to overcome some obstacles to pave the way for others and shift toward a greater representation of women and being inclusive. But I take pride in being resilient to still be here, and to always make sure that I didn't lose my "why." So yes, vet med for sure is a female dominated field but not a lot of leaders are women.
DORIAN: I was so fortunate to have spent almost two decades teaching young people.
I always gravitated to the age group of high school/college, where there was such a hunger from young women to know every single thing about your life. I was always asked, “How do you do it? How do you have children and work full time and advance in your career?”
For me there's a level of empathy and hunger that comes along with being a female leader and I see it every day at VEG. There are times when I'm asked to just check in with someone. And it's always the same questions:
• “How do you lead with empathy?"
• "How do you balance everything?"
• "How are you resilient when you know you face challenges in your leadership journey, and then you have to go home, and put dinner on the table and raise your kids?”
So I think I got very lucky early on in my career to be able to guide and mentor young women. We covered subjects like, how to prepare for their education, which college to go to, if you do go to college, and what you want to pursue. I think that the biggest challenge is that you know how scary it is. You ask yourself, "How can you do it all?" It's the number one question I get.
It's about overcoming those challenges, but also having that hip pocket skill of guiding and mentoring these young women for almost two decades. In my career at VEG, it's the same experience.
You mentioned some challenges, but is there any specific challenge you recall facing as a leader where representation has historically been limited and how do you overcome them?
DORIAN: Confidence is key. You have to know who you are. People will always make comments: “Oh, you don't have to work,” or “Things are easy for you.” You have to be super confident and never really let anyone take how hard you work away from you.
Kaitlin mentioned comments that were made to her and I think that's always going to be the case. I know it certainly is for me, but you have to drown out the noise. Stay focused on what you do that is better than anybody else. Whatever that is that you brought to VEG or wherever it is that you work, know that they saw something in you. That's why you're there, and just always remember that you bring something so unique that nobody else brings.
Just keep moving forward. Take on any project, any stretch project, solve any problem that you see needs to be solved and do it with persistence. Break down every wall and don't stop until you get the role you want.
KAITLIN: At VEG, I have been nothing but supported and empowered. Not just as a woman, but as an individual contributor. However, one challenge I would want women to think about is that buzzword of “work-life balance.” And I think we need to recognize that it is so personal to us. It will ebb and flow, and we will never feel like we're giving enough to work when we're so dedicated to something, and we'll never feel like we're giving enough to family. But we are, and it is enough. We shouldn't allow our thoughts of what should be and what other people think hold us back from the pursuit of what our actual goals and dreams are.
So if you’re in that season of your life where your dream is to have that other child, maybe work will take a backseat. If your dream in life is to get that next position, then maybe family might feel like it takes a backseat. But they don't have to take a back seat. And I wouldn't want someone to think that as women, we are limited because we have so much to think about. We're not limited. That's a mindset.
Kaitlin, you just mentioned support and that’s so important. Who was the most influential person or role model in your life, and how did they shape your journey?
KAITLIN: Two different people come to mind. The first person in my life is my grandma, my Nanny. She was instrumental in my life as a middle child. Nanny saw me, whereas my other parents had to see my other siblings, who had greater needs. That was so important for me to have a strong woman role model.
From a young age she struggled with mental health. She did things I did not understand, but I know now that she was a rock of a woman. She is still my favorite person on this earth.
I would say, the second person for work would be my boss at the pet resort I worked at when I took a hiatus from veterinary medicine. She's an owner and founder of a very successful small business with that has passion for the customer experience. This business delivers exceptional individualized care to pets while remaining respectful of the human animal bond. She absolutely inspired me. She instilled my work ethic without knowing it. She instilled innovation, and she gave me freedom to create new services and think outside of the box. I think I am where I am today because of her.
DORIAN: It’s the same way for me. I have role models that are both personal and professional. My personal role model is my mother. My mother didn't go to college. I wasn't raised by parents who went to college, or really even understood the importance of education. But my mother always saw something different in me. She just got it. She knew how focused I was on academics, how focused I was on what my future would look like, and even though she didn't have any experience with it, she went out and learned about it.
When I was little, my mom started to take college courses on her own. She had never worked, but got a job and started from the bottom. She started taking tests and worked her way up and built an incredible career for herself. She was so supportive to me, even though she didn't understand. She’d say and ask me things like, “You're going back to school again. How many degrees? How much is this going to cost you?” But she tried so hard to learn so that she could guide me and mentor me. I owe it all to her. She’d spend hours on the phone every single day, no matter what, just guiding me through. So definitely, she’s my number one.
My number two influence was a professor of mine. He was the most dynamic, charismatic teacher you will ever meet. I mean, he would stand on the table jumping up and down, talking about the power of culture and repetition when teaching. He always took the time to give me positive feedback on what he thought I was capable of pursuing.
We live in a world where feedback is so important. You could work so hard and be excited to present something, and then get some negative feedback, and that's fine. There's a place for that. But there's also always a place for positive reinforcement and building confidence. That's who my professor was. He always told me, “You're going to be great. You can do this.” So it's funny that I turned out to become an educator of business and leadership; I was able to see that there was so much more out there for me as well.
After 18 years of teaching, VEG reached out to me, and they saw something different in me, it just meant the world. It really forced me to make a very hard decision. Not many people leave education to pursue something completely new and to rebuild completely new but I did have the voices of my role models in my head and their confidence and support pushed me forward.
That is extremely important. Sometimes all people need to hear is, “You can do this." What advice would you give to the next generation of women leaders in breaking stereotypes and thriving in leadership roles?
DORIAN: I think the most important thing is to find someone that you can connect with and talk to. I am always so impressed when someone at VEG comes up to me and asks me for 15 minutes just to talk. Whether you want to know more about someone’s role or would love to just understand more about their life, that's step one. Do that to anybody. I do it to women that I admire at VEG all the time, probably too much. Just find someone that you can talk to, and pick their brain.
Secondly, you have something unique that nobody else has. And whatever that is, find people who support that and can make that better. Find something you are super passionate about. I always say, when you open your computer in the morning, or when you clock in, what's that one project that you like. We all have that one project that’s the best one. It makes you feel like I want to tackle that. So whatever that is, explore it deeply and how that could make meaningful change.
Lastly, don't stop until you get the answer you want, until you feel like you're really making a difference. Find someone you can talk to, pick their brain, find what you're really good at, and then just just go from there. But the power of role models is especially strong for younger professionals who haven't had leadership opportunities before. So find someone who can help you.
KAITLIN: I agree with Dorian. The only other tidbit of advice I would have, for a young aspiring leader, is that leadership is about authenticity. While you might have role models that lead a certain way, you do not need to emulate them. You have unique perspectives and strengths that you bring to the table. Continue to harness your individuality and just be yourself. Someone is looking for a leader just like you.
DORIAN: You'll never forget that first leader that you work with. Good, bad, or indifferent. You'll always remember the type of leader they were, and whether it molds you to be like them or completely unlike them. For someone on your team, you are the first leader that they've ever had, and they will never forget you. So they're looking at everything you say, everything you do. And you're really shaping their career. So it's a big responsibility. But whether you are their first leader or their 10th leader, it's an important responsibility.
You both are not only leaders but you’re mothers, wives, friends, etc. That often can be seen as a hindrance to someone looking to advance in their career. What would you say to that?
KAITLIN: I guess I would say, that’s a thought of the past that absolutely shouldn't even be part of somebody's equation when they're thinking of things. I would say, being a mother, wife, sister—all the things that I might be makes me a stronger person. I have more people to learn from, to grow from, to be able to have different perspectives. And my time management is immaculate because of it! It might be seen as limiting, because we have competing priorities. But again, our priorities will change in the seasons of our life. They are not stagnant, so I would tell somebody that even if that is their first thought, don't let it be their guiding thought.
DORIAN: I have a lot of friends at VEG who have recently had children, and when they come back, they have “mommy guilt.” They're running back and forth to get them at daycare and balancing who's sick. And sometimes it's easy to give up, right? It feels like, “How am I ever going to juggle this?" I always say the same thing, your children will be so much better off seeing this version of you. They’re seeing mom, that's working, achieving goals, balancing everything, and they'll be really proud of you. I see it with my own kids. From the time my son was born, I worked and I never stopped. I took my maternity leave, and I went right back, and I haven’t skipped a day ever since. He continues to see me working, and my daughter, too. Working all hours of the day and night, and I'm not saying that's great, but they get excited about the projects, knowing if I have a big presentation or going to VEG hospitals. They're proud to walk in and kind of say, “Oh, we work here, too.”
For any travel we take, if it's within 30 minutes of a VEG, we're going, and they're coming with me. They're just so proud, and they become so much better for it. They were trying to convince me to have their friends over for like a party they wanted to have. So they put together a Google Slides presentation where they outlined why we want to do this with all the supporting resources! I thought it was so funny. They’re sponges that soak in everything they see.
What advice would you give someone just starting out in their career and looking to advance?
DORIAN: Talk to everybody, learn everything that you possibly can. There's no limit. You often hear the President of VEG talk about employees, our VEGgies, that have advanced in their career because they didn't care about a job description. They never said, “Oh, I can't do that. That's not inside of my role.”
If you see something that you want to get involved in, talk to that person, learn about it, and find a way to make a difference. Don't be locked into, "it has to be this way" or "my schedule needs to look like this." Be innovative. Try and align that innovation to what you are good at. And I always go back to, "what are the projects that excite you?" The first thing that you go to every morning, and if all those 3 things can be aligned, you should be unstoppable. So forget being inside of a box of "what I should be doing." If you think that you can create meaningful change, do it, and try to learn from as many people as possible.
KAITLIN: Find your unique spot. What lane are you going to excel in, based on what you're most passionate about? Maybe where your skill is, where you have a supportive network and put all your resources into excelling in that category. For a veterinary assistant, maybe that’s a certain part of phlebotomy. Maybe for a doctor, it’s ultrasounds, and maybe for an aspiring leader, that is some facet of People Operations. And so, whatever it might be, get really good at it, become a subject matter expert, seek outside opinions. I feel where I've had most opportunities open up to me is when I somehow shed myself in a light as a subject matter expert whether I felt I was or not. That is how I was able to continue to excel.
You both lead our Women’s Network Group: LEADH’ER. The group has already done so much in just one year. What would you like to see come from this group in the next few years?
DORIAN: I'd like to see more leaning on each other for support. Over the past year, we had incredible guest speakers come in. We asked our members, “What are the top of priorities that you want us to bring to you?” And we did that, we talked about personal finance, wellness, mental wellness, health, wellness—we covered the really high profile topics.
I think my favorite thing was when we all came together to put together this profile of who we are, what we're good at, what we can help with. We have over 100 members and everybody in the group contributed to this document saying, “Hey, I'm really good at this, or reach out to me if you ever need help on xyz.”
I’d love to see more of that, more of us breaking out, using the resources and allocating them to help one another. Guest speakers are great, and we'll always have that. But I think we need to lean on each other more in the upcoming years, and I know Kaitlin and I have spoken about this so many times, and that's something that we really want to try and do more of.
KAITLIN: I completely agree. My biggest goal is that we continue to see LEADH’ER become member guided and member led. I just want them to know that they take a part in creating a supportive community for women at VEG, which is our mission.
We have to lean on each other, and there are so many people in the room that are subject matter experts in some way, or someone you might just build a connection with. The more we can help facilitate them building that connection, the more we'll be stronger women, stronger contributors, stronger in our role for it. So I'm looking forward to that happening.
I'm also looking forward to getting out in the community a little bit more and just being able to provide different perspectives to some of our members through some outside organizations.
You all have given us some great insight and gems here. What’s one piece of advice you’d give your younger self?
DORIAN: Always, always, always trust your instincts. I've always followed the voice inside my head that told me, no matter how crazy and ridiculous it is, follow your instinct. Don't doubt yourself. I remember hearing all the things like, “You're crazy for leaving this company that's so well known” and "You're crazy for leaving teaching after all these years!” But you know what’s right. So I would probably just tell myself not to doubt that. Trust your intuition, keep pushing forward, and do more of that every day.
KAITLIN: I think I would maybe tell myself that progress is actually not linear. Be a little gentler on yourself. Sometimes the meanest voice we have is in our head. And I didn't grow up with any reason to have that voice in my head, but I would try to do everything I could earlier to dull it. Because it didn't serve me, and it didn't stop me, either. All that wasted time that I had in my own brain when I could have been doing some other things. I would probably try to find a way to let my younger self not be so afraid of everything. There's nothing to be afraid of.
