Tara Leung came to Cox midway through her career with two goals in mind: finding job security and joining a company that cared about its people. Little did she realize that a contract role at Cox would also help her find her calling and connect with her community.
After 20 years working in retail sales, Tara Leung wanted to do something different with her career — especially after feeling the pressure at work during the 2008 recession.
“When the economy took a dive, that recession really put pressure on businesses to sink or swim, and the company I worked for just struggled,” she said. “I needed to find something that was going to sustain me — that I could keep doing without those pressures.”
Tara went back to school to get her bachelor’s degree. However, like many recent graduates, she found herself uncertain about her next steps. All she knew was that she wanted to break into a field that could provide a sense of job security, like technology. She was also looking for an environment that would help her thrive.
“After I finished school, I kept telling myself, ‘I don’t care what I do; I care what company I work for,’” she recalled. “‘I want to work for a company that supports their people.’”
That’s when two friends from her recreational softball league told her about job opportunities at Cox.
Getting her foot in the door
Tara’s friends connected her with a recruiter to chat about what types of roles she might be qualified for at Cox. The recruiter noted that although Tara had a “great wealth of management experience,” she needed to gain hands-on involvement in anything tech related to make that career pivot happen.
“She was very candid with me and said, ‘I don’t know if you’d be willing to start with just your foot in the door to get some experience, but there are some great opportunities here for you,’” Tara said.
She followed the recruiter’s guidance and accepted a temporary role taking calls as a technical support specialist, recognizing that more opportunities would soon follow. And she was right.
Within a few months, Tara was hired full-time. Soon after, she became a supervisor and was later promoted to the advanced tech support team.
After one of her promotions, Tara learned that her unique background helped her stand out as a candidate for a leadership position.
“The director I was working for wanted to change the way her team viewed things, and I had a different viewpoint that she wanted to include, which was kind of cool,” Tara said.
Making an impact on the customer experience
Most recently, Tara took on a new job as a project and program manager on her team. In this role, Tara is responsible for rolling out new tools and systems that help enhance the customer service experience at the call center.
“We’re in the middle of a culture shift right now to help keep focusing on connecting with people, making it a human experience and not just a call,” she explained. “I think what Cox really brings to the table is customer experience.”
Tara added that she really likes that this new role has a much larger impact on her teams and helps more people.
“I’ve stayed in customer service for so long because I like talking to people, and I like helping people — and that’s something that Cox as a company supports,” she said.
Building community at work and beyond
Making a career transition like Tara’s isn’t always easy. But “it was worth every bit of it because of the peace of mind, the camaraderie, the support and the opportunities that I’ve had here at Cox,” she said.
One of Tara’s favorite such opportunities has been Cox’s culture of volunteerism (including paid volunteer time off), which has helped her build stronger connections both at work and within her local community.
“The community connection has been huge,” she said. “I had struggled with feeling part of something in Las Vegas, but Cox has given me that opportunity. Cox’s volunteer events have been fun ways to get connected with different things in the community.”
Through Cox, Tara has helped with several local volunteer projects, such as tending to a large community garden and packing lunches at a local food bank.
“That’s how I’ve gotten to know several people I work with,” she added. “It’s been fun to make those connections.”
Tara has also enjoyed participating in the annual Las Vegas corporate challenge, where teams from several companies in the city compete against each other in a variety of Olympics-style events.
This year, Tara competed in track and field, pickleball and archery — a sport she’d never done before.
“I did horribly,” she laughed. “But I showed up — and it turned out to be really fun.”
Participating in team events like the corporate challenge has helped Tara build stronger relationships with folks in other departments.
“I’ve made connections with people who are directors here but meeting them outside of their office role puts us all on an even playing field,” she explained. “Now when I see them in our work environment, I don’t treat them any differently because they don’t treat me differently. I like that a lot.”
Directing her own path
Cox has not only provided Tara with the things she most needed — better job security and a supportive environment where she could thrive — but her leaders have also pushed her to discover her strengths, and which roles bring her the most joy.
“I know I’m in a great place now where I have so much opportunity to grow,” she said. “And there are so many different directions that I can grow.”
For Tara, helping customers has become her “happy place,” and Cox has continuously allowed her to do just that in various capacities.
“I can’t say enough about the opportunities and growth I’ve had at Cox,” she said. “I didn’t start with this company until midlife, and yet I know it’s where I’m going to stay until I’m done working.”
