At 26 years old, I started working as a Clerk Typist 2 in the Compliance Department of the Pennsylvania Securities Commission.

I was intimidated.

Everywhere I looked there were attorneys. Most had advanced degrees. I had no college degree and no formal training in law. Walking into that office felt like stepping into a world where everyone was smarter than me.

A few months earlier, while working at the Public Welfare Dept, I had become friends with one of the attorneys. She unknowingly became my mentor.

One day she gave me advice that changed the way I viewed myself.

“Don’t be impressed by lawyers. They’re just people with student loans.”

At first, I laughed.

Then I started paying attention.

The attorneys I worked with weren’t superheroes. They were people. Smart people, yes, but people. Sometimes they would come to me with questions about regulations and legal codes. To my surprise, I often knew the answers. How did I know the answers? I typed these codes on letters all day long. For fun, I updated the law library and added new codes to the back of law books. I was reading codes all day long.

The more I learned, the more confident I became.

One day an attorney handed me a case file and told me it was closed. The file was nearly ten inches thick.

As I reviewed it, I noticed something missing.

“Where’s the closing letter and memo?” I asked.

He replied, “When my supervisor asks me for a closing letter and memo, then I’ll provide one.”

I didn’t argue.

I simply picked up the file, walked into his supervisor’s office, and explained the situation.

Less than five minutes later, she walked into his office and instructed him to prepare the closing letter and memo.

When she left, he came to my counter and gave me a stern look. I didn’t back down.

“I guess I know who’s in charge here.”

That moment stayed with me.

Not because I was in charge.

I wasn’t.

But because I finally realized something important.

Confidence doesn’t come from titles.

It doesn’t come from degrees.

And it doesn’t come from impressing other people.

Confidence comes from learning your craft, doing the work, and trusting what you know.

The first ten years of my career taught me that lesson.

Those years gave me the confidence to pursue bigger opportunities, take bigger risks, and walk into rooms I once thought I didn’t belong in.

Looking back, confidence wasn’t something I found.

It was something I earned.