by Larae Quy | Mar 19, 2023 | Mental toughness, personal leadership, Psychology, self-awareness
The FBI had identified Nicholas (not his real name) as a Russian intelligence officer in San Francisco. The Russian government tasked Nicholas to steal classified technology. My job was to either recruit him to work for the FBI or gather enough evidence to have him...
by Larae Quy | Feb 18, 2023 | personal achievement, personal leadership, Psychology, self-awareness
I graduated from college with a Bachelor’s degree in Business and took a job as a management trainee at a fancy department store. It wasn’t long before I was offered a position as a department manager and I eagerly accepted the promotion even though I sensed early on...
by Larae Quy | Jan 5, 2023 | personal achievement, personal leadership, Positive Mindset, Psychology, self-awareness
As an FBI counterintelligence agent, my job was to identify and recruit Russian spies to work for the United States Government. Little did they know that the Russian government gave my colleagues and me the most powerful gift, a toxic system filled with corruption,...
by Larae Quy | Dec 1, 2022 | personal achievement, personal leadership, Psychology, self-awareness
Most of us have no idea of what to do with our lives. Even after school. We expect our careers to lead us down the road to happiness. Even after we get paychecks. We’ve seen the slick advertisements that promise that money can buy happiness—if we have enough of it....
by Larae Quy | Nov 9, 2022 | personal achievement, personal leadership, Positive Mindset, Psychology, self-awareness
I felt a sinking feeling in my gut as I drove into the parking garage, and it was happening more and more. A job that had once invigorated me and filled me with eagerness now produced a heaviness inside that I could no longer ignore. As a new FBI agent out of the...
by Larae Quy | Oct 27, 2022 | Mental toughness, personal achievement, personal leadership, Psychology, self-awareness
A successful Silicon Valley businessman was contacted by a foreign intelligence officer and I interviewed him about the relationship. He was cooperative and we started to meet on a regular basis. He mentioned that he was involved in an angel investor group and thought...
by Larae Quy | Sep 29, 2022 | Mental toughness, personal achievement, personal leadership, Positive Mindset, Psychology, Uncategorized
As the spokesperson for the FBI in Northern California, I found myself in several situations where the FBI was criticized, and I was expected to justify its actions. As with most sophisticated investigations, there are many steps when building a case and evidence is...
by Larae Quy | Jul 14, 2022 | personal achievement, Positive Mindset, Psychology, self-awareness
I grew up around cowboys and horses in Wyoming; words like “country hick” and “hee-haw” were thrown out to remind me that I wasn’t as sophisticated or bright as my urban counterparts. I didn’t need their insults to point out that I was different because of my...
by Larae Quy | May 18, 2022 | Anxiety, Mental toughness, personal achievement, personal leadership, Positive Mindset, Psychology, self-awareness
When I arrived as a new agent on my squad, I was the only female and the youngest. Everyone was polite, but my caseload was full of dead-end leads that the older and more experienced agents didn’t want to waste their time on. My desk was at the end farthest from the...
by Larae Quy | Apr 25, 2022 | Mental toughness, personal achievement, personal leadership, Positive Mindset, Psychology, self-awareness
During this pandemic, I’ve read many ridiculous articles about how resilience means “bouncing through” our obstacles—as though riding out this shitstorm is life on a trampoline. These bandaids of advice do nothing to encourage people to look for the deep healing they...
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