From X-Ray Tech to COO: How Megan Built a Healthcare Career One Right Step at a Time

How Does a Career Like This Actually Begin?

Not with a grand plan. Megan grows up in a small Arizona town without a clear destination in mind, and her first move is simply practical: get out, learn a skill, and find a workplace where opportunity exists. Becoming an X-ray and radiology tech is not about chasing a dream title. It is about movement. What follows over 21 years at SMILE is a steady climb from technologist to supervisor to manager to Chief Operating Officer, built not on luck or a single breakthrough but on a repeatable approach: take the next right step, stay curious, and treat every role as leadership training in disguise.

What Does "Being Ready" Actually Mean?

Megan's first supervisor opportunity arrives at the worst possible time. She is pregnant, she doubts herself, and she does not even apply initially. A nudge from a leader changes that, and what she discovers on the other side is that real confidence does not show up before you do the hard thing. It shows up after. She names imposter syndrome directly, that voice insisting someone else is more qualified, and her practical advice is to notice the voice and then act anyway. Early in a career, saying yes more often builds competence faster than waiting for certainty that never quite arrives on its own schedule.

When Saying No Is the Smarter Career Move

Here is the nuance that makes Megan's story genuinely useful: strategic refusal matters as much as strategic acceptance. She turns down an interim X-ray supervisor opening because taking it would pause her cross-training in CT and MRI. By protecting that training, she later lands a supervisor role within advanced imaging, which is exactly where she wanted to go. The framework this creates is worth keeping: do not say yes because something is flattering or urgent. Say yes when it builds toward the capabilities and credentials you actually want. In fast-moving healthcare environments, that kind of intentionality separates people who get promoted from people who get pigeonholed.

What a Female-Dominated C-Suite Actually Looks Like in Practice

Megan describes SMILE's leadership culture not as a gender slogan but as a genuine operating environment built around authenticity, emotional intelligence, and healthy vulnerability. The contrast she draws is with old-school leadership that expects people to leave their personal reality at the door, and why that model fails teams handling real patients under real pressure. Active listening, empathy, and relatability are not soft skills in that context. They are the job. SMILE's investment in internal growth paths and leadership development is also part of why people choose it over environments that restrict learning.

Building Leadership Capacity Outside Your Job Title

What does Megan do with her time outside of work that sharpens her leadership skills?

She runs a Girl Scout troop, which turns out to be a surprisingly effective laboratory for coaching work ethic, presence, and patience in a generation accustomed to instant gratification. She also challenges the idea that time is the limiting factor for most people, pointing directly at doom scrolling as the real thief of available hours. For structured growth she recommends Toastmasters for public speaking and active listening development, and she runs both a Toastmasters Lite club and a leadership book club to create ongoing accountability. Her top recommendation is Brené Brown's Dare to Lead, which ties the whole conversation together: lead with courage, stay human, keep learning, and eventually become the person who tells someone else that they can do this too.