Employee Spotlight with Jason Colon

Meet one of our Client Services Managers: Interview with Harmony Healthcare’s Jason Colon

1. Tell us about your favorite moment from 2020 so far. 

My favorite moment this year so far has been the support and acceptance I’ve received from my partner Todd Sottong as well as my co-workers, members of leadership here at Harmony, family, and friends.

This year started out with new goals, a new mission, and the dedication to achieve new milestones. The support I’ve received in reaching career and personal goals has been overwhelming. I wouldn’t feel empowered without the support and love from everyone in my life.

Success will be achieved thanks to those who are there with me at the finish line.

2. What are 3 lessons you’ve learned recently? 

• To not take our everyday routine for granted: Everyone around the world is experiencing the effects of COVD-19 one way or another.
• To be patient, as it takes time to develop a good relationship with myself: We must make ourselves a priority. It’s easy to realize that every relationship in our lives needs consistent time spent together and support. This must include the relationship we have with ourselves. Self-reflecting and understanding our personal goals are excellent places to start.
• To retract, reflect, and react: I’ve learned to stop and retract how I normally would react to a message, conversation, or email. I’ve learned to do more reflecting on that message and the point of my response by looking at it from both sides rather than only my view and the feelings behind it. Feelings are not facts, but they help us see a different viewpoint we might have overlooked. It’s so easy to react then reflect followed by retracting. We can accomplish more when we change the order and use praises and thank yous vs. negativity and apologies.

3. What are your favorite ways to balance work and your personal life?

My favorite way to balance work and personal life is working in my yard and doing landscaping. Seeing plants grow and evolve is a passion for me. It’s also very therapeutic.

Plants go through different cycles as they mature just like we do. It’s great to see the progress and phases throughout each season and how they change their appearances. It’s corny, but watching those changes is a great way to reflect and see things differently.

I became fascinated with plants (I’m what’s called a plantsman) 25 years ago when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She taught me so much, including the importance of learning how plants grow and change in ways we never think we will see. Looking at the beauty within something makes it shine on the outside as well. 

4. Who is your favorite artist and why? 

My favorite artist is Lady Gaga. She’s extremely inspirational, compassionate, and intellectual. She’s not intimated by others, and she lives her life to the fullest by being her genuine self.

Lady Gaga known as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta has won such titles as Artist of the Year and Billboard’s Woman of the Year and was included high among Forbes‘ power and earnings rankings. She was ranked #4 on VH1’s Greatest Women in Music in 2012 and #2 on Time‘s 2011 readers’ poll of the most influential people of the past 10 years.

She is known for her philanthropy and social activism, including her work related to mental health awareness and LGBT rights. Gaga founded the Born This Way Foundation, her non-profit organization that focuses on empowering youth, improving mental health, and preventing bullying. She’s an inspiration among all age groups.

5. Tell us about your weirdest job experience. 

My weirdest job experience was selling kitchen knives door-to-door as a summer job in high school. Asking to go into strangers’ homes holding knives in my hand was definitely weird, and the looks on the homeowner’s faces were priceless.

I only had the police called on me once, and that customer ended up buying the set after she found out I was legitimately trying to sell knives and not murder her and her family. That also was my only sell. 

6. What does leadership mean to you? 

It’s what you put into achieving your personal goals and what others view of your leadership abilities. It’s also what you put into helping others achieve their goals. 

It’s about executing the company’s vision, setting the tone, and advocating for diversity while planning and creating, locking down valuable resources, improving workflows, and vigilantly looking out for potential problems. 

7. What does community spirit mean to you? 

Community spirit means everything to me. Living in Seminole Heights, one of the most spirited neighborhoods in Tampa, my neighbors and I are part of a community where giving back is respected.

We paint homes around the neighborhood, organize food drives, participate in our annual tour of historic homes, maintain active neighborhood crime watch campaigns, and decorate neighborhood homes for holidays. I’m proud to be a member as well as a former vice president of our community association board. We work to highlight the importance of showcasing community spirit and encourage those in the surrounding neighborhoods to give back as well.

8. What advice would you give yourself 10 years ago if you could?

If I could, I would tell myself 10 years ago to slow down and to think and rethink my decisions. We are all so quick to react and not think about how an impulsive decision can have consequences. I wish I realized 10 years ago that it’s okay to make mistakes and to not always be right and that listening, digesting, and reflecting upon information is better than just giving an answer.

Falling and failing over and over is normal. Getting back up to work harder helps to see decisions on the next go around differently. Learning from mistakes is how we mature and learn. Everything in life is not meant to be easy; if it were, we would never evolve into better versions of ourselves.