Manigo delivers inspiration at White Coat

Adversity gave it a shot. It threw as many trials and tribulations at her as it could but one thing soon became clear: You can’t intimidate Shea Manigo ’07.

• When she was four years old, her mother died of a heart attack and bequeathed her a lifelong purpose – to go into healthcare so she could save someone else’s mom.
• Her sister was murdered shortly after encouraging her to apply to pharmacy school, hardening her resolve to follow through on her sister’s suggestion.
• Her first semester, she had to juggle the demands of a full-time management job, a three-year old son, and a full load as a first-year student pharmacist.
• With all that going on, it is no surprise she had no time to … oh, wait. No, no, she also decided to get an MBA in the concurrent degree program.

When Manigo delivered the keynote address at the 2018 MUSC White Coat Ceremony on August 16, the incoming pharmacy students had a chance to pocket some serious inspiration. Here’s someone who started into a second career barely 10 years ago as a single mother and now is region director of more than 165 CVS Pharmacy stores with responsibility for approximately 2,500 colleagues across Texas and Oklahoma.

“Life threw me a few curve balls, but the lesson I learned was stay the course.  I share my story with you because, our experiences shape our existence,” she told the students. “I encourage each of you to share your stories -- you never know how it may resonate with, uplift or inspire someone else.  Celebrate and stay true to what’s made your journey different. Those unique experiences create meaningful personal missions.   Allow your past to keep you centered, and your future to keep you laser focused.”

Today

In July, 2017, she was named CVS  pharmacy region manager.   In January of 2018, she was promoted to region director with responsibility for more than 165 CVS Pharmacy stores with approximately 2,500 colleagues across Texas and Oklahoma. This role offers the novel experience of being responsible for stand-alone stores, which requires shuffling some of her skill sets to think about front-of-store operations, real estate, acquisitions, business strategies and other parts of her MBA background.

She leads a team of licensed and non-licensed district leaders, traveling with them monthly to discuss their development, talent strategies, sales and service programs, execution of initiatives, as well as store and district performance.  A significant portion of her job is talent development, including selection, training, succession planning and team development.  She collaborates with several key teams and partners -- human resources, loss prevention, training, sales managers and real estate – who support her market and region.

“My goal is to help people reach their potential,” she said. “You get to decide. Your thinking impacts your behavior and your outcome. Whenever I’ve thought ‘I can do this…’ I did it. I’m not going to let somebody make that decision for me. Throughout your career, if you work hard, you get to make the decision, you get to be the one to orchestrate your destiny, and whatever the desired outcome is for your life, it will happen.