Growing alongside a new office
When Luleet joined Third Bridge as an Associate in 2023, she was fresh out of graduate school and looking to find the right first step in her career. She had studied Government and Security Studies as an undergraduate, then completed a master’s in Government in London. Back in Dallas, she knew she wanted to spend a few years at home, save some money and explore a more corporate environment.
Because the Dallas office was new and the team structure was still evolving, her early experience was different to what she’d expected going in. For more than a year, she worked with a hybrid team based out of New York while the team was growing around her in Dallas.
That unexpected setup gave her something valuable very early on: the chance to help guide other people, even before she officially managed them. That responsibility came naturally. So did her progression. She became a Project Manager (PM) less than six months after joining.
After about a year in the business, she was trusted with her own Development Peer, a newer joiner she supported closely day-to-day. That person did well. Then the next did too. Before long, people around her started noticing a pattern.
“People started calling me a talent factory,” she laughs. “And that was a real confidence boost. I was seeing in action how you grow and develop talent, and you don’t have to do that in the traditional way.”
That recognition meant a lot, not just because it was flattering, but because it reinforced her belief that she could lead in her own way and still get strong results.
“We had a growing number of people in Dallas and I was kind of building my own mini pod with them,” she says. “I wasn’t the manager but I was helping develop Associates and Project Managers who were sitting next to me. They knew I was someone they could go to for guidance and help.”
Trusted before she felt ready
One of the moments that shaped Luleet’s confidence came early in her time as a PM, when she was handed a huge project involving more than 100 calls, just two months into the role.
“When my manager said she was going to give me this massive new project, I thought, ‘What do you mean? Give it to one of the Senior Associates!’ But it went super well, and that was a great moment early on in my career of just being thrown into it, someone else trusting me to handle that.”
That experience stayed with her. It gave her an early sense that growth often comes before you feel fully ready, and that trust can be one of the fastest ways to build confidence.
It’s something she now tries to pass on to the newer PMs on her own team.
“Honestly, I just throw them into the deep end. I know they can handle it. We’ll figure it out together. I think most people need that confidence boost because then they realise they do actually know what they’re doing.”
Learning to lead
By July 2024, Luleet was a Senior Associate and had transitioned to a fully-Texas team. Over time, she began co-managing alongside her AVP, Alexa Scull, before officially becoming a Manager that November.
“It was a huge transition,” she says. “ And there was a lot of pressure. I wanted the whole team to be successful.”
Early on, she found herself tempted to step in and fix things for people, especially when performance was uneven and the stakes were high.
“It was really tough not to micromanage in the sense of just doing everything for them because I wanted it to go well. That was the trap I was falling into.”
With Alexa’s support, she began to separate doing the work for someone from managing them and helping them improve.
“I learned how to coach someone, check in with them, and hold them accountable to do what we’d agreed on instead of just doing everything for them to make my life easier.”
That lesson became foundational. It helped her shift from being a high-performing individual contributor to someone who could also bring the best out of a team. Today, Luleet manages seven people, soon to be eight.
A people-first manager
When Luleet reflects on her management style, her values as a leader are clear.
“I’m very much a people first manager,” she says. “I understand context – maybe a little too much – and I’m protective to a fault. I see the effort being put in and I want everyone on my team to enjoy working with each other.”
At the same time, she’s honest about the balance that good leadership demands.
“We’re all only human but, at the end of the day, this is a job,” she says. “I always try to understand the context of why something isn’t happening but giving feedback is also important. You don’t want to protect someone so much that you never give them the opportunity to do better. Balancing that has been the hardest part.”
What comes through strongly is that Luleet doesn’t want to manage in a way that feels stiff or performative. She wants to lead in a way that feels real.
“I’m very transparent,” she says. “I don’t think we have to be all buttoned up and do the old-school way of presenting a certain way. I think transparency is key in leading a team, and it’s been working for me.”
The moments that matter most
Ask Luleet what she enjoys most about the job and the answer is immediate: the people.
More specifically, she loves the moment when someone on her team finally gets the validation they need to see how well they’re doing.
“I love it when people feel validated in the job that they’re doing and they see the success of what they’re putting in,” she says. “Any job can feel a bit thankless sometimes, so when they have that moment, everything kind of clicks.”
She describes one recent example when a newer PM on her team received two consecutive emails from a client thanking them for the work they’d done. For Luleet, that was the kind of moment that makes the role worthwhile.
“After an initial thank you email, the client doubled down, making it clear that they appreciated the PM and the effort they’d put in,” She explains. “That was a great moment for them. They’d been spinning their wheels on the project and that gave them all the validation they needed.”
She also loves the “full circle” moment when newer PMs begin to understand the pressure and pace of the role in a totally new way.
“It’s that aha moment of, ‘Oh, this is why when I was an Associate, PMs were pinging me twice a day asking for things,’” she says. “That’s when they fully realize that clients are driving what we do, and the goal is to deliver for our clients.”
A collaborative, high-growth culture
Luleet describes the culture at Third Bridge as collaborative, energetic and competitive in the right way.
“It’s very collaborative. It’s very competitive, but you’re not competing with the people you’re sitting next to. We’re a team competing with other networks.”
That distinction matters. The competition pushes people forward, but it doesn’t turn colleagues into rivals. She also values how open the culture is, especially for people early in their careers.
“Please ask a million questions,” she says. “New joiners are always apologizing for bothering everyone with questions and we say ‘No, no, no, please, that’s what you’re supposed to do!’”
That openness, combined with the pace of growth in Dallas, is one of the biggest factors that keeps her at Third Bridge.
“I feel like I would have never gotten this experience this early on in my career at a different company,” she says. “Being trusted to manage eight people, and having the freedom to do so how I see fit, is really nice. I love that I’m trusted with this so early on.”
Advice for future joiners
Luleet’s advice is simple and direct.
“Be open to all the feedback you’re getting,” she says. “It’s going to be a lot, but honestly just be open, be transparent about how you’re feeling, and be receptive to all the advice you’ll be getting.”
Her advice reflects the same mindset that shaped her own journey: stay open, be authentic and make the most of the opportunities in front of you.
“Third Bridge is a great place to kickstart your career,” she says. “You’re going to get a lot of experience and a lot of exposure to how the corporate world really works. What you put in is what you’ll get out.”
For Luleet, that’s already proved true. In three short years, she’s gone from an Associate, to a Manager with a leadership style all of her own. And she’s just getting started.
