Conversations With Women In Sales

She had me at "B2B sales literally changed my life." I heard it as "B2B sales SAVED my life" and although Jenny Anderson didn't say it, what a stable, well-paying career in sales did for her was revolutionary in her world. Listen to her journey and how she is working to pay it forward so other women and men can rise into this great career. 

Educated at Cornell, Zoya initially thought she might want to work in hospitality but had jobs on campus cold calling and working in fundraising. She recently moved to Gong as a Strategic Sales Development Manager. Her number one passion is developing people. 

Alexine has been in SaaS software sales for over 8 years. She and host Lori have some things in common- we had influence in our youth by relatives who were selling all around us, and impacted us. But with a dad who received his PhD from MIT and other interesting possibilities for Alexine, she did end up in B2B tech sales, specifically software-as-a-service (SaaS).  Additionally she is a rising voice for more women in sales and we champion her as she co-leads the Clubhouse "Women in Sales" club on Saturdays with Gabrielle Blackwell. Alexine also volunteers with great organizations like Aspireship, Victory Lap, and Re:work. 

Dr. Jane Sojka is Professor Educator, Marketing at University of Cincinnati. She teaches undergrad and grad students and does research. Is responsible for developing the professional sales program, implementing course curriculum, coaching the UC Sales Team and advising the UC Sales Club. Professor Sojka runs an incredible "Women in Sales" course at UC.  We have a great conversation about confidence and resiliency in women and men. 

Astha immigrated to the U.S. from India  in 2006 and talks on this episode about how she ended up in professional selling in a male-dominated industry.  As a researcher in a solar startup, she realized her passion for sales and mustered the courage to ask for a chance to be in sales at that company. Shining there and progressively making it through in a traditional all boys club of the electrical industry, she now leads a team of field sales reps managing a $100M+ quota. She balances being a great mom and being a passionate sales leader which she says makes life interesting.     

As a C-level Microsoft executive and thought leader, Gavriella Schuster leads a global portfolio of channel partners that has influenced over $1 trillion in ecosystem revenues. She brings over 20 years of leadership in digital and cloud transformation roles, driving strategy and execution spanning all aspects of business model and product development, launch, marketing, sales and partner development. Gavriella currently leads global recruitment, enablement and engagement of Microsoft’s fast-growing partner ecosystem. Check out her TEDx talk, BeCOME an Ally; How to Achieve Gender Equity. 

Lindsay is Americas Asphalt Supply Coordination Supervisor currently at ExxonMobile and has been in sales and logistics roles for the past 15 years in the oil and gas industry.  Lindsay is a believer that you don't have to fit the typical mold to be successful in sales. Many people opt out of sales careers early on, but she believes that we all have innate abilities that with awareness and  practice can lead to a rewarding career in sales. This is why she also writes and speaks on the topic of Authentic Sales.   

Hang Black is VP of Sales Enablement at Juniper Networks. She is one of the top enablement executives worldwide - which is impressive, but her story of getting to the U.S. as a child is amazing and totally captivating. Hang released a new book called, Embrace Your Edge where she talks about resilience, survival, and growth. One of her goals is to help empower women who have not been seen and may feel like they are in the shadows. #HangWithHang 

Ali Cudby is the author of the best-selling book, Keep Your Customers: How to Stop Customer Turnover, Improve Retention, and Get Lucrative, Long-Term Loyalty. We talk about pay equity in non-sales roles and what type of a career can someone grow into in Customer Care. There is a lot of growth and potential in this niche within B2B sales.  

Gabrielle did not plan on becoming an amazing sales leader - especially when she was in France or when she was learning about public policy. Hear about her path into one of the coolest careers in the world - She is a Magical Sales Development Leader in service to the virtues of: Empowerment, Advocacy and Enlightenment Cultivating expertise in: Sales Leadership Sales Training Sales Management Change Management Sales Coaching Personal Coaching Sales Enablement 

Abby Golub shares her story about how she went from working in a family business in Vermont to making a move to Boston and finding not only a BDR / SDR role but also with a company where she knew she'd be trained well and would be in a good team with great leadership. Lots to learn here for those newer in sales or those hiring BDRs and SDRs. 

"If an inclusive sales culture was easy, maybe you would have done it already - don't just check the box on diversity." - Joyce Johnson. Meet 7x author, speaker, sales influencer, business coach, and founder & CEO of the Why Sales Network, Joyce Johnson.  Joyce hosts a podcast called, "Let's talk about it #collegelife" and is just releasing a new book, "No Back Doors for Me" Reach her at https://iamjoycejohnson.com/  

Anna Baird is an accomplished C-Level executive, with a tremendous background in finance and in accelerating high growth companies. She is currently CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) at Outreach.io and oversees all of the sales and revenue initiatives there. Listen as I ask Anna about her career journey and hear her advice for women in sales and aspiring leaders. 

Alice Katwan wanted to get into a tech sales role in Silicon Valley and started in Customer Support - a smart way to begin a sales career, because she rose to Enterprise Account Manager, Area Sales Manager, Sales Director, and now Senior Vice President of North American Sales for Salesforce. Listen as Alice discusses her journey, and in what she and I agree about when it comes to professional selling. 

Professor Stefanie Boyer is a changemaker - she is helping thousands of college and university students learn how to be a professional seller through her work as a professor and also as the co-founder of RNMKRS. We had an interesting conversation about sales education and more. 

Lindsey Boggs is Digital Sales & Development Leader at Citrix where she manages, develops, and retains top talent by teaching social selling, prospecting, cold calling, and pipeline creation. Prior to that she's been a mainstage speaker on social selling and worked at other top companies in sales and leadership. When tragedy struck in her family she had a nervous breakdown, got help for it, and used that situation to help others through the co-founding of Uncrushed.org. She also gave a TEDx talk, and does ongoing speaking (as she did here with us) about the stigma of mental health and how those in our sales organizations feeling depressed or isolated have people to talk with. We also talk about Imposter Syndrome. 

Becc Holland is a woman on a mission to help Sales Development Reps - and anyone at the front of the sales process to better communicate with and help buyers buy. She has an exhaustive library of plays for those newer to sales to try in order to reach buyers and have more positive conversations to ultimately move deals forward. Her Flip the Script program offering is free for others to learn, and paid for by sponsors. We talk about how her helping others internationally when young, along with her love of music and selling helped bring her to where she is today. 

Galem Girmay is an Account Executive at Flywire and co-founded RevGenius, the community for sales professionals with over 7,000 members. As a Black woman, she offers her support and recommendations to companies to help them find women of color for sales and sales leadership roles. Learn more about the SDR role, where she began her sales career and gain ideas about the great possibilities of sales in this episode.  

Chantel George is doing big things. She is an Account Executive at LinkedIn, the Global Program Manager for the Black Inclusion Group at LinkedIn, and also Founder & CEO of Sistas in Sales, which is the first community of women of color sales professionals. We talk about Chantel's journey from acting to law to sales, and have a good conversation about what majority women can do to support her efforts to see more women of color in our sales profession. 

Sheevaun Thatcher is an outspoken leader in the practice of Sales Enablement worldwide - as a frequent speaker and as a Founding Member & Member of the Board of Advisors with the Sales Enablement Society.  She is the Global Learning and Enablement Leader at RingCentral and oversees a worldwide remote team. Sheevaun has a way with words - which makes her an amazing storyteller.