Conversations with Women in Sales

Ayana Gardner was recently named as one of "300 Women Making an Impact in B2B SaaS" so it is great that she kick off our first episode of 2025. Ayana is a ZCX Channel Leader at Zoom.  We are also starting 2025 with our Q1 sponsor, RapidScale. Ayana has been in sales for a number of years and loves her current position which involves working with Zoom channel partners - a huge opportunity in B2B sales as so many companies sell through channels of one type or another.  Because she works for Zoom Ayana is virtual, and does virtual events and enablement within her role.  Ayana talks about being a lifelong learner- how our company we work for will provide some foundational training and learning, but it is up to us to learn what we think we need or want so we can grow.  More about Ayana: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayanagardner702/ More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.  Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.  subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues https://womensalespros.com/podcast/    Partnerships Unraveled Podcast that Ayana mentions: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/partnerships-unraveled-podcast-7242555185363922944/  

I always laugh about how so many women do wait to be tapped on the shoulder by a leader in the company to move into a different role - this did happen to Tania who began her career in her 20's in marketing.  Tania now is a successful author, former corporate enterprise seller, and now runs Mindful Quadrant. We had a great conversation covering a lot of ground.  Tania is working on a new version of her great planner currently sold as "Work It - a Modern Day Sales Planner" and wrote a book called, "Work It, Girl - a Modern Day Career Guide for Women in Sales"  Having worked at LiveRamp, Salesforce, Yext, Segment, and other sales organizations, Tania has been through a lot and learned a lot fo share with others newer to a sales career.  Follow Tania: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taniadoub/ More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.  Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.  subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues https://womensalespros.com/podcast/  (all episodes accessible here) 

When Elitsa and I spoke, we had many stories about competent women in sales and leadership roles who wait to get the "tap" on the shoulder to be promoted. Our male counterparts TELL their boss that they expect to be promoted many times and they initiate introductions with some of their C-level leaders, heads of other teams in their company and proudly state their accomplishments.  Are we too shiy to also do that, or is it in how we were raised - "don't brag," my dad would tell me.  Today in 2025 we say, "It isn't bragging if it is true."  Listen to Elitsa share about her career. Born in Bulgaria, Elitsa visited the US a number of times, going back and forth, then moved to the DC area in 2011 and started working for CEB (which became Gartner later). She got great sales training (these were the "Challenger" folks) and really fell in love with sales.  Due to an opportunity for her husband, she moved to Ukraine back in 2015 (no hint of a future war then). What was amazing was that when they did hear of turmoil happening at the beginning of 2022, they had to immediately leave Ukraine - while she was quickly building a virtual and in person sales team AND was six months pregnant. Any one of those three things is tough, but all together is incredible.  Listen to her story, and also how she created her original role at Preply by giving feedback to the CEO.  More about Elitsa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elitsa-zaimova-a238a31a/ More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.  Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.  subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues https://womensalespros.com/podcast/ 

April Marks leveraged the communication skills she got in college to help her launch into a sales career - first as a BDR, then right into an Enterprise Sales role. She is currently at Pangea.  My current role enables customers to leverage processes integrating API-based security services and strategically managing enterprise accounts, currently at Pangea. I am driven by the mission to streamline security processes, which resonates with Pangea's innovative approach to delivering comprehensive services through a single framework. My commitment to fostering a collaborative culture and bringing diverse insights to the table ensures alignment with many organizational values and goals. In my experiences, I've led strategic customer engagements, expanding their use of services during crucial business periods such as new technical use cases, DevOps transformations, onboarding, and M&A events. I successfully proposed DevSecOps and AI processes, demonstrating my proficiency in these areas, and partnered closely with customers to tailor security solutions that matched their unique needs. My approach always involves a thorough understanding of customer metrics and standards, which has been instrumental in exceeding goals and securing marketable assets for the company. More about April here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilmarks/ April's recommeneded reading:  The Dark Side Of Interpersonal Communication, Brian H. Spitzberg Positive Communication for Leaders, Mirivel  More about Women Sales Pros: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-sales-pros/