
Angela Leavitt.
I am an entrepreneur, blogger, speaker and founder of Mojo Marketing, a full-service marketing agency that specializes in the telecom, IT and cloud services industries, providing branding, web marketing, content, social media, PR and video services. Prior to Mojo, I was the Director of Marketing at Telesphere, now part of Vonage Business.
1. Who influenced you in your early years to become a leader in your own life; what did they do for you?
I never purposely intend to lead anything and yet I frequently find myself in leadership roles. I think this is due to being “an idea person,” and if you’re offering up ideas, you’re expected to help drive them to fruition. As a result, I’ve had to focus intentionally on developing leadership skills, and I still feel like I have a long way to go. That said, my first boss out of college set me on a good path. He encouraged me to read business books, to attend Toastmasters and to make personal improvement a life-long goal. Because of those habits, I’ve never stopped learning and growing, which is essential to leadership.
2. What difficulty have you overcome that impacted your career for the better?
I’ve had to learn to prioritize my self-care. It’s easy for me to get caught up in work and never take a break, which only creates stress, sickness and unhappiness. After pushing myself to the brink of hospitalization a couple of years ago, I finally set boundaries that allow me to take care of myself and re-energize. Steven R. Covey called this “sharpening the saw” and it’s incredible to witness how much more focused I am when I allow myself time to breathe.
3. Why did you join Women in the Channel and what have you gotten out of your membership?
I joined WiC because I wanted to help support women growing in their careers. I find a lot of value in the relationships and friendships I’ve made throughout the years, as well as the content from the meetings. And, of course, the events and gatherings are a lot of fun as well!
4. What mistakes have you made in your career and what advice would you give to someone new to the channel?
I lean toward perfectionism and sometimes that can hinder getting things done. I could agonize for days over finding the “perfect” image for a landing page, for example, when in reality, there are many great choices. I’ve had to learn when to let things go. As far as advice, I’d say to never burn a bridge. This industry is large but everyone knows each other in the Channel, so your reputation is invaluable.
5. Where do you see the women in our industry thriving?
All over the place! As sales people, channel managers, marketing leaders, business owners and more. I hope to one day witness the extinction of the all-male panel, and I think we are getting very close.
6. How are you positioning yourself to stay relevant and support your clients in the coming year?
Our value is our team, and I’ve invested a great deal in hiring and training this year. I’ve never been more confident that what we do and offer can really make an impact on helping people grow their businesses, and that’s an amazing feeling.
7. When have you helped another women gain confidence & connection, what happened?
Earlier this year when one of my senior staff members left the company, I turned to two more junior women on our team to divide and conquer the remaining responsibilities. While intimidating at first, we set up daily meetings to review progress of each client and I jumped in to coach whenever they needed help. It didn’t take long for them to meet and even exceed the performance of the previous employee. They rarely need my input anymore, and to see them grow in their capabilities is extremely rewarding.