Q&A with Amy Bailey, Vice President of Marketing, Telarus and WiC Conference Call Chair
- Tell us about yourself(this could be you or anyone you decide to feature at Telarus).
I love the outdoors, county music and being with my family. I am at my best when I start my day with a visit to bootcamp at about 5:15 am. My body craves it. I love to work with lots of different people. I work from home which is great, but also a bit of a challenge since I don’t get to be around as many people as I would like.
- Tell us about your company.
Telarus is an amazing company. I get to work with a great group of fun, passionate people. We love what we do. Helping partners grow their business and achieve their goals pushes us to try new things.
- What is your company’s mission?
Our mission is to help partners win. We want to be the one-source for their order because of the tools we offer. We help them differentiate themselves in the crowded marketplace.
- How long have you been supporting WiC?
Telarus has been supporting WC for almost 10 years. We have a special WiC reception at our Partner Summit and encourage all female employees to get involved with WiC.
- Why do you support/sponsor WiC?
Telarus is a proud supporter of WiC because we believe the contributions made by women are important in our business. We want to encourage networking and empower women to reach their goals.
- Why is gender diversity in the workplace important?
Women bring a unique perspective to the business. We offer insight and perspective into situations different from our male counterparts.
- How is your company promoting gender diversity?
Telarus promotes gender diversity by hiring smart, dynamic women and training them to succeed. Telarus actively coaches on strategy, lead gen, activity planning, budget allocation, and other “MBA” type of sales training (like Griffin Hill, for example).
- How is your company preparing/advancing women in leadership roles?
Although we don’t have any concrete incentives, we are cognizant of where we stand with regards to gender diversity and the hiring stack. We don’t actively seek one gender or the other when looking to fill a role. We focus on looking for the best available candidates, which just happen to be women in so many of the cases. Having a broader pool of qualified female candidates (both inside the company and from without) are what have led to the gender diversity that we enjoy here at Telarus.
- How does gender diversity/female leadership bring value to your business?
Women are generally great communicators and relationship builders. In this industry, those are key personality traits that are hard to teach, but vitally important. We enjoy the benefits of these relationships with partners and suppliers.
- Who was integral to you in your career?
I have been lucky to have great mentors in the business – both men and women. I consider my parents my greatest mentors. I started in the business with them and learned networking and relationship building from day one. I have been fortunate to work with Roger Blohm for over ten years with the VXSuite product and he has been instrumental to my career advancement. I have enjoyed great relationships with strong women from WiC like Stacy Conrad, Dalyn Wertz and Christina Curtis.
- What is one of the greatest lessons a/your mentor taught you?
The best lesson I have learned for my mentors is to “Stand up for yourself and share your point of view.” We all have unique things to bring to the table. My mentors have encouraged me to believe in myself.
- If you could impart a lesson to women in the channel what would it be?
Surround yourself with great people and listen, watch, and learn. Soak up as much as you can!