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Women in Revenue started with a mission to support and educate women who are experiencing adversity in the workplace.

Unfortunately for our members who have more diverse backgrounds, they experience an extra layer of conscious or subconscious bias and unfair treatment solely based on the color of their skin.

Through this piece, I wanted to share advice and stories from our members who prove that you can truly excel in this field and what we all can do to be allies to our diverse co-workers and employees.

Crissy Vetere-Saunders�Owner, CS2 Marketing & Cofounder, WomeninRevenue.org

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My path is a bit non-traditional, in that I worked as an Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist and news anchor before leading the Marketing and Communications efforts at my current company. The skills I earned as a journalist easily transfer to B2B marketing in organizing and executing effective campaigns. You have to be engaging, while providing sharp messaging, data and analytics, and interactivity.

In order to attract and support a diverse team, it is imperative to strengthen efforts to not only identify and recruit women and People of Color, but elevate the talent you currently have on your team. Promoting and retaining POC is just as important as hiring POC. They are one and the same.

Melinda Davenport�Head of Marketing and Communications, Kairos Power

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B2B sales came to me fresh out of college while I was trying to figure out how to support my family, “use” my Biology degree and help people with the strengths I knew I had - Healthcare sales it was! After more than a decade of exploring different industries as a sales professional, I’m dedicating my time to supporting the elevation of women in the sales space.

When it comes to attracting and supporting a diverse team my advice is:

Be honest about where you are today and show up for the change. What are the weekly, monthly, quarterly actions you are taking to fight the disparities and systemic racism?

I’m a believer that companies should be actively going out and finding the people they want to diversify their team. And the leadership from those companies should be a part of developing those relationships not just recruiters.

Misha Bartlett�Sales Coach and Consultant, MishaTamiko

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My coaching and consulting firm, Clear Communication Solutions is independent. I chose this path because it aligned with my strengths, skills, interests and abilities. It also provided me an opportunity to experience limitless growth.

Employers and co-workers can turn likes into loves with diverse teams through enhancing emotional intelligence, and creativity. It is through these modalities we have opportunities to relax judgement, increase empathy, and innovate to be relevant and competitive.

Monique Russell�Owner, Clear Communications LLC

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My start in B2B marketing is fairly recent, in the last 5 months I have transitioned to a Marketing Operations role at a SaaS company. With this transition, I bring ample experience spanning across the investment banking sector and several philanthropic causes in the social sectors to empower Sales, Philanthropic, & Marketing teams. What attracted me to B2B marketing is the mix of creativity and strategy to attract, educate, and engage our customers and prospects.

I am grateful for the opportunity and I have been fortunate to work at several companies that supported my career growth and interests. As a person of color (PoC), I believe it is important for companies and peers to embrace a culture around inclusivity to attract diverse talent. Some ways inclusivity can be manifested are:

“Come as you are” policy: Give diverse talent the space and power to embrace their full selves and bring those experiences to your teams and workplace. It is so liberating to not have to curate your appearance, conversation, and experience to a workplace or cultural “norm”. Early in my career, I would straighten my naturally curly hair daily to fit in with peers and the projection of what I thought a professional should look like. This daily ritual caused so much stress and anxiety when I couldn’t tame my curls before a work day or an important meeting so that I could blend in with my peers.

Invite curiosity about what unites us: Identity is complex and multi-faceted, our physical differences shouldn’t be where our talking points come from. Allow your colleagues the blank canvas to dream, create, be with that in mind then elevate and amplify those voices when you can.

Jessenia Francisco�Marketing Operations, Asana

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My first job out of college was at a startup. The founders were alumni from my university and I don't know that I even had an official title. They were just looking for smart people who could wear multiple hats and fill gaps as needed. After that experience I was officially hooked! Fast forward some 20+ years and I lead Partner Marketing at Demandbase.

Truth be told, actual marketing is the smallest percentage of how I spend my time. The motherlode of my efforts are focused on strategy, relationship building, problem solving, rallying coalitions, optimizing operations and data analysis. As a Black woman, I don't look, sound, act or think like most of the people I interact with on a daily basis. At times that can be lonely but I believe it has also contributed to my success. I ask different questions and offer a unique perspective that stems from an entirely different background.

I think when organizations hire for "cultural fit," it's code for a desire for homogeneity and quite frankly corporate-sanctioned exclusion. If an organization desires a more diverse workforce they literally have to look outside of the narrow, cramped, cookie-cutter box of their previous hiring strategies and take the blinders off to an expanded world of exceptional talent. Next, when you hire diverse employees, get comfortable with being uncomfortable with new and different work, communication and decision-making styles. It might be the only path to the competitive edge that your organization has been seeking.

Christine Farrier�Sr. Director Partner & Channel Marketing, Demandbase

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I was introduced to B2B marketing technology 2 years after graduating with my MS in applied economics. I was hired to manage data and analytics for a start-up company who had no database. Because of my background with data, that was a greenfield opportunity for me. Over the next 2 years, I worked tirelessly to create the company data model, integrate different data sources, and support the implementation of the marketing automation platform. I was still very shy, but building my expertise in the marketing tech stack meant I had something of value to contribute and when I spoke, people listened because I could see patterns in data no one could. I took several classes to build up my communication skills. One of my bosses encouraged me to be more assertive and more visible, that is when I started to fully embrace my blackness unapologetically.

Two pieces of advice I have for fellow BIPOC women are:

Know your craft and know it well, and do not be afraid to show off. Assume you always have 2 strikes against you before a meeting even starts. A woman and a minority - double whammy. Do not be afraid to ask questions, especially “Why?”

Connect with other women, they do not necessarily need to be in the same field or at the same level as you. Building a network of people you can rely on for shared experience is critical. There are several B2B marketing networking groups with some good programs to help woman become a more effective B2B marketer.

�Nadine Nana�B2B Marketing Consultant, Self

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Women in Revenue supports women, men, and non-binary members of all backgrounds and we welcome everyone to join our community!

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