A profession in sales can be lucrative, flexible, and allows for immense personal growth. Black CEO Chantel George is trying to help more women of color get that corporate coin and connect with a sisterhood all at the same time.
Her initiative, Sistas In Sales is the community we all need for our respective fields. It’s a community where women of color can go to feel supported, gain access to the resources needed to thrive in their careers, and hopefully make a few friends along the way.
This week, The Reset with Coach Tish talked with Chantel about the state of the sales industry for Black people in the two years since the summer of 2020, when it felt like all of corporate America was suddenly paying attention to Black voices. But did it really become a more inclusive space for Black people?
“What I find right now is there are spaces for Black and brown people to create what they need,” says George. “So I guess it’s less that corporate America is creating what we would want more so [than] we can create what we need in their spaces, which I think is also mutually important.
“I’ve run four employee resource groups in my career,” she continues. “That means I’ve created a community within a corporate space or a tech company. I’ve corralled people together. I’ve put on events. I have vouched for budgets and I’ve gotten people promoted four times in a row. And I can tell you that the budgets are increasing. The people that are supporting these initiatives are increasing. And it’s now just about us rising to the occasion and meeting where the demand is. And it also has allowed for my community to flourish too. So I would say that there are openings. We need to be enthusiastic about those openings and rise to the occasion.”
The 5th annual Sistas in Sales Summit is in September, and registration is open now. In the interim, George also shared three simple preparatory steps people can take to land a fulfilling role in corporate sales; you can tune into the entire conversation on this week’s episode of The Reset with Coach Tish, above.
Letisha Bereola is a life coach who helps ambitious women overcome burnout and reach their career goals so they feel great at work and happy at home. She’s a former Emmy-nominated TV news anchor, podcast host of AUDACITY and speaker. Learn more: www.coachtish.co
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