National Women’s History Month: Channel Women Have Stories to Tell
Women in the communications and IT channel have stories to tell. Here’s the first one.
![Channel Women Voices - Day 1 Channel Women Voices - Day 1](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/blt943b82100fd130f8/6524027828ff1209d981d504/Channel-Women-Voices-Day-1.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Meredith Caram
Chief Revenue Officer
JS Group
All throughout my career at AT&T, there was tons of pressure put on me personally from the “corporate overlords” to look, feel and act a certain way because I wear a bra rather than it being a shared challenge that all of us women face with the significant gender inequality challenges. To all the women who have experienced having to choose between preserving their careers vs speaking out against the different standards for women, find your voice and get grounded with who you are. While there will be bumps along the way, don’t settle for less.
Kelly Danziger
General Manager & Vice President of Channel
Informa Tech (parent company of Channel Futures)
I was touched inappropriately on the stage of an awards ceremony — and I was the one giving out the award!
Hilary Gadda
Co-Founder
Alliance of Channel Women
“I think what she meant to say…” I had a colleague who would paraphrase/restate every comment I made in meetings where I was the only woman. It drove me up a tree.
Tina Gravel
Vice President, Global Head of Channel Sales
Quantexa
Back when I was a young salesperson, I had the opportunity to call on the CEO of a large company. I was thrilled he would see me, but that glee soon gave way to defeat when he shared that he wasn’t so interested in what I had to say but “curious what Tina Gravel looked like.”
At the time I was in multimillion-dollar outsourcing sales, and I had cold called him by sharing that my firm could supply the “poison pill” his company needed to thwart a takeover. This was an approach for outsourcers back then, sign a long-term agreement with us and the liability could be a disincentive for someone looking at your assets. Not an easy thing to pitch and I had worked hard to get there.
By the end of the sales call, the “captain of industry” had the nerve to say, “You are like a secret weapon really, you are so pretty no one would expect you to be so smart. You can use this to your advantage and take others by surprise.”
MeiLee Langley
Senior Director/Head, Channel & Field Marketing
LiveVox
I was at a table of five male peers, and it came off to me very unprofessionally and disrespectfully. I responded, “With all due respect, we are all peers at this table, so to call me ‘sweetie’ not only demeans me, but it demeans everyone at this table.” He apologized and assured me that it wouldn’t happen again.
Jasmina Muller
Vice President, Global Channel Sales
ScienceLogic
When I first started in the channel about eight years ago, someone said to me, “Oh, I didn’t realize you were leading a channel team. Weren’t you on the direct side? Are you able to take on this task?” What they didn’t realize or do their research on was that, when I was leading a team of sales executives, all we did, was work with partners. Regardless of how I did the business, it was the way it was approached as if I could not do the job.
Darcee Nelan
CEO
IQ Wired
I’ve been in the channel for 20 years. In the late ‘90s I was a young salesperson. As the bulk of my career up to that point had been in operations, I was asking a question in our sales meeting. My boss turned to me and told me not to ask stupid questions, rather my job was to sell and I didn’t need to understand how things worked in order to sell. It was a humiliating experience, because rather than take me aside privately, he belittled my efforts to learn in front of my peers. His behavior created a toxic culture and the company went out of business shortly after I left.
Most of the really bad behavior that I experienced (including sexual harassment prior to moving into the channel) was earlier in my career when I lacked the confidence to confront people for their infractions. As my experience and confidence have grown, it’s rare to encounter overtly bad behavior, but rather there appears to be more subtle patterns of exclusion that are more insidious and harder to pinpoint. Examples include events geared towards men ‘vs.’ women or difficulty obtaining MDF money that is readily offered to our male counterparts.
Janet Schijns
CEO
JS Group
When I first joined the telco channel after years in the IT channel, I spoke at an event. One of the guys that had heard me speak came up to me later that night, likely after a few cocktails, and said, “You are a great speaker, and I loved what you shared about how to accelerate our channel business. That’s really great thinking.’ Of course, inside I was doing a happy dance, while outside I was nodding and looking professional!
He then proceeded to say, “But with your looks wouldn’t you make more money in the fashion industry or something more artsy?’ He continued, “After all, the channel is no place for women.” And then he said, ‘By the way can I buy you a drink?”
Just as I was thinking about how to handle this guy and get away, John DeLozier (who was my competitor at the time — I was Verizon he was CenturyLink) came over and said, ‘Schijns we need you for a channel discussion”’ and walked me away. That was the beginning of a long friendship with J.D. And, of course, after a few big gigs in the telco world, I think I proved that guy wrong — the channel is a very good place for a woman. In fact, the channel is absolutely a place for talented people of all kinds!
Janet Schijns
CEO
JS Group
When I first joined the telco channel after years in the IT channel, I spoke at an event. One of the guys that had heard me speak came up to me later that night, likely after a few cocktails, and said, “You are a great speaker, and I loved what you shared about how to accelerate our channel business. That’s really great thinking.’ Of course, inside I was doing a happy dance, while outside I was nodding and looking professional!
He then proceeded to say, “But with your looks wouldn’t you make more money in the fashion industry or something more artsy?’ He continued, “After all, the channel is no place for women.” And then he said, ‘By the way can I buy you a drink?”
Just as I was thinking about how to handle this guy and get away, John DeLozier (who was my competitor at the time — I was Verizon he was CenturyLink) came over and said, ‘Schijns we need you for a channel discussion”’ and walked me away. That was the beginning of a long friendship with J.D. And, of course, after a few big gigs in the telco world, I think I proved that guy wrong — the channel is a very good place for a woman. In fact, the channel is absolutely a place for talented people of all kinds!
March is National Women’s History Month. And this year’s theme is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.” For centuries, women have been telling their stories. and the larger human story, in a variety of ways, from art and music to photography and literature.
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Among the most beautiful and most intriguing modes of storytelling is the story quilt, a quilt made of materials with colors, pictures, textures and patterns that are used to tell a story. The earliest story quilts gave women who could not read or write a means of documenting their personal history. Today they are largely used to celebrate and commemorate.
Women in the communications and IT channel have stories of their own to tell, starting with their struggles to break into the tight circle of a historically male-dominated industry. They have a quilt to celebrate and commemorate successes, lessons learned, advice taken and advice they would like to give.
As National Women’s History Month comes to an end, we’ll be taking a look at some of those stories. This is the first of a six-part series of women in the communications and IT channel telling their story. It starts with the question, “What is the most ridiculous thing that has ever been said/done to you as a woman in the channel?”
Scroll through the gallery above to see how they answered.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Buffy Naylor or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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