Highlights

• I spent over a decade in Sales within the Food & Beverage Industry with most of my time spent in a customer facing role and assisting in product demonstrations with the technical team.
• I also spent time managing a sales team by providing guidance to help them achieve their goals and assisting with objection handling.
• Part of my duties included research, testing, and demonstration of software to assist the various sales teams in the field.
• I currently work at Accenture in the SAP Business Group and am actively pursuing the S/4HANA Sales Certification.
• My new extracurricular activity is volunteering in the metaverse and learning how to design worlds on the Oculus.

Bio  

I didn’t imagine I would be in the tech world today. After graduating college, I decided to pursue my passion and enter the world of food. This later led me to a sales role I was not prepared for. There was no formal training, and I was put out into the world to learn mostly on my own. This turned out to be the best job I ever had, and I gained valuable skills that could propel my career in virtually any industry I choose. Working with customers meant I had to become an active listener, problem solver, objection handler, product expert, negotiator, brand ambassador, shoulder to cry on, and much more. Once COVID-19 hit, like everyone else, I started to contemplate my personal life and work life. I was ready for a change! I set out on a mission to discover what my next step would be and actively worked towards hitting that goal. Today, I work at Accenture as an SAP Consultant, and I am overjoyed to have landed at a company that values both my personal and professional development. The exposure to different areas of the tech industry is outstanding, and I will never stop learning.

My Story

My father was fascinated by new technology while I was growing up in Guyana, so our family was one of the few to own a computer. Being a business owner, he made sure we acquired fundamental computer skills so we could better prepare ourselves for the future. I couldn't wait for the weekend to go on the computer and run the Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing application to learn to type. This was the first interaction with new technology I can remember.

While I was also starting to develop a love for technology like my father, there was this side that wanted to be more creative. This led me to culinary school and later to a sales job with a gourmet food importer and distributor. What I thought would be a 1-2 year job turned into a sales career spanning over 15 years. I learned how to build relationships with customers by being an active listener, problem solver, objection handler, product expert, negotiator, brand ambassador, shoulder to cry on, and more. Later on in my sales career, I was given greater responsibilities as a team manager, and I assisted with hiring and training new employees, helping sales reps with their goal attainment, and providing technical support for the tech stack.

I wasn’t yet aware of the valuable skills I had and how this would later help me change my career. I enrolled in a sales engineering course and discovered a path to entering the tech space. I quickly realized that my experience in sales provided me with the necessary skills to land a role in tech without having the relevant technical skills. With the help of my instructors and mentors, I was able to land a position at Accenture as an SAP Consultant as part of the Project Elevate Program, which is aimed at upskilling individuals with functional experience. I am thrilled to be a mentor at Learnfull because I now have the possibility to assist others in achieving their goal of switching to a job in technology.

Change is never easy, but if you set a goal and do the work, the possibilities are endless.