Influential Woman · Software
Ashley King
Client Executive, --
Grapevine, TX
Her Story
About Ashley
Ashley King serves as a Client Executive in the software industry, where she has spent the past five years managing relationships with Fortune 100 accounts in the oil and gas sector. In this role, which she has held in a similar capacity for the past three years, she focuses on expanding opportunities and growing business in new areas while consistently delivering results. Ashley holds a Bachelor's of Science in History and has earned recognition as one of the top five salespeople in the country for the last three years. She attributes her professional success to curiosity, noting that it scales better than expertise, and to her ability to build deep trust with clients and teammates. Outside of work, Ashley is actively involved in her community as president of her local elementary PTA in St. Louis. She values honesty and a willingness to take accountability, and she draws inspiration from advice to balance career ambitions with family life while leading with curiosity and earning influence through thoughtful preparation.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Ashley
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think it is curiosity. Curiosity scales better than expertise. I try and make myself a student of all of my clients' the technology landscape changes almost daily at this point, it seems. And so, being curious, asking questions that a lot of people would feel intimidated to ask, or embarrassed to ask, even, is kind of what stays valuable and what keeps me, winning, I would say.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
My mom was also very successful in her career. And it was, women are expected to raise children like they don't work, and work like they don't have children. And that has pushed me to do both. And be loud about doing both. I want my children to see me being successful in my career. I don't want to shy away from that. I also want my career to know that being a mom is the most important thing to me. It is my most important job.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Lead with curiosity. Earn influence. Results will follow. Don't spend your entire career trying to be the loudest person, or the person that talks the most in the room. Try and become the person whose opinion carries weight, because it's thoughtful, prepared, comes, you know, it's rooted in integrity, right? And then influence will follow.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Biggest challenges tend to be, you're faced with, especially in with what I do, it's a heavy lift to move, and so it really takes earning a client's trust and earning your seat at their table to be viewed as a partner in order to move these complex deals forward. As far as opportunities, AI is the buzzword right now. Everybody's looking at how they can leverage AI to do more, not necessarily with less, but to increase productivity across their workforce and let folks focus on where they actually see things going, right?
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I would say, I'm gonna still stick with curiosity. Curiosity? Honesty. And being willing to fall on your own sword.
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