Brittany Ray

I really don't take no for an answer, and I think that's what has served me so well in the sales world for so long, but I also think it is what has served me really well in the ability to move up so quickly within companies. I know exactly what I want, and I go for it. I feel like I'm adaptable to being the kind of person that they're looking for in specific roles, and I feel like that has really been what's pushed me along. I'm just very driven and very motivated. I just want to be the best. I want to make the most impact in whatever role I'm in.

My dad was at the same company for 40 years, and he always told me, like, you have to plant your roots, you have to plant your roots, you have to work through the hard times to just find that security. And so, it has taken me up until 5 years ago when I started in TG, but I think I really heed that advice now more than ever. Like, I feel like my roots are planted, and I'm where I belong.

Never stop networking. There's always more people that you can meet. Even if you work remote, I work remote. I'm not in an office with all of the executive leadership team and senior leaders of the company, like, I'm at home by myself, working all day, every day, but you have to find ways to connect. I think networking is the sole reason I'm in the position I'm in today. And outside of that, honestly, fake it till you make it. You can do it, like, you just have to, you know, tell yourself, like, you can do this. If you could not do this, they would not have hired you for the role that you're in.

It was so scary, because for the first time in 12, 13 years, I was going from sales to finance to revenue support. I was terrified. When I took on this manager of credit and cash application role, it was completely unknown. I had to flip my brain into thinking, like, it is my responsibility to control risk for this company. Just because the salesperson says they have an urgent load, if this customer hasn't paid their bills in 3 months, like, I need to evaluate what's important here, and I think that was challenging to switch my brain from sales to risk management, essentially.

I think it's super important, both professionally and personally, to be the kind of person that people feel like they can come to. Professionally, that's something that I've really positioned myself as. I put my name, my number, how to reach me on every single credit resource that I put out there. I connect with sales leadership and different salespeople, and I really want to make sure that I'm the kind of person that they know they can reach me, Slack, Teams, text message, it doesn't matter. I always want to be the kind of place that people feel like they can come and make themselves at home, because not everybody has that kind of person, or that kind of physical home, that space, that family that they can come to and feel comfortable with.