Her Story
About Cierra
Cierra Koen specializes in automotive sales in Chicago, Illinois, where she focuses on interacting with customers, understanding their needs, and making the buying process convenient and natural. She brings a hospitality background to her role, having worked as a conference assistant and senior conference assistant at GSU in Atlanta, assisting groups staying in dorms during the summer, and later in catering at Gotta Have It Catering. Cierra earned her Bachelor's of Computer Science from GSU, graduating cum laude after starting as an honors student and building up to the honors college; she was also an honors graduate from high school. She has no professional association memberships but credits her grandmother as a key mentor who taught her about being a real woman, manners, and more. Cierra attributes all her success to Jesus Christ, who has changed her life, and she values work-life balance, encouraging others to get their hands dirty at work but relax and enjoy life at home. In her male-dominated industry, she sees growing opportunities for women in top positions like general managers and finance managers. Her best career advice is to not give up on yourself and treat no as the next opportunity, while advising young women to believe in themselves and take risks.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Cierra
01What do you attribute your success to?
Honestly, all of my success goes to Jesus Christ. He is Lord. He has changed my life, and if you give a moment to even read the Word, I promise you, it'll change your life.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is just don't give up on yourself, and one thing I live for, is taking no as the next opportunity. It's an acronym, NO, next opportunity, because that kind of goes with sales too. Like, people will give you objections and say no, but you have to find the root of the problem, and I feel like that also applies to your professional journey.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I know it's corny, but I would just say believe in yourself. You have to take a risk on yourself after a while. If you don't see anything moving in your direction, you know where you want to go, and it's totally possible to get there. And if you can see yourself there, then you just have to figure out how to get there. It's literally like the yellow brick road... Just take the chance and the possibility on yourself.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The industry I'm in, it's still the automotive industry, so it's very male-dominated. So you don't really see a lot of women. However, throughout my journey, I have seen a lot of women become like general managers and general sales managers and finance managers, just these people of very top positions. So I feel like the market is going better for women.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Work-life balance definitely comes into play, but really, work is hard, it's rough. You want to like get your hands dirty, you want to play in the dirt, and when you come home, you clean off, you relax, you enjoy life. So I feel like work is like it is a balance, because you want to have both, without getting too dirty.
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