Courtney Petersen

I would say that chemicals is very much a relationship industry, so being able to build these relationships with some of the largest chemical companies has been key to my success. When you step back and look at it from 10,000 feet, you're kind of just one person who's really helping mold the future of some of these chemical companies and their products and their efficiency. That's always been a really cool part of my career. I also attribute my success to the growth I've achieved - when you start looking at accounts that you've never worked with before, and you go in there and you build that relationship with them, and you all of a sudden are now selling 5, 7 million dollars worth of product to them per month, it's a pretty grounding realization. The chemical industry in general is very helpful - it's not really a cutthroat industry, it's really this community of people that nobody really leaves, so they just kind of move companies. You really build a nice network to where if anything ever happened, there's such a great security net of your network that's kind of standing by to catch you.

I would say almost every manager that I've had in this industry has been incredibly helpful - it's kind of going back to that sense of community. When I first got into chemical sales, I had two specific managers that really kind of took your hand and just said, hey, let me introduce you around, let me introduce you to the industry, let me introduce you to the chemical lineup. Just about everyone's very, very helpful, but I would definitely say I've had some pretty great managers that have really stepped in and sat down to deeply explain the industry to me, to help kind of push you to achieve what you're looking to achieve.

It's definitely a fantastic career. As a female, we have a little bit of an advantage, just because there's not very many of us in the industry, so people want to see us succeed. They want to see us grow, and the chemical industry in general is very helpful. You can really just, at any trade show, stop by a booth and say, hey, I'm not really understanding this process, can you explain it to me? And they'll grab a chair and pull it up and say, alright, let me draw you exactly how it works, and where it goes, and why we use it. The chemical industry in general is not really a cutthroat industry - it's really this community of people that, again, nobody really leaves the industry, so they just kind of move companies, which is really nice because you kind of get this sense of community and a community of network. I would say it's a fantastic career to get into. Chemicals is not something that is going away in our lifetime, so it's a good, stable career. And again, you really build a nice network to where if anything ever happened, layoffs happen, there's such a great security net of your network that's kind of standing by to catch you if something goes on.

I think one of the bigger challenges right now is that you build these relationships because it is such a relationship-driven industry, and when you go through some of the geopolitical things that we're going through now, where the street is shut down and people can't get raw materials, you really have these people kind of leaning on you to say, hey, I need you guys to ultimately produce this material in order to save our business. If we can't get it from you, we can't get it at all, and we're gonna go into a shutdown. So you kind of start to have to have some of those hard conversations about price increases and material shortages, and trying to do your best to work with clients to figure out other alternatives. It's a bit of a firefight at times - everyone at some point is having some issue, and unfortunately, right now, everyone is having issues at the same time. So you're just kind of firefighting for a lot of it, just trying to help make sure that your big chemical industries and your big chemical plants don't get shut down as some of these raw materials can't make it into the country. On the opportunity side, I would say that you really can climb the ladder pretty easily within this industry. I think that each time I have moved jobs within the industry or moved companies, it's come with a decent pay bump as well as a title increase. They are always looking for someone who has the background in chemicals and really has the understanding of how these things are produced. It definitely makes climbing the ladder pretty doable - whereas some industries you'll work for 10, 12 years and never really see that promotion, with chemicals it seems to be a bit more achievable.