Dallas Wolfe

I attribute my success to the influential women in my life. Early on in my career, I had two amazing - well, really three amazing women - take me under their wing and provide me with so many opportunities and different connections. Female leaders have been super influential in my experience, and I've been really fortunate to work with really strong women throughout my career. It's something that I didn't necessarily prioritize when I started, but it's been a strong pull in every role that I've taken on. I've been really impacted by strong women and people who are willing to share their advice with me and get me connected beyond maybe what their corporate circle is. That networking capability and the willingness of these women to invest in me, share their wisdom, and expand my opportunities has played a major role in who I've become and the success I've achieved.

The best career advice I've ever received is to not sell yourself short. I know that sounds a little bit cliche, but I think many times, especially women, have a tendency to undercut their experience or to not go after things that may seem like a reach in terms of a position. I had a really wonderful leader at PowerSchool who has stayed a really strong connection for me, and she is always encouraging me to go after roles and opportunities that really do have big impact. Just not selling yourself short and believing in yourself - I know that sounds a little bit basic, but I think it is an important thing for women, especially, to remember. It's about trusting your abilities, recognizing your worth, and going after the opportunities that excite you, even when they feel like a stretch.

My advice is to be confident in your knowledge and your voice. I think early on, it's very easy to just be a doer, and while there's a time and place for that, I also think, especially in marketing, everyone's idea should have value. People sometimes early on in their career feel nervous to speak up, or feel like because they don't have as much experience, their ideas aren't going to be as valued. I think that's definitely a loss - one, for the business that they're working for, because you should celebrate ideas and welcome them no matter who they're coming from. And two, it's a loss for the person, because that confidence that you get from sharing your voice and sharing your ideas is just going to continue to increase. It's going to make you a better employee and a better leader, because hopefully your ideas are being listened to from leaders above you, and that's going to stick with you and be part of your personality as you continue to grow into the field.

One of the biggest challenges and opportunities in my field right now is breaking through saturated markets. In the insurance industry specifically, it's a pretty saturated market with long-time legacy brands - you think of things like State Farm or Progressive, where there's quite a market share in that space. There's a lot of work that has to be done to break through that feeling. And in the same breath, the industry of social media marketing, brand marketing, and marketing in general is so saturated. Everyone has the ability to have a platform, so the question becomes: how do you break through that noise and create something that's unique, that's going to stand out, that's going to captivate that audience? Those are both very broad challenges and opportunities, but I think that's where the fun is, and that's what drives me every day - how do you find that one thing that's going to stick with people, and how do you create that, and how do you stand out? I find that very exciting.

The values most important to me are hard work, humility, and respect. I will take on any sort of criticism that you'll ever want to throw at me, but I never want to be seen as somebody who didn't work hard. In every role that I've ever had, I want to have the mindset that I'm no better than the intern. Whether or not I have had the privilege of leading a team or being a founding marketing director, I want to have that spirit of rolling up my sleeves and getting things done, just as I would as an intern, whether you're a leader or not. Along with hard work comes humility - not having an ego, being able to empower the next generation, and stepping aside to learn from people in different parts of the business. And then overall, just respect - being a team player. I was a student athlete, and so that idea of me working hard, but then also working hard in order to help the people alongside of me and do things the right way, those are really core to who I am, both in business and in life.