Her Story
About Elisa
Elisa Hawkins is a revenue advisor and leadership coach who founded her company in March after a 30-year career in revenue leadership and sales. She has worked in business development, revenue generation, customer success, and leading high-revenue teams at both Fortune 500 companies and startups, including scaling a tech startup from $26 million to $40 million in under a year and improving revenue recognition from 38% to 65%. As vice president of sales for a mid-market team, she led unprecedented growth. Elisa is a member of Women in Sales, RevOps Co-op, Women in Revenue, and the Rotary Club of Homewood. Her primary mission is to dedicate her career to elevating women in business and leadership by helping them navigate organizational systems and secure seats at the table. She attributes her success to persistence, leaning into fear, and continuously challenging herself to grow professionally and personally.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Elisa
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to not giving up and really leaning into fear and not being afraid. I always look to grow and challenge myself to be changed, and I even walk through the fear. It's not that fear is absent, it's that I walk through it and challenge myself to grow, whether that be professionally or personally.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I received was when considering a Vice President role, a counterpart said 'what's the worst that can happen? If you fail, there's a lesson in that. If you win, there's a lesson in that.' This helped me put my fear and imposter syndrome aside and lean in, which was the best decision I ever made.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Do not think that you have to be perfect and meet 100% of the criteria. We as women really strive for perfection and think we have to be perfect in every category before we raise our hands for new roles or promotions. Our male counterparts do not do that. They just go full steam ahead whether they have 100% of the criteria or not. Do not wait for perfection to be there before you raise your hand and challenge yourself and get out there.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is learning how to navigate organizational dynamics and the systems that have been built hundreds of years that really are not built for women. We've got to learn how to navigate those systems so that we can get the seat at the table that we need in order to help change the system and also affect economic power, as well as those around us.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My number one mission is to dedicate the rest of my career and life to elevating women in business and women in leadership. Women in leadership in the United States has dropped by four percentage points just in the last year and a half and we now only account for 30% of leadership, and when you get into C-level, it's in the single digits. I want to change that trajectory.
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