Her Story
About Jennie
Jennie Coleman entered the field of sales after several years in related consulting and training positions. Her career began at a boutique consulting firm, where she spent three years building curriculum and training salespeople on effective go-to-market strategies centered on customer discovery. In 2021, she joined Guild, a social impact company, in a solutions consulting role designing education-as-a-benefit programs for large employers. This experience led her to focus on healthcare workforce challenges, and she now works at Stepful, a startup providing training for healthcare employers to address workforce shortages by creating pathways into clinical careers. Coleman attributes her success to her tenacity and ability to thrive in challenging environments where she has often been underestimated, drawing from her experiences as the youngest sibling with older brothers. She advises young women entering the industry to embrace their natural style of listening and asking thoughtful questions rather than conforming to aggressive stereotypes, as these approaches effectively uncover customer needs.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jennie
01What do you attribute your success to?
I don't like being underestimated and I internalize it as a challenge. In those spaces I was like that's fine, you don't have to trust me, I'm here to do a job, deliver value, and I'm gonna just keep going and you'll see in the end. I'm okay if you don't believe until day 3 of this workshop that I know what I'm talking about, that's fine. I'm just gonna keep asking me questions and just try to. Tenacity and thriving in challenges and building reputation based on the work you deliver.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Some of the things that would make people underestimate me turn out to be my strengths. There's a stereotype that in order to work in sales you have to be aggressive and pushy and loud and confident and direct. But my personal style is to sit back and listen and ask questions and remain curious and thoughtful and wait for the right moment. Those things are a little bit more stereotypically feminine but they have turned out to serve me very well because at the end of the day you're trying to uncover what the need is that the customer has. It's okay to be alright with a slow burn and let your work speak and don't feel like you have to sacrifice the things that make you you.
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