Joy Reid
Joy R. is a Southeast Regional Sales Manager for Tommy Gate, an OEM specializing in commercial aftermarket liftgates, where she oversees a five-state territory and manages a network of 188 distributors. In her role, she serves as both a strategic sales leader and a technical resource, handling everything from quoting and product specifications to distributor training and troubleshooting. Joy plays a critical role in strengthening relationships across the distributor network while also contributing internally as a consultant on manufacturing processes, machinery, and factory technology. Her ability to bridge field execution with high-level operational insight makes her a key driver of both sales performance and product advancement.
What sets Joy apart is her rare combination of deep technical expertise and client-facing communication skills. With over a decade in manufacturing, she is equally comfortable speaking in technical jargon with mechanics and electricians as she is translating complex machinery investments into clear, value-driven decisions for executives and stakeholders. Her professional philosophy centers on confidence, humility, and continuous learning—principles that have guided her success in both engineering and sales environments. She is known for her solution-oriented mindset, commitment to customer success, and ability to simplify complexity without losing technical accuracy.
Joy’s career began in the U.S. Navy, where she served as an aviation electronics technician working on F-18 aircraft and specialized systems like inertial navigation. After her military service, she entered the industrial machinery field, quickly distinguishing herself through intensive training in Germany, where she learned to build and troubleshoot machines from the ground up across multiple disciplines, including electronics, mechanics, pneumatics, and PLC programming. She made history as the first woman globally in that company to serve as a technician—an achievement that underscores her drive and technical capability. Over time, she transitioned from hands-on technical roles into sales, an uncommon but impactful move that allows her to bring unmatched credibility and insight to her work today.
• Insurance Agent, Accident, Health, Life, Variable Life & Variable Annuities
• Solution Selling
• Scrum: The Basics
• Sales Prospecting
• Master Certificate Operations Management
• TIA Portal Service 1
• Electrical Compliance Training
• OSHA Machine Guarding For General Industry
• Osha Occupational Safety and Health Standards Courses
• Valencia College- B.S.
• Florida Southern College- Bachelor's
• Hillsborough College
• First woman technician in the world for EMA Schelling
• Featured on Women in Manufacturing podcast
• Selected as Influential Women 2026
• Women in Manufacturing
• NEBO (Florida women's organization)
• Project Management Institute
• Habitat for Humanity International
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the mentors who invested in me, the technical and leadership training I gained in the Navy, and my willingness to continuously learn while bridging technical expertise with sales and business conversations.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell her to be confident, humble, and always willing to learn. Because you never know what you're gonna learn, and you will always learn something new every day. You will never know everything. And in this field, you have to be ready and prepared and confident in what you do know, but understanding that with technology changing so quickly, you will learn something new every single day. And that willingness to learn, and that humility, but that confidence that's driving it, would make her succeed.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges in my field is navigating doubt and ego in a historically male-dominated industry, but that also creates an opportunity to shift perceptions by consistently delivering results. At the same time, rapid technological advancements in manufacturing present both a challenge to stay current and an opportunity to lead through innovation.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me in both my work and personal life are confidence, humility, continuous learning, mentorship, and a commitment to helping others grow.