Influential Woman · Tech Software

Levon Handsome

Senior Account Executive, SE, Toast

Charlotte, NC

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Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Member National Coalition of 100 Black Women (former member)

Her Story

About Levon

I'm a Senior Account Executive at Toast, where I complete the entire deal cycle from beginning to end. I've been with Toast for nearly 3 years - June will be 3 years - and we mainly focus on hospitality, all things food. Toast is the number one POS company in America, so we're doing pretty well, and I've been relatively successful in that role and with this company. I have significant sales experience going all the way back to 2013. Before Toast, I worked on the food side for years in food and beverage at broadline food distributors like PFT, Merchants, and Cisco - I loved it. Then COVID hit in 2020 and everybody's life changed. I was shocked because I was asked politely not to come back to work and to mail my laptop. It happened to a significant amount of sales force in our sector of the business. It was devastating, but it was actually the best firing of my life because that is what led me to technology. It's not that I don't think I'm smart, I know I'm smart, I just didn't think I was that smart for tech. I just never dreamed it. If it weren't for COVID, if it weren't for me being politely asked not to return back to work, I would have never gotten into tech. It was the best bad, misfortunate situation to ever happen to me. I would never go back - I would never not work in tech. It's divine intervention, it was meant to be, it was fate, and that is actually how I entered into the tech space. I love meeting and talking to and working and closing deals with every personality you could think of, with every background. I love the story and the backdrop of why people chose to work in or own a restaurant. Beyond my work at Toast, I'm a silent investor in a sports bar and lounge in Charlotte, North Carolina. I lend the owner my consultative advice and get a payout eventually, but I would not sign up to be the owner myself - I know too much and have seen too much to take on that stress.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Levon

01What do you attribute your success to?

I would say God and balance, and just being balanced and knowing who I am - being self-aware. Really being self-aware. That's what I attribute my success to.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I think across the board, it is extremely important to definitely get your post-secondary education. It's gonna give you a leg up above those who just have a high school degree. The second part is you definitely need to get multiple mentors. I would get a direct mentor that agrees to do it, in your field that's doing what you are trying to do, and need to get guidance on how to do it and how not to do it. And then the other part is get a shadow mentor, like an indirect mentor, who is at the top of their game, completely at the top, and probably doesn't have the time to mentor directly - is probably on multiple boards and just doesn't have the calendar time at all to mentor directly - just follow them. Have a shadow mentor that you follow on LinkedIn or social media throughout the media. That's pretty important. Mentorship is extremely important because it can help you avoid a lot of mistakes. And then the third part is just figure out who you are. That's another big part. Make sure that this is exactly what you want. Do some self-discovery. Really try to be in tune with yourself and be self-aware first. That's gonna be probably more important than everything else I named. Because when the going gets tough, if you're not self-aware and you're not 100% on board to do this, you'll quit. So I think self-awareness is probably at the top of my list. The second part, post-secondary education, get a degree or two. And then the third one, definitely get a mentorship. One at minimum, but I would strongly recommend multiple mentorships if you can have that - a direct mentorship and an indirect one, like a shadow mentor that maybe is a public figure, is in the media, is maybe on Food Network, a celebrity figure that you know they're not going to mentor you, but you can follow them and get that level of mentorship. So those would be my 3 pillars of advice.

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