Marissa Jacobson

I've been working as an account manager for Toshiba Business Solutions for about 2 years, and I'll be heading into the senior account executive role starting in May. In my current position, I'm technically in sales, working with businesses to manage their content management - their printing, billing, and everything that goes into it. For the most part, I sell printing hardware, but I also get involved with digital solutions like billing and invoices. My day-to-day really depends and can look different every day. It can be a lot of admin work, but it's also a lot of me going out into the field and walking into businesses. There are lots of meetings and conversations, and what I enjoy about it is that it's not repetitive. I'm a very personable person, so I get to talk to people, but I also can have that refresh of not needing to talk to people as well, because talking to people can be overwhelming when it's too much. Before this career, I worked in the restaurant industry for about 12 years. I started from the bottom as a hostess when I was about 14 and worked my way up to manager, spending my last 5 years in management. The restaurant industry is very demanding - I worked a lot of hours, and when I got into the management position, I worked way more hours, almost 80 hours a week. I loved the fast pace and high energy, and food has always been a love of mine since I grew up in the kitchen with my grandmother. But I was missing out on my niece and nephew growing up, missing out on holidays, and my mental health was demolishing at that point. I told myself I could always come back in the future, but I wasn't getting any younger and felt it was the right time to venture and switch to a different career that would benefit me in different ways. My most notable professional achievement has been being able to learn a whole different business. I definitely struggled for a bit because my whole identity was restaurants almost my entire life. I struggled probably the first year just figuring out if this was even for me. It's actually crazy because I had no idea how much went into printing and how important this is to businesses. I've learned a lot about who I am as a person through all this and have been able to test myself and overcome a lot of obstacles. Learning a whole new business has been a good treat because I never thought I'd be able to do anything else besides the restaurant industry. Toshiba in general is just one of the greatest companies I've ever worked for because they're all very supportive and sweet and welcoming, and they don't make you feel less about yourself.