Her Story
About Sabrina
I started my career in marketing and events about 15-16 years ago while still working on my college degree. I was fortunate enough to jump onto a tour for Chevrolet's automotive program, which really gave me the experience and opened me up to knowing that's exactly what I wanted to do. I balanced both school and work at the same time, and once the tours were done, I remained as an independent contractor and maintained relationships with my own clients, managing full accounts for many different industries. Now I work for a company called Blue Sky Experience, which does booth fabrication and encourages the trade show overall integrated brand experience. I manage clients, maintain client relationships, and grow the client base. I also still have my previous clients that I've worked for years, managing their online digital campaigns and budgeting their different shows. For example, I do the C130 conference every year where I promote a company called Fraser Aviation, handling all the logistics for their conference appearance, their meetings, and all their off-site scheduled events. One of my most memorable experiences was managing an entire campaign for an up-and-coming snack food company called Safe and Fair about 4 years ago. It was a brand awareness tour where we hit all the major cities throughout the U.S., and I managed a team of probably 15 brand ambassadors at a time. I've learned that I'm very much a people person who thrives on face-to-face interaction. While I tried digital marketing and content creation for a while, it drained me because I was so used to having that one-on-one interaction with people. Being on a trade show floor, shaking hands, is really my place.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Sabrina
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to having the drive to push myself, even when I didn't have many mentors around me growing up. I grew up with limited expectations, where the idea of really branching out and doing your own thing and going for what you want to do wasn't really encouraged. I've always felt like I had to have that drive to really push myself and try to stand out in the crowd. I've had to navigate it myself, which I feel like has made all of this just a lifetime worth of experience. It hasn't always been easy, and I've had to find my own way, but that self-motivation and determination to keep going despite setbacks has been what's gotten me where I am today.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell her that in the beginning, it's going to be very challenging as far as finding your place. Marketing has so many different avenues to go into, so I feel like the sooner that you can find out where you belong and where your interest lies, the better off you'll be. I went through a crossroads in my life trying to decide where exactly I fit. For a while, I thought maybe I needed to try to keep up with the times and switch my route to go into digital marketing and work on the content creation aspect of it. I did that for a little while, and honestly, it just drained me. It wasn't because I wasn't able to do it, it was just because I was so used to having that face-to-face interaction with people. I'm very much a people person, so as much as I wanted the at-home freedom to work on digital content, it just really wasn't for me. I put a lot of time and effort and strategy into learning how to do all the digital stuff, but at the end of the day, being on a trade show floor shaking hands was my place. So if someone new is coming in, I feel like if they can find that area that really resonates with them, then they'll be better positioned to climb up in this industry.
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