Her Story
About Sasha
I've been in customer service for over 30 years. I worked in banking doing commercial and different types of loans for 25 plus years, then I went into the medical field and worked at a hospital for 5 years as a patient liaison inside the surgery waiting room. I always liked helping people, and when I worked at the hospital, I was always wanting to find a position to work from home. Now I work in telecommunications assisting the elderly who can't see too well or hear too well with phones that have captions on them. Whether it was on the phone or face-to-face, I've always been working with the customer. At my current company, I started in Customer Service Tier 1, then went to Winback which is retention and trying to keep the customer, and now I'm trying to go to Tier 2 which is helping them fix the phone with their internet and technology.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Sasha
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
One of my managers had everyone have a plaque on their desk with their title. When I asked her about mine, since I was the customer service slash receptionist in the front and talked to everyone that would call in first, she came up with a clever name for me and I ran with it. She said, just remember, you are the director of your life, so she made me the director of first impressions. I love that! It really stuck with me.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice is not to take anything personally. Just always be kind. Kindness goes a long, long way. And when they're upset, they're not upset at you.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Challenges could be in an emergency situation, trying to remain calm. We're not 911, but the majority of our customers are up in age, so emergencies happen, and they think they have the phone and they call us, and they want us to get 911 there if they're having a heart attack or something. Just trying to remain calm in an emergency situation is challenging. As far as opportunities, where I'm at there's different departments, there's different parts of customer service. I was in two different departments because when I entered it was just Customer Service Tier 1, then I went to Winback which is retention and trying to keep the customer, and now I'm trying to go to Tier 2 which is helping them fix the phone with their internet and technology. Just strive to learn more and not stay stagnant.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Empathy is very much a value in my role, not so much sympathy but empathy. And active listening is extremely important to me as well. These values guide how I work with customers and approach my work every day.
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