Her Story
About Tia
I've been in this field for a little over 7 years now. I started out in customer service and retail for about 5 years, and advertising had always interested me, so I was able to use those customer service skills to help me make the pivot to corporate work. In 2019, I got my first corporate job as a contractor at Facebook for a year, which was definitely a learning experience. Now I'm a project manager for advertising operations within SiriusXM, where I've been for almost 7 years. In my role, if an advertiser wants to advertise on a podcast, I work with podcast teams to make sure everything is accurate in the script. It really depends on what the advertiser wants, but I'm the project manager making sure all the teams have all the information they need. The accomplishment I'm most proud of is just making the pivot - even though I kind of doubted myself, I took a leap of faith and stepped out of my comfort zone to get into advertising in the first place, and I do really enjoy it. What I love most about my work is the people I work with - they're just really great team members, and we all support each other very well. I've had multiple managers since I've worked here, and every manager I've had has been a great experience. I think managers really make or break your work experience, and the people I've worked with are really a testament to why I've stayed where I'm at so long. They want you to succeed and will give you the tools to do that.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Tia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say my customer service experience has been key, and overall, I'm a pretty calm person. In this job, you really need that, because things change so quickly and things can go wrong so quickly, like timelines and everything. I just keep a level head, and a lot of people have told me, 'you're really like a calm in the storm.' I'm like, if I freak out like everyone else is freaking out, then nothing is going to get done, so I just try to be a steady ship when things are going crazy. Customer service really helped me with that.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say, speak up. I've had to learn that over the years because I am a quieter person, but in this role, I'm more confident in my abilities. When I see something that can be adjusted, or just like in meetings, raising my hand for things and taking up space in the room, I think is really important, especially as a woman of color. I'm very careful about the words that I use, but I'm going to be heard. I had to learn that over the years, just being comfortable using my voice in the workplace. That would be good advice to women in this industry - just speaking up.
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