I always laugh about how so many women do wait to be tapped on the shoulder by a leader in the company to move into a different role - this did happen to Tania who began her career in her 20's in marketing. 

Tania now is a successful author, former corporate enterprise seller, and now runs Mindful Quadrant. We had a great conversation covering a lot of ground. 

Tania is working on a new version of her great planner currently sold as "Work It - a Modern Day Sales Planner" and wrote a book called, "Work It, Girl - a Modern Day Career Guide for Women in Sales" 

Having worked at LiveRamp, Salesforce, Yext, Segment, and other sales organizations, Tania has been through a lot and learned a lot fo share with others newer to a sales career. 

Follow Tania: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taniadoub/

More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. 

Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference. 

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When Elitsa and I spoke, we had many stories about competent women in sales and leadership roles who wait to get the "tap" on the shoulder to be promoted. Our male counterparts TELL their boss that they expect to be promoted many times and they initiate introductions with some of their C-level leaders, heads of other teams in their company and proudly state their accomplishments. 

Are we too shiy to also do that, or is it in how we were raised - "don't brag," my dad would tell me. 

Today in 2025 we say, "It isn't bragging if it is true." 

Listen to Elitsa share about her career. Born in Bulgaria, Elitsa visited the US a number of times, going back and forth, then moved to the DC area in 2011 and started working for CEB (which became Gartner later). She got great sales training (these were the "Challenger" folks) and really fell in love with sales. 

Due to an opportunity for her husband, she moved to Ukraine back in 2015 (no hint of a future war then). What was amazing was that when they did hear of turmoil happening at the beginning of 2022, they had to immediately leave Ukraine - while she was quickly building a virtual and in person sales team AND was six months pregnant. Any one of those three things is tough, but all together is incredible. 

Listen to her story, and also how she created her original role at Preply by giving feedback to the CEO. 

More about Elitsa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elitsa-zaimova-a238a31a/

More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. 

Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference. 

subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues

https://womensalespros.com/podcast/ 

April Marks leveraged the communication skills she got in college to help her launch into a sales career - first as a BDR, then right into an Enterprise Sales role. She is currently at Pangea. 

My current role enables customers to leverage processes integrating API-based security services and strategically managing enterprise accounts, currently at Pangea. I am driven by the mission to streamline security processes, which resonates with Pangea's innovative approach to delivering comprehensive services through a single framework. My commitment to fostering a collaborative culture and bringing diverse insights to the table ensures alignment with many organizational values and goals. In my experiences, I've led strategic customer engagements, expanding their use of services during crucial business periods such as new technical use cases, DevOps transformations, onboarding, and M&A events. I successfully proposed DevSecOps and AI processes, demonstrating my proficiency in these areas, and partnered closely with customers to tailor security solutions that matched their unique needs. My approach always involves a thorough understanding of customer metrics and standards, which has been instrumental in exceeding goals and securing marketable assets for the company.

More about April here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilmarks/

April's recommeneded reading: 

More about Women Sales Pros: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-sales-pros/

Kaivona Parker works with companies and individuals to help get more underserved folks into tech sales and support and champion them to success. 

We talked about the notion of people saying to bring your "whole self" to work, but in reality we can't all do that. 

Kaivona wants to help build up those in sales to help them grow and flourish. She trains, coaches, and is an all around sales enablement pro, with career stops at Grainger, Yelp, Nestle', and Teachable, among others. 

Listen and share your thoughts - we'd love to hear them. 

Kaivona Parker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaivona-parker/

Women Sales Pros: @womensalespros on Instagram

https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-sales-pros/

2x a month newsletter about getting more women in sales; championing female sellers and sales leaders, and shining a light on our male allies: 

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The book Ask Like an Auctioneer has a mission: to help 1 Million women ask for more and get it. 

But it’s not just for women.  It’s for you if you want to:

• Get the raise of your life
• Land that partnership that can change everything
• Expand your influence in your domain
• Secure that whale of a client
• Refuse to lowball yourself
• Use asking as a success strategy

I was thrilled to interview Dia because as a former fundraising auctioneer myself, I know a bit about Dia's successes - 

A Communications Coach for two decades, Dia Bondi works with top CEOs, VC-backed founders, innovators, and creatives to speak powerfully and elevate their impact. After training as an auctioneer, Bondi translated the strategies she learned from the fundraising auctioneering stage into a program that helps women ask for more in their career and life. Based on the wildly successful keynotes and workshops, Ask Like an Auctioneer is an actionable guide that shows you the secret to getting out of your comfort zone and into your “zone of freaking out” (ZOFO).

Dia Bondi on LinkedIn

Women Sales Pros @womensalespros on Instagram, here on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-sales-pros/

Anna rose from inside sales support to a sales role at Oracle, to startup PlanGrid, then Autodesk (acquired PlanGrid) and now at TigerEye as VP of Sales. How did she do it? 

Anna is very conversational and I really enjoyed hearing her tips in doing well in sales and also what she has to say about AI.

Listen to what she has to say about being a "lone wolf" and why you don't want to be that.

Follow Anna here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-r-a375483/

Follow Women Sales Pros: @womensalespros on Instagram

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Do you know what you want in your career? 

Many of us know we don't like where we are at or our role, but we don't know what we DO want. 

Jaime Diglio's new book, "Moneyball Leadership" is not just for leaders - it is a quick read for anyone wanting to get out of the "war room" as Jaime puts it, and into the "win room". 

Mindset is so important in business - especially sales and sales leadership. 

Jaime explains: 

"Today’s leaders are burning out at higher rates than ever before because they're measuring the wrong things and using outdated methods that work against the results they are trying to achieve — losing them money, time, and energy every day. In Moneyball Leadership, I reveal a better way to win that most are blind to. I offer a unique, proven blueprint you won’t find anywhere else, revealing the secret formula behind my clients' successes."

Jaime will teach how to play (money)ball and Master the New ROI: Return on Interactions,  changing how you see the game you’ve been playing your whole life.

More on Jaime here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaimediglio/

Jaime's TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viXdeKVLwXo  "From War Room to WIN Room - Change Your Room, Change Your Life" 

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My guest today is Sarah Gross,  VP of Global Enablement at RingCentral. Sarah and I go way back, and most recently she became a new mom which has given her new perspectives about women and work. 

Sarah is also a top sales enablement professional who helps design process and support for sales teams like the ones at RingCentral. When Sarah and I first met, she was with Gartner, and has also worked at Procore and Vorsight in addition to others. 

Sarah calls enablement the "octopus" of an organization because it is the only department that touches every other department. 

Follow Sarah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahfricke/

Follow Women Sales Pros on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-sales-pros/

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2x month newsletter on all things women in sales: 

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Brilliant business author Tamsen Webster has just released her newest book, Say What They Can't Unhear: The 9 Principles of Lasting Change. 

Tamsen describes the new book: The book is a compact and actionable guide that will get leaders (and others!) thinking differently about where change comes from and how to initiate it. By introducing and exploring nine “persuasion proverbs,” I highlight the behavioral, cognitive, and psychological principles that underpin lasting change, and offer a powerful alternative to the standard tactics of influence and persuasion. The outlined concepts are easy to remember, simple to implement, and will give readers the tools to transform any audience of lukewarm prospects into passionate believers.

We started off talking about "ethical persuasion" - a huge important aspect in professional selling. Join the conversation and check out Tamsen's book. 

https://tamsenwebster.com/ More on Tamsen

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Her parents were Somali refugees who ended up in the U.K. As a child, Misky Sharif learned to be careful around the drugs and crime in her low income neighborhood. She rose above it, while learning as she grew up. How many kids would dodge all of the negative and find something positive in that? Listen as Misky explains how.  Misky overcame obstacles and currently is in FinTech as an Account Executive for Revolut, and if you are in sales and don't have an "accomplishment bank" - take a listen to the full episode  - great action item to start one on your own today! 

Misky Sharif can connect via LinkedIn

Womnen Sales Pros can be found on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and other social posts.