OYP Episode 06: Ashley Snow
Ashley, Account Manager at Publicis Sapient, talks about ongoing learning and how important a great people manager can be to an individual’s growth.
Interview
Peter Szczerba - Welcome to the Own Your Potential Podcast, where you'll hear stories from leaders across the globe about how they've taken control of their career growth and lessons on how you can too. I'm Peter Szczerba. And this is Episode Six with Ashley Snow, acknowledging the chasm between what you know, and what there still is to learn. Ashley, tell us a little bit about your career journey.
Ashley Snow - Sure. So I am currently on the Publicis Sapient Client Services team. I have been with the company for about three years, and I manage accounts in our telco media and high tech vertical. I specialize in the payments technology space. And I'd say I'm still in the early chapters of my career story, but the road I took to get to where I am today has been interesting. I graduated from university in 2013 with degrees in history and english and was on my way to law school when I decided somewhat impulsively to take a year off to teach English abroad instead. And that one year turned into three years in Seoul, South Korea, where ultimately I designed and implemented an original curriculum for a start up English school. And that was incredibly rewarding. But I decided to return to the states in 2016. And I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, then whether it was returned to school or stay in the education field or look for a job. And I had a friend who was working for what was sapient, Razorfish at the time. And although I knew absolutely nothing about the consultancy, or agency world, I thought it would be an interesting challenge to learn something entirely new. So I applied for an entry level job as an executive assistant. And I spent about a year relentlessly making connections and learning the ins and outs of our business and our clients before moving on to the role that I'm in today. And I still don't know exactly what I want to do with my life, but I love what I'm doing with it now.
Peter Szczerba - Ashley, how would you describe your unique approach or mindset to career growth? And I guess how is this approach representative of who you are outside of work?
Ashley Snow - That's a great question. And I'll be the first to admit that skills like self advocacy and self promotion, don't come naturally to me. I am obsessively introspective. And I'm still learning how to speak confidently about myself in a way that feels authentic to who I am. But I mentioned before that I was on a pre law track in school. And I think that educational background really helped shape my approach to self advocacy, as it stands today, which is collect as much evidence as possible to support your story. When it comes to promotions, for example, it's much easier for me to look at a set of criteria that says at this career stage, you must manage x million dollars in revenue per year and say, yes, that is an inarguable piece of data to support my case, than it is for me to try to intuitively come up with reasons for why I deserve something over the next person in line. So using that objective measurement framework helps. But subjectively as well, I try to make a conscious effort to solicit feedback from the people I work with. And I always document that feedback so that I can measure my progress against it. For example, if my people manager tells me that I need to be more outspoken in client meetings. Now I'll make note of that feedback and set a reminder for, say, three months down the road to reflect on whether or not I've made progress against that growth area. And what's great about asking for feedback is that it isn't always constructive. There are also moments of positive reinforcement, which have also really helped to build my confidence and my ability to speak about myself in a positive light. Now, if my colleagues think I'm a strong client executive, why should I try to convince myself otherwise. But I've also tried to maintain those boundaries of how I feel comfortable as a self advocate. And I realized that it's a journey, and it's different for everyone. And it doesn't have to mean that you're gregariously announcing your every accomplishment. You know, for me, it's really more about cultivating that self awareness and recognizing what I'm good at, and what I still need to do to become the best version of myself.
Peter Szczerba - Ashley, in what ways have you embraced continuous learning in your career development?
Ashley Snow - Yeah, I would say that embracing this concept of continuously learning and also on learning and relearning has really been fundamental to my career development, and especially at Publicis Sapient. When I started here in 2016, I felt so behind and so out of place, and the only The way I know how to combat those feelings is to really inundate myself with knowledge. And given my background in education, what I wanted more than anything was a structured system of learning that would teach me, you know, this is what Publicis Sapient does. And this is how we structure our deals and build teams and pitch to clients and make money. And it didn't take me long to realize that there was no book I could read, or course I could take, that would teach me everything I needed to know about how to excel in this business. And, and that was hard for me. But something else happened, I was paired with a mentor in my home office Raj. And he said, When I was your age, someone took me under their wing. And now I'm going to do the same for you. And he not only educated me, but he actively gave me opportunities to learn by doing and, you know, even put me in positions that he knew I would probably fail in so I could learn from those experiences too. And now, a few years later, I have all of this knowledge not only about how we do business, but also about our history and our clients stories, and about how important it is to live our core values and take care of our people, which is so much more than I ever could have learned from a book. And one thing that I think is so important about embracing a mindset of continuous learning is just acknowledging that chasm between what you know and what there still is to learn, and actively taking steps to bridge that gap. So, I know that I still have a lot to learn. But I would say that of everything I have to look forward to in my career, and the most excited for that moment. You know, however many years down the road when a wide eyed and terrified 20 something walks through my door. And I get to say, Well, when I was your age, someone took me under their wing, and now I'm going to do the same for you.