Shades Women Feature Interview with Jennifer Henderson
By Sharm Shade
Shades Women, a is a networking and resource-filled community built for Women of Color that are excelling in the Sales, Tech or Innovation industries. Our goal is to bring exposure to the industry, lucrative opportunities therein and most of all, tips to succeeding in spaces where there are very few Black and Brown faces.
In February, we will be featuring a few Black Women that are making waves in their industry. We interviewed just a few phenomenal women to get their take on a few tips for those starting out to what creates balance in their life. First up, we wanted to share the feature interview with Jennifer Henderson.
A Georgia-born, Award-Winning medical device rep by day and a mindset coach by evening, Jennifer Henderson went after her passion to empower women to adopt a mindset focused on financial freedom, self-love and a never-settle mentality, a state-of-mind she has coined ‘CEO Mindset’. Jennifer believes that living with a ‘CEO Mindset’ is truly the life-changing secret to overall joy and fulfillment of one’s life. Jennifer completely changed her life by implementing a full ‘leveling-up’ approach by stepping into the CEO role of her life and OWNING a ‘CEO Mindset.’
You can find Jennifer teaching women to: love and embrace their uniqueness, gain financial literacy tips and understand the importance of purposeful relationships. She also enjoys traveling and yoga.
She has been featured in Trailblazers magazine, ‘Medical Sales Talk’ Podcast and has hosted numerous workshops geared to teaching a ‘CEO Mindset’ that includes financial and mental empowerment for women all across America.
Let’s Dive In!
How did you get to where you are today?
Well, its really interesting because I fell into the medical device industry. I’m originally from Georgia and currently live in NY. I was a part of an organization called the National Sales Network. I was babysitting, I dropped out of college because I failed my accounting class and was working a business at the same time so I had to focus on my business. I just couldn’t figure out the numbers in that accounting class and I was like maybe I should just wait so I could focus. So, I did that and during the meanwhile I was doing my business babysitting and also volunteering for the National Sales Network in Georgia and a number of chapters all across the nation, but the largest chapter is in GA and that’s the one I was working with. The organization is focused on minorities and making sure that we are trained in sales, and we are connected with people in sales, and companies sponsor the organization so that they can get top sales talent. I was volunteering for them and had no idea what industry most people were in because I was very focused on what I was doing already. I was doing their marketing and I started noticing everyone just seemed so happy. I was like why are they so happy, and they looked like they loved what they did. So I asked a few folks that I was close to ‘what do you guys do?’ and they would tell me ‘oh I’m in the medical device field’, ‘I’m in the pharmaceutical industry’ etc and at that point I was in a transition in my life. I needed to finish school in order to get a job with them so I went back to school, I decided this is what I want to do — and I didn’t even know much about it, I just knew that they look happy and it was a great industry. I went back to school, finished in a year, got an A+ in my accounting class and I think I needed to feel that and experience that to know that I can do this. When I finished, throughout that journey I was speaking with recruiters, I attended a conference in Texas and from there I got an interview. I didn’t get the first offer, it took the second one and I just knew I needed to follow up and stay in touch with everyone. When I got the offer it was one of the biggest things to me because there were not a lot of brown people or African American people in the industry. It was definitely a learning curve because I had to learn how to say words I didn’t know how to say. I needed to learn how to be more direct and really study my materials but I’ve gotten Rookie of the Year and a number of different rewards in the industry and I love what I do!
Describe a day when you are in full swing, riding high and living on purpose?
I love that question! I started out in pharmaceutical sales and now I’m in medical device sales. They’re very similar but they’re also very different. And, I would say a riding high, full swing day, would be getting good feedback from my patients and also from my physicians, as well as some of the medical doctors I work with here in the area. When they understand our product, and they feel confident in being able to prescribe it because I’ve given them the information that they need. Also with the patients, because the unique thing here in the medical device industry is that I actually get to work with the patients and witness them going from a very challenging time to an easier life. Being able to obtain feedback that somebody’s child is doing better or if their grandparent is doing better, or the individual in general is doing better — it’s just such a rewarding feeling. And we’re definitely an industry that is more sales heavy. I get metrics every single day and it’s a public ranking so everyone in the nation can see that. That definitely keeps you on your toes to make sure that you’re not only making sure you’re taking care of your customers and your patients but that you’re hitting your sales goals as well. So I would say that amazing feedback and achieving my sales goals is what keeps me going and doing what I do every single day.
What do you do to create balance or harmony in your life?
I’m very type A with my work. It’s very routine, its very structured, lots of excel spreadsheets and whiteboards etc so to detach from that and be able to just get away from checking the boxes and making sure I get everything done, I love yoga. Yoga is my way to challenge my body, to get quiet, to be still. I actually used to think Yoga was easy because it looked easy you know you just see people moving their arms and stuff but it is really challenging. It is so fulfilling. I really enjoy it. I used to also think that it wasn’t for black people or brown people because you just don’t see a lot of us doing it but I did it and I’ve seen more and more Black people on the mat now getting time to just be still and be quiet and take care of their body. So, that is one of the things that I do to recharge and take more time for me. And I make sure that I schedule that in because if I don’t, then it wont happen so that’s one of the things that really gives me balance in my life.
What are the foundational things that make you a great leader?
Whenever I have someone that’s interested in the industry, I would say there’s 3 things that are key to being a successful — whether a leader or a sales rep in this industry or really I think in any sales industry is strategy, drive and collaboration. In many sales roles, you’re very much operating your business alone. It’s basically like managing your own business. You get your accounts, your territory, and your goals and this is what you need to accomplish. So you put together your strategy, you collaborate with your team, come up with your own best practices, sharing best practices and make sure that you measure your results. Being able to have that drive because no one is going to tell you to get up and go see an account or to schedule an appointment. This is your territory and you have to do those key indicators that are going to lead to those results. Maybe you have some business in some places but you want to create more opportunities there, so you’ll need to be able to create those strategies on what you need to do in order to move the business forward.
Why do you think that Black and Brown women are so underrepresented in your industry? How can companies change that?
From my experience, and even those I know who are very successful in this industry, I would never have known about the industry if it wasn’t for someone close to me that told me about it. When I was in school, we would have companies come and speak but we never had a company come to speak about the medical field and the sales opportunities. I actually thought I needed some sort of medical degree to be in the industry. I never thought I could have a Business Administration degree and be able to be in this industry. I’m actually a part of an employee resource group at my company where we are vetting out HBCU’s and different organizations that have more of ‘us’ there and talent there. So, we are actively finding ways to share it with college students and sharing with individuals who are interested in the industry but may not see a place for themselves. Letting them know that there are people here that look like them, with the same background as them and they can pursue a career in this industry. It’s definitely a community thing, it’s those at the company who are black and brown advocating for getting more of us in, and also the company supporting those initiatives.
Have you ever had to answer the question for yourself “Do I belong in the room (whatever room it may be for you)?” And if so, how did you answer yourself?
When I first started in the industry, I was very overwhelmed and I felt very unprepared for what I experienced. I’m from a small town in Riverdale, Georgia where my high school almost lost accreditation and even going to college was a bit of a culture shock. Coming into the industry, there were words, medical terms, that I just could not pronounce. We had to test out for each area that we were training on and if you didn’t pass than you could potentially lose your job. You’re in the initial training, the onboarding process and if you can’t say the word or be able to detail the providers then you would not get signed off, and if you don’t get signed off then you can’t do the job. I really had challenges with that and many a night I would sit on the phone with friends and family members and just practice and practice, because I knew that I wanted the job and I knew I had to do a lot more in order to get in and to keep the job. So what I would tell myself is that you belong here, you can do this, just like everyone else in that room is figuring it out, you can figure it out too and you will figure it out. It’s interesting that on the day of the final test, I said that word so beautifully I almost got choked up because it was that moment of “oh my gosh! I did it.” And that is why I’m such a huge advocate for anyone that comes into the industry especially if they’re brown or black. I want them to know I’m here and I support you and if you have questions, let me know because we need that.
What is one tip/learning experience you would share with other women of color in your industry just starting out?
One thing I would certainly say is to get a mentor, get an advocate, get someone you can talk to and learn from. When I first came into the pharmaceutical industry, I knew I needed that and thankfully I had someone, a Black women linked me with a mentor who is another Black women. We are friends to this day but she was so firm, and hard on me. I appreciated that because I needed that in order to be better and to grow. When people give you a challenge, stand up to it, you step up to it and figure it out — no excuses. Having those people in your corner who are going to support you and advocate for you is so key and you’ll learn so much that it kind of expedites the learning curve. If they don’t give you a mentor, you find one, you look for people and message them and say I’m new to the company, I love what you’re doing I would love to learn under your leadership. Do you have a second for a virtual meeting, a virtual coffee break and find out ways that you can serve them as well because it should always be a two-way street.
Disclaimer: All responses, opinions and statements are that of the interviewee and not of Shades Women, LLC or Sharm Shade.
