From Cheesecake Factory to Tech Sales in One Year (While Raising a Baby)

Crystal Beachum Salako got promoted in tech sales four months after coming back from maternity leave — while breastfeeding a ten-month-old between cold calls. This is how she did it, and what it cost.

She spent six months getting rejected from customer success roles before a stranger named Penelope helped her see what she'd been missing: she'd been selling her whole life. Girl Scout cookies. Basketball fundraisers. Recruiting herself to colleges. She just hadn't learned to call it sales.

In this episode of Soul Sessions, we sit down with Crystal  to talk about her path from would-be middle school teacher to tech sales — and what happened when she came back from maternity leave to a quota, a newborn, and a laptop she had to operate one-handed. Four months later, she got promoted.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Many of you don't know, I'm Damon. And in this show, is for anyone new here, is about real stories from real people, not the LinkedIn version. As we've been going uh through this series of change, I want to introduce my next guest. Her name is Crystal. She's in tech sales and she's based out of Georgia. She's a wife, a new mom, a 10-month-old daughter, and by our own description, she's also something else. The family manager. The one who makes sure her parents are doing what they're supposed to do in their older age. The one who used to be a constant babysitter for everyone else's kids until she had her own. You see, none of this is on our resume, which turns out to be the heart of this conversation. Because Crystal's career, the whole shape of it, from you know wanting to be a school teacher, you know, from being in college athletics to tech sales and a promotion with a baby nursing on her lap. This is a story about translation and transformation. This is about the visible work of taking, you know, a life that you've actually lived and learning how to name it so other people can see it. I sat down with Crystal a few weeks ago. Here's our conversation. Let's dive in. Alright, folks, welcome again to another soul session. I'm excited about this new chapter in what we're doing, and it's about real stories from real people. Um, and and my hope is that you'd walk away learning a lot more about them. Today's guest, I would like to turn it over to her to share a little bit more about herself. And I'd like to say, like, who are you outside of your job? I'd love to for you to introduce yourself around that.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Yeah, so my name is Crystal Beaton Salako. Um, outside of my job, I am a mother, a new mom to a 10-month-old, um, a wife of four years going on five, and I'm also a daughter, and I call myself the family manager because I manage all of our family functions and also make sure that my parents are doing what they're supposed to do in their older age. And I also call myself the family babysitter. So before I had a uh my daughter, I was the constant babysitter for my older brother and his children, as well as a couple other family members. Um, but now that I have my own child, they are taking on those responsibilities as well. So it's good to have a village. Uh, but that's who I am outside of me working in tech sales.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

I love that. I love that so much. Um, I'm sure a lot of the stories you'll share today will have those characteristics. I didn't know that about like how you know how much you're caring shows for your family. And so off the top of my head, I can say like one of your core values would be family and you know, caretaker, but we'll get into that. Um, so one of the first stories that you shared, I'd love for you to share it with the folks of like, walk me through, um, let me set it up. I think it was you know, trying to get into tech sales, which is still one of the most lucrative um jobs I think people can get into. Um, and you were did that pivot successfully, but not without it being hard. So I'd love for you to share um the story with the folks, and I'm sure we'll have some questions around it.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yeah, for sure. So I um my background is in education. So I went to school for basketball, but I wanted to major in education, and I wanted to be a middle school teacher, uh, specifically teaching English and history, um, because I feel like history is the best subject because it never changes. But I realized that teachers are severely undervalued in mostly, I would say, around the world. Um, it's it's interesting because we teach the biggest and the brightest of minds for children, but yet we get paid the least. And I figured that once I graduated, the industry would get better as far as pay. It did not. And even when I would be in the profession for 20, 30 plus years, I think the highest I could get at the time, based on the chart that my teacher gave me was about 80k, 90k. And that was enough for me. So I thought I wanted to be in college athletics, so I ended up going to the University of Arkansas and working in college athletics and realized that also they didn't tend to get paid a lot either. Um, even though we work with a lot of college collegiate athletes that were eventually going pro. And then I decided to uh move to DC and work for an organization that worked with professional athletes as well, and figured like, okay, they're working with professional athletes, they have to make more money, right? They did not either, um, but they I feel like with professional sports, it is so niche, and the fact that you do have these opportunities to work with collegiate athletes, professional athletes, that's kind of like the selling point. Um, and so was not very happy with the trajectory of my career and decided to start a business to see if I could expedite that, and during that time was doing really well. Um then COVID hit and then just reevaluated my journey. And I have an older brother who reached out and said, Hey, you know, you should really think about tech. And I said, Okay, cool, I you know what's to lose. And originally I thought I wanted to get in customer success because I was not a fan of sales. I feel like sometimes when you hear about sales, you think of, oh, they're liars and sleazy, and it's it just I thought wasn't for me. And so tried to go the customer success route, got the first interview, but never got past the first interview. And um, and so I have six to nine months still not being able to get past the first interview, and I ended up getting introduced to Penelope Yamauchi. Um, I'm sure she'll she'll see this, but um, she well at the time she was at Vendition, and Bendition uses your current career or your current job and help you see that your transferable skills can transition into sales, and so I was able to um do that through Vendition and got my first job uh as an SDR. So I ended up getting in sales because she made me realize or she helped me realize that sales is similar to sports, it's a game and it's fast, and that was my first start into sales.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Yeah, love that. I do have some follow-up questions. The first one, um so am I right to assume that you did play college basketball?

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Yeah, I did. I did. I played at Henderson State University, so a division two school in Archadelphia, Arkansas.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Cool. What was your position?

SPEAKER_01 7:19

I was a guard, but I was also tall enough that I could post up a smaller guard. So they would kind of like do five out, one in, and so could get quick two points or get fouled.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

So is there uh a memorable moment from your career?

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Oh yeah, so I actually broke our conference record. I think I I think I scored 41 points in the game, I think, and so um that was very memorable um for me, and I think it does not still stand. I think next year someone else on my team broke it. So I have the bragging rights for one year, but um that was something that I was able to accomplish at my time at Henderson State University.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Love that, and so there's two things you mentioned. Number one, you initially thought you wanted to be a teacher, history. Um, I've never heard anyone say that specific reason because history didn't change. Um, and then you know, getting into you know the business of sports underlying in this is this idea that there is a cap to the number or the salary that people would make. I'm I'm curious what was so important about um getting a decent salary or or why wasn't that salary enough? Because people do it, so I'm assuming.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Yeah, people do it. Um, I think for me, I wanted to be able to travel. Um, and I always saw myself, I took I used to tell myself in my 20s, like I want to have a job or I want to have a career at the time when I started my business, like I wanted to be able to work from anywhere as long as I have Wi-Fi. That was always my my goal. And I also feel like working in sports and being a teacher, you're unable to do that. And then, of course, COVID happened, and then a lot of the jobs went remote, and I said, you know what, this is a perfect opportunity, like this is amazing. And so even though I don't travel as much now, um, but I still have the opportunity and the option to just travel anywhere as long as I have Wi-Fi, I can be able to work.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

I love that. And then what I actually don't know. Do you mind sharing what your business was when you said, hey, you were taking a bet on yourself? Because I think this is a very um, you know, I think I think not a lot of people do that.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Yeah, so um the business I started was actually right out of grad school. It was called Student Athletes Unite, and so it started out as a newsletter um and sharing a lot of stories similar to what you all uh what you're doing of um college athletes and what they would say to their younger selves. And so it kind of started out out as that, and then it kind of shifted into helping student athletes create businesses um before NIL. So it then transitioned to that, and I was able to speak to a couple universities. Uh, I think the University of Washington Washington, the University of Arkansas, uh spoke at the University of Texas for the Black Student Athlete Summit. So was able to speak at a couple places, um, and then NIL hit, and so I started to see my business differently. Um, but also I feel like what I struggled with is conveying not only the value of the work that I do, but also getting paid for the work that I do because a lot of college athletics um they are very budget con budget conscious. Um, and so it was hard for me to get you know 5k, 10k, 10k to like take their athletes to a program or things like that. So it was a it was really difficult trying to I guess monetize it. So eventually I may go back and decide to help more athletes. I feel like for me it does bring me joy, but it also doesn't always bring me peace because some athletes think that they're all gonna go to the NFL or the WNBA and or go pro. And it's hard to get 18, 19, 20 year olds to think like, okay, what happens if you don't go pro?

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Um, okay, and then you said COVID hit. You're still so you seem like a helper. You definitely wanted the flexibility and you wanted to make money. Um, was that when your brother came to you and said, hey, have you heard of tech sales?

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Yeah, I think he has he started telling me about tech sales in my 20s, like early 20s. And he said, Yeah, but the best jobs are probably in New York or um California. And at the time I had just graduated from the University of Arkansas. I really liked um the northwest Arkansas area, and I said, Well, I'm not moving, and I want to stay here and try to grow my business. And so I was actually talking to someone a couple of days ago, and like maybe if I would have started earlier, I'll be farther in my my tech sales career. Um, but I was told that you know, when you look at your life 20, 30 years from now, you won't think about that. You'll think about things that make you rich. And um, and right now I feel rich.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Yeah, yeah. Okay. And so that's cool. I I know about tech sales. As you were doing your research, what are some of the things that were attractive to you? Or just that getting into tech? Because you know, you're in it didn't seem like the initial impetus wasn't sales, but like as you're getting into tech, what was so appealing to you?

SPEAKER_01 13:09

For me, of course, the money. Um, I am a firm believer that money isn't everything, but it's right up there with oxygen. Like it's like neck and neck for me. And um, so that was one thing because again, it's like I want to live well, I want to be able to have a savings, I want to be able to um help my parents. My grandparents are still living, so sometimes like monthly I pay for my grandmother's groceries. So it's like the the little things that I want to be able to do. Um, I may not have been able to do that with other jobs, um, especially living in those areas because they are higher cost areas as well. And uh, and again the flexibility, because because sometimes I work from home right now. I'm at home. Um, but if I was to go back to Mahia, I can leave on a Thursday night and work from home on Friday. Um, so it's like the flexibility of working in tech, um, especially remotely, is what attracted me the most.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

And then as you had you done you did the first interview because you thought customer success would I think is right up your alley. Um how did you make the switch from customer success to sales?

SPEAKER_01 14:28

It was really vendition because I feel like that was the only way to get in, and I could maneuver within um a company once I get in, once I got in. And so that was initially my thought. It's like, oh, okay, I just need to get into the door, and then I'll just work my way laterally throughout the company.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

Um how did you hear about Vendition?

SPEAKER_01 14:51

So at the time when I was with well, my company, um, I was planning an event um with someone else, and they introduced me to um to Vendition, or they introduced me to Penelope, and then Penelope introduced me to Vendition.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Yeah. Why why was sales so like ah yuck, a bad word?

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Um, I think I guess growing up, like you see all those movies, you've seen like Boiler Room, you've seen like The Wolf of Wall Street. So it's like some of those things that you grow up watching, and you're like, uh, I don't know. Um, but I realize at an early age is that sales, I've always, I don't want to, I've always sold something, whether it was Girl Scout cookies, whether it was things that I had to do for to fundraise for my um for basketball, or even when I wanted to get a job, I mean even when I wanted to um play basketball, I was reaching out to colleges and universities. I was selling myself and selling my talents, so I had to look at it that way. Like Chris, you've always sold, it just looks a little different. And then um also at the time in college, I sold travel memberships um because I wanted to travel so much. So it's like I've always done something similar to sales, but I just this was just different because again, like you said, I'm this is something that I haven't seen before in my um in my immediate circle or my immediate family. So had no idea what it was until I was introduced to it.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

And then you got to Vendition as familiar, I'm pretty sure I actually did their course way back when as well. At least there was like a free course that they did. Um did you get the job out after the first interview? Like walk me through the interview process.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Honestly, I did not. Um, but what was helpful is that with Vendition, they connected you to recruiters, and then the recruiter would give Vendition feedback, and Vendition would like um convey that feedback to me. So I think it was really helpful, especially my first time trying to get into tech sales, just understanding like what they're looking for, how I could share my story, um, and how I can let them know, like, hey, this is this is who you should hire. And even then, um, Penelope had this idea where she will like do a like a spotlight. So she was spotlight, um, she spotlighted me, I guess you can say. Um, and that did interviews similar to what we're doing now, just again, conveying like who I am, what I can bring to any company, my background. And it didn't really go viral, but I was able to book a lot of interviews and I had nine meetings. I had nine interviews in one day. It was it was crazy. And um, because of that, I did get my my job right after right after that. So I started, I think a day after my my birthday, my 30th birthday. Congrats. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Um, how do you recall like how many interviews you did in total from the start of you trying to get into tech sales or how many resumes you submitted, uh applications prior to vendition or like in total, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

I would say a hundred maybe. Um, and that was like over like a course of like a few years because I said I wanted to get into tech, but I was okay with like taking my time. I didn't I it wasn't like a rush for me in urgency because at the time this was still pre-COVID, so everything was in office at the time. Um, and so it was I would say over a couple years.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Go ahead. And what would you say are some of the biggest takeaways from that experience looking back? Um how long has it been like two, three years now?

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Um I think I got into tech 2020.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Wow, so yeah, even longer.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Yeah, I didn't I got into tech 2020. Um, and at the time I was working at Cheesecake Factory. So um after at the time Vendition, um they paid you like a stipend for the first three months, and then if you if the company liked you, then you would be a full-time employee. But because of that, it was like a$10.99, you didn't get benefits, and so I had benefits with Cheesecape Factory. So every Friday night, Saturday, all day Saturday, and all day Sunday, I worked at Cheescape Factory, and then um, and then Vendition, or at the time the company that I worked for and during the day, yeah, Monday through Friday.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

And looking back, any big learnings or takeaways um that you're like, wow, this is what I learned about myself.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Yeah, I learned that anything is possible. Um and transferable skills can work if you tell the right story. Um, because I feel like a lot of people think that because they are in education or they're in um sports or they're in other careers that they may not be able to get into tech, um, either whether it's tech or tech sales, because of they don't have the quote unquote like actual description or the qualifications, but again, still apply anyway because a lot of companies are looking for not only diverse um employees but also people with diverse backgrounds because I think that continues to help the company grow and evolve with new ideas. Yeah, I actually remember or still now I tend to um breastfeed right before she goes to bed, and usually that's when I do a lot of my catching up, so I send emails, so she's on my left side, and then I'm using my right side to like send emails. I think I've I've I'm really good now at typing really fast with my right hand, just my right hand, because that's where everything is, and so that's usually my day to day when she comes back from daycare. But even before then, sometimes I would be on calls and she would get really fussy, and I would just put her on the boob and like, hey, I'm I'm so sorry. Um and thankfully, you know, you can tilt your camera up a little bit so they really can't see. But there have been calls where I just had to just pull the boob out and have her on the have her on the boob, but to to soothe her, especially once I came back from maternity leave, because at the time we weren't for sure if we wanted to put her in daycare. And so we were trying to for the longest um keep her out of daycare. Um, not because we couldn't afford it, but you know, I'm just a mom where I'm trying not to be a helicopter mom, but wanted to be just always close to her, making sure that she is um loved and felt and felt like I was there for her. And yeah, we were able to finally put her in daycare, and it has been amazing. But definitely the first couple months after my maternity leave was over, it was so difficult because you can just imagine trying to stay focused for work, and then every two to three hours she has to come and breastfeed, and then you lose track, and then you have to get back focused, and then you get focused again, and then by that time she's hungry again. So it was definitely hard as a new mom, but it also made me appreciate all the moms that have done this before me, or moms that don't have the luxury to work from home because my mom didn't, my grandmother didn't, and so I see that as a privilege that I was able to give my daughter and still able to give my daughter, who I plan on breastfeeding until she's 12 months. Um, but my mother and my grandmother, I think only lasted three months because they had to go back to work for so um breastfeeding while working remotely is definitely a privilege for me.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Yeah. And coming back from maternity leave, how was quota set up? So you're in sales, uh, quota-driven role, people are expecting you to perform. Was it the same quota as before? Was there a ramp? Is it just like get back into the thick of things?

SPEAKER_01 24:14

It was get back into the thick of things. However, my manager, Kylie, made sure that she conveyed to leadership like, hey, you gotta give her a couple weeks, maybe a month or two, um, just to get back into the swing of things because she's also a first-time mom. And so she understands the struggles of coming back and to, like you said, a quota facing or a customer-facing and quota-driven role. And so I believe what helped me on my journey is having Kylie as a manager.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

And I'm curious about like I'd imagine it's day-to-day you're dealing with this. I I know the three hour babies, my baby's only five months old, so uh we're in it. Um I know the three hour what mindset did you have to get into? Like, how were you honestly?

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Three, I have to think, my grandmother said you always have to think ahead, think ahead when you have a child, and so that's how I think ahead. I think in three three hour blocks too, which is which is funny. So it's like, what can I do in the morning? Because my brain works best in the morning. I feel like I'm the most creative in the morning, and then by two o'clock it kind of dies down a little bit. But and because of that, thankfully, my husband is amazing, so he would make sure that he keeps the baby occupied. Um, also making sure that he comes he brings her in the breastfeed once she's done, once she's done, takes her back out, and so that way I can still be at my desk and still try to get work done. But I basically blocked off the morning to make sure I got as much work done as possible and then um and then worked my schedule like that, and then I will also sometimes wake up early, so just because it's hard again, going back to it's hard to be focused when you are when your child wakes up or is hungry every two to three hours. So sometimes I will wake up at five and get started early, and that way by two o'clock, okay, cool, you got a lot of the work done. You booked a meeting today, you feel good. Woo, okay. And um, and so that's kind of like how my schedule was. So it was actually all over the place. I did not have a consistent schedule once I got back from maternity leave.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Um, I guess the people need to know how was your performance the first three months back?

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Um, well, I did get promoted. Um actually let me see. Let me see. I got back in July, August, September, October. So I got promoted in November. So um, yeah, I did, I did okay. I didn't I did enough to get the get the promotion.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Love that, love that. They're showing that it can be done.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Yeah, it can. It's difficult, but it's it can be done.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

Reflecting back on that, what what you know you you talked about the gratitude of being able to even have this opportunity because you know our moms, our grandparents didn't what what did you learn about Crystal? And imagine you're still learning, but that three to six month period, what did you learn about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Um, I can do hard things, but also either you have a village or you pay for a village. Um, so we ended up paying to have a nanny, so nanny came in too as well. So she came in um two days a week, and then sometimes on Saturday, if I wanted to catch up on work that I couldn't get done during the week, and she has helped us tremendously. Um, and at the time she was laid off, and then she ended up getting a job, and so she was able to help us through this transition, which I think was very beneficial not only for work, but also my mental health, because I do live about two hours from family, so I don't have anyone close by. I do have a cousin, but again, she has um her husband and her four children too, so um that could be very difficult if you are away from family and by yourself, and so that's what I have learned um about my journey as a new mom in sales.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

That's awesome, Crystal. Thank you so much. I I've learned so much about you. I've learned, you know, there's so much I can relate to you being in the new parent, not as much because I don't nurse, but as a new parent, um similar stories of you know, using vendition and some point or another in their career and trying to get in. And you know, we're both former college athletes and learning to tell our story. I'm sure this will resonate with a lot of people out there. Um, any final words for the folks?

SPEAKER_01 29:26

No, um, just your your skills can be transferable as long as you tell your story, and um always do research on the company that you are going to um apply for, but also will say yes to because they can that company can change the trajectory of your career. And yeah, m new moms are amazing, so are new dads, dads. New dads matter too, you know. So uh because I feel like you all go through um your struggles and journeys as well, um, even though you are aren't breastfeeding, you know, you're still a new baby.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

So awesome, thank you.