Amy Belcher is VP of Channel Marketing at Xerox. Coming from a background of public service, she jumped into the private sector 19 years ago working for a solution provider. This was her first entry into the channel in the world of IT. It was eye opening for her and she was overwhelmed with the opportunities in that sector. What was attractive to her is that it was a space of constant learning and constant change. Then she went on to work for a distributor, got a second degree on business management and recently went on to get her MBA, adding different skills to her resume along the way. She is now working for Xerox in the process of transforming it into an end to end channel company.
She advises women in the channel to have a sponsor or mentor to provide honest and open feedback, as well as asking management how to improve to allow them to change and evolve. She also encourages women to not let the fact that the industry is mainly male intimidate them, but rather to use it as an advantage and prove them wrong. Women should also accept that failure is OK, as long as you learn from your mistakes. Do not compare yourself to other women in the industry but start networking more and more as building strong relationships is very important.
The IT market is constantly evolving so the opportunities are endless. There is no better time for young women to jump into the IT field.
