During Women's History Month, we wanted to celebrate the women of Screenfeed and their achievements in our field.
The Screenfeed team is more than one-third women spread across our four departments with each of us bringing incredibly different talents to the table. We have a producer, an artist, a customer relationship marvel, content editors, writers, and an accounting wizard all focused on keeping Screenfeed great.
Last week, I spent some time interviewing a few from our team to learn how their life experiences and unique challenges have shaped their careers.
When I chatted with Mindy Hoese, our Lead of Customer Relationships, it was easy to see how specialized we are as a team.
"I have 18 years of support, training and implementation experience/knowledge from all different types of software backgrounds. I've worked with Dr's., Finance/Accounting, Attorneys, HR and now with Digital Signage. I've adjusted to the many personality types over the years. I've also tried other roles and support has always been the best fit for me. I thrive on making sure everyone is taken care of at work and outside of work.
My upbeat and positive personality has always helped me. Support is not always sunshine and rainbows, it can be stressful when you're trying to solve an issue and give a resolution in a timely manner. Also having empathy for what our clients are going through helps, you listen to all types of issues and stories and sometimes relating to them takes the stress out of it."
Then we have, Alisa Hetrick, and the soon to be Mrs. Alisa Moen. She is the longest tenured woman on the Screenfeed team starting back in January of 2013. Alisa wears several hats for our team including a Copywriter, Content Editor, and Producer for Screenfeed.
“I was always a storyteller and wanna-be performer, though perhaps better behind-the-scenes than in front of them. I grew up writing and dancing, took both into my college career, and then into this job! I was hired as a copywriter and since, have evolved the role into what it is now, taking my leadership experience from my younger years (cross country and dance team captain, hello!) and putting that towards leading the production team in shooting commercial content for our clients. Beyond the photo/video production, I continue to edit content and copy and keep pushing for more storytelling!”
Combining several talents into one role is what Alisa’s about. That said, she’s struggled with being taken seriously within our industry.
“I feel lucky to have the experiences I do. The biggest thing I have faced and continue to face is being taken seriously, respected and trusted as a competent, intelligent, and intentional leader and team member—Is it because I am a woman? Probably. A young woman? Most likely. In our office, I do feel trusted by my direct leaders to do great work as a Person, not necessarily as a Woman.
However, I do not see any women in Chief positions so hopefully that changes in our future with the right people.”
Looking towards the future, Alisa brings a positive outlook and the determination to make it happen.
“I think being a woman in the workforce will continue to change for me and for our culture overall... I do feel like our company culture is very family-oriented, and I'm excited/interested/anxious to see what I bring to that in the near future. I'm hoping that the effects are not discriminatory or unfair, and don't anticipate any closed doors from this team.”
Well said, Alisa.
And then we have, yours truly, Alyssa Voegele. Assistant Creative Director, “Designer & Illustrator Extraordinaire”, Blog Contributor, and most importantly, your “Personal-Digital-Signage-Halloween-Costume-Stylist.” My position is perfect for my skills and personality. I’m a maker first and am constantly striving to make whatever I’m working on as beautiful and well-designed as I possibly can. I work on our brand, marketing materials, and designs for our products and feeds.
I started my career as an unpaid design intern back in December of 2009. This led to a junior designer position, then another designer position working with a company specializing in motion graphics. Learned so much—including how to use Photoshop! I was strictly a print designer before that job. Nothing better than diving right into the deep-end!
From there, I moved to a larger agency and got experience with large-scale photoshoots, national brands, photo manipulation, and even more motion graphics. These skills really helped me with my position here at Screenfeed.
Being a woman in a digital and creative industry hasn’t always been easy. I remember my first day as an Art Director as I walked in to meet my 100% male team. They assumed I was a Junior Art Director as they’d only had female art directors as juniors… C’mon guys—I’m on your level! I was initially given all of the “girl” projects; the holiday decorations, the birthday committee, the Mother’s Day ads, and leading the Junior Art Director girls.
This, of course, meant I needed to prove myself even more. And ya know what? I did! I ended up earning the role of preferred Art Director for our main client’s campaigns—and not just for the holidays! It took some time to earn my team’s respect, but I got it. However, then I became just one of the guys…
In my role now, I feel respected and valued for my experience and expertise. I was not scared to tell my team I was pregnant with my first, or my second child. I was also the first nursing mother at Screenfeed and our team was incredible and so supportive. Screenfeed is more like a family than a team of coworkers. We’re all so close and jump at the chance to help each other out. So happy to be a part of this team!
Our team of women have worked to make our mark on the industry and will continue to encourage other women into the field. We’re always interested to hear how working in the digital signage and creative industries has affected your experience as a professional woman. Send us an email or tweet, we’d love to hear from you!
