From Top Seller to CEO: Lessons from Successful Entrepreneurs
Sales is more than a profession. It is a launchpad for leadership. For women of color navigating both the challenges of underrepresentation and the high demands of performance, sales builds resilience, sharpens strategy, and develops the kind of confidence required to lead at the top. Many of today’s most impactful entrepreneurs and CEOs, especially women of color, began their careers in sales. The same grit, empathy, and hustle that drive quota-crushers also power visionaries, founders, and executives who chart their own path to the top. Sales Is the Ultimate Leadership Training Sales builds the foundation for what it takes to lead. It teaches you to build trust, adapt quickly, and deliver results under pressure. These aren’t soft skills. They are the cornerstones of executive success. Here are some success stories from sistas who moved from sales to C-suite: Melissa Butler started her career on Wall Street before launching The Lip Bar, a vegan beauty brand born out of frustration with traditional beauty standards. Her time in finance taught her to pitch with conviction and reject no as a final answer. She used those same skills to grow her business from kitchen experiments to national retail shelves. Morgan DeBaun, founder and CEO of Blavity Inc., credits her early sales and media experience with shaping the way she built a platform that speaks directly to Black millennial audiences. The negotiation skills, market positioning, and audience-first thinking she developed in sales became the bedrock of her company’s growth. Janice Bryant Howroyd, founder and CEO of ActOne Group, started her path not in retail or tech, but building relationships one pitch at a time. She grew a minority-woman-owned staffing agency into a billion-dollar enterprise. Her early sales days taught her the importance of listening, problem-solving, and authentic connection, skills she credits for long-term, large-scale success. Lisa Price, founder of Carol’s Daughter, began selling handmade beauty products at local flea markets and out of her Brooklyn kitchen. Her ability to tell a compelling story, understand customer needs, and build community helped turn her side hustle into a multimillion-dollar brand. Her journey from grassroots selling to retail shelves nationwide shows the transformational power of sales done with heart and vision. These leaders prove that sales is not just a step on the path. It is a powerful foundation for creating something bigger, bolder, and deeply transformational. Mindset Shifts That Fuel the Move to Leadership Making the transition from high-performing sales professional to founder or executive requires more than tactical skill. It calls for a shift in mindset, especially for women of color often taught to prove value before owning it: From performer to visionary. You are no longer just hitting goals, you are setting them for others. From transactions to transformation. Leadership means thinking beyond numbers to impact, culture, and legacy. From proving your worth to owning your power. You do not need permission to lead, you need clarity, courage, and consistency. Owning your power also means mastering how you advocate for yourself. That includes presence, negotiation, visibility, and strategic self-advocacy. From Pitching to Founding: Lessons from the Journey If you are considering the journey from sales to CEO, remember that every stage, every deal closed, every challenge overcome, is a milestone preparing you for what comes next. Lean into what you’ve mastered. Every pitch, follow-up, and negotiation has prepared you to lead. Start before you feel ready. Action creates clarity. Build a circle that stretches you. Find mentors, advisors, and peers who champion your growth. Your reputation is shaped by how you show up every day, in conversations, in client interactions, in how you lead. Building visibility with intention can turn daily actions into long-term influence, especially when supported by a clear, personal brand. That’s why cultivating a strong presence and voice in sales is such a powerful step toward leadership. You Are Already Building the Blueprint Your experience in sales is not a stepping stone. It is a springboard. The mindset, skills, and results you’ve created prove that you are capable of much more than the next closed deal. Leadership is not waiting for you at the end of a perfect plan. It is built through every courageous conversation, every bold ask, and every moment you bet on yourself. Let’s Build What’s Next Together At Sistas in Sales, we support the sales-to-leadership pipeline. Whether you’re moving into management, launching a business, or becoming the face of your own brand, we offer the resources, network, and sisterhood to help you rise. Join the Sistas in Sales community to access mentorship, leadership development, and real conversations about what it takes to grow with purpose. And don’t miss the Sistas in Sales Summit 2025, the premier space where women of color in sales come together to expand their impact, celebrate their wins, and shape their futures on their own terms. Your story doesn’t end at top seller. It begins again, with you in the lead.
Empowering insights for & from women in sales
Thornton Partner With Conference To Amplify Black Women In Sales.
Taraji P. Henson and Bevy Smith have something in common. They both know what it feels like to fight their way to the top. With that, the entertainment industry staples are helping to amplify Black women making strides as sales professionals and breaking barriers everyday. Sistas In Sales (SIS), an organization serving women of color in the sales sector will host its 5th Annual Summit on Thursday, September 21st – 23rd 2022 and feature keynotes by both Henson and Smith. “Microsoft is excited to sponsor and partner with SIS to bring Ms. Henson’s keynote to the Summit. We also want to congratulate SIS on celebrating its 5-year anniversary!” Rashida Hodge, VP, Customer Success, Data & AI. The Oscar-nominated actress has established herself as a savvy business woman, having launched her production company, TPH Entertainment, and haircare line, TPH by Taraji. Smith also joins Henson as a keynote. Before pivoting into entertainment and fashion commentating, the author, host of Sirius XM’s “Bevelations,” and recent TED speaker built her career as a leader in fashion advertising. According to a press release, Smith will take the stage on day two of the three-day summit, and Henson will culminate the event on day three. ESSENCE’s very own Chief Revenue Officer Pauline Malcolm-Thornton will be joining the roundup of featured speakers to weigh in on the importance of amplifying diverse networks in sales, entrepreneurship, and marketing. The conference was created to recognize, celebrate and connect Black women in sales and business since the group is largely underrepresented in both the corporate and entrepreneurial sectors. Despite them being the fastest-growing group to launch new businesses, they are the least funded. Additionally, McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org, pointed out the Black women are underrepresented in corporate leadership, with SVP roles only increasing from 23 percent to 28 percent between 2015 and 2020. BIPOC women only made up 3 percent, while white women stood at 19 percent. Sistas in Sales aim to shift that chasm. This year, they have partnered with with Google, Walmart Connect, Amazon, Microsoft, Workday Salesforce, TikTok, Dataminr, Unilever, Videoamp, Paloalto, Spotify, Oracle, Chili Piper, Twilio, Skaled, Braze, Salesloft, Motive, DocuSign, Pandora, Samsara, Postal.io, and Liveperson.
14 Sales Conferences Worth Attending in 2022
From networking to learning new strategies, these conferences offer something for sales professionals at all levels. While so much of sales success is putting in the work each day — calling customers, sending creative emails and running demos — there’s only so much you can learn from the daily grind. Buyer preferences are constantly changing, which means your sales tactics need to evolve with them. One of the best ways to stay up to date on the latest sales trends and strategies is to attend a sales conference. Whether you’re a first-year sales representative or an experienced team leader, conferences offer an opportunity to network with hundreds of peers, experiment with new tools and hear from leaders in the field. And now that the end-of-year sprint is over, the calendar page has been flipped and the champagne bubbles have gone flat, it’s the perfect time to start planning your conference schedule for the year. Whether you’re looking for some inspiration or just interested in a change of scenery, we’ve compiled a list of some of the top sales conferences you can look forward to in 2022.