EGN NEWS DESK
Sandra Peterson: A drive to innovate
Sandra Peterson is vp of gross sales and advertising at Beam Global. This interview has been edited and condensed for brevity.
How did you find yourself on this profession path?
I’ve at all times been enthusiastic about vehicles, at the same time as a little one, and that zeal has persevered all through my profession. I’ve additionally been deeply related to nature since my youth — I spent a month exploring the Grand Canyon and a month diving the Great Barrier Reef. But I suppose most of all, what introduced me to this present position is my want at all times to continue learning and exploring completely different industries. My DNA is in product administration, however I have labored in e-commerce, {hardware}, software program and synthetic intelligence.
When I was in search of a new position, I needed one thing that addressed local weather change via new know-how. That led me to Beam Global, and right here I am 4 years later. I’ve at all times felt just like the intersection of gross sales and advertising is the expansion engine of a firm, so I advocated for overseeing each departments upon becoming a member of Beam. Government relations can also be a massive gross sales channel — that’s an space that I’ve gotten to be very comfy with.
What’s the most effective piece of recommendation you’ve ever acquired?
Learn to handle up. That’s one key piece of recommendation I want I’d had earlier. Here are a couple of tidbits for the best way to handle up: First of all, study what issues your boss is experiencing which you could assist remedy. This method not solely will increase your division’s visibility but additionally opens doorways to new alternatives. Another lesson in managing up includes self-promotion. A boss of mine identified that I appeared to solely ever come to him with issues — he didn’t see all the issues I was fixing [without his help]. Don’t anticipate folks to see all of your laborious work if you happen to don’t inform them about it.
What is a barrier you confronted, and the way did you overcome it?
One vital barrier in my present position was laws that was preserving us from promoting our merchandise to our goal prospects. Reading via the laws, I discovered language that allowed the state to fund solely grid-connected EV charging packages. But our worth lies in being off-grid, providing power resiliency and safety with out straining the grid. Realizing that our innovation wasn’t being thought-about, we labored to alter the laws. This was very important not only for instant gross sales but additionally as a result of California usually units a nationwide precedent. It was a daunting process however important for our enterprise and the broader climate-change motion.
What do you suppose are some attention-grabbing, missed profession alternatives in climatetech?
Two alternatives strike me as significantly promising: carbon-credit monitoring and EV charging infrastructure upkeep. The realm of carbon-credit monitoring hinges on knowledge assortment, synthetic intelligence and the monetization of this knowledge. Despite its technological features, the barrier to entry isn’t as excessive as one may suppose.
