Women in Industry: Jacqueline Terrell

January 1, 2017

Jacqueline Terrell
Company: REB Storage Systems
Title: VP of Marketing and Sales
Years on Job: 6

I started at REB Storage Systems International as an administrative assistant to the then President of the company. It was there that I began to learn not only the company but the ins and outs of the material handling industry. From there, I transitioned into a role in the marketing department, eventually becoming the Director of Marketing. In December of this year, I became the Vice President of Marketing. In this position, I’m responsible for helping to develop all of our marketing and outreach strategies including our literature, ads, social media and website. Where we will place ads this year, where we won’t, what trade shows we’ll be attending. And then on the other side of it it’s developing leads, opportunities and customers and tracking all of that information and analyzing the data. It’s a fast-paced job but I love it.

Tools of the Trade
Our company uses SAP and I use that to track everything such as leads and customers and product life-cycles. Then, on the marketing side, I use the Adobe Suites (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign.) Of course, Outlook is indispensable. And then we’ve utilized social media to get our message out and are active on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.

Communication
Communication is probably the most important part of my job. The ability to work across all of the departments and communicate with all departments in order to really put together the right message and strategy is one of my biggest responsibilities. A lot of that has been learned on the job. I’ve always had good basic communication skills but within the industry you start to hone them to the company and the people you work with. It’s important to always be learning new things.

Be Outgoing
My biggest piece of advice to anybody entering the industry is to get involved. Luckily for me, in my position in marketing that has been part of my job. But even if it’s not something that falls under your responsibilities, I would definitely seek out different things that you can get involved in. Join an association, attend local events. Network. Read association publications. For most people, material handling isn’t something you grow up knowing about, so anything you can do to learn the industry and meet the people in it will make the transition so much easier.

MHEDA-NET
I’ve been in the Women in Industry MHEDA-NET Group for about a year and it’s been great. We’ve had discussions on a wide-range of topics and have found that we have similar concerns and issues. And we’ve had similar successes as well. That’s been helpful to see, to have that shared connection and support. It’s nice to see that others in different companies and different states but within the same industry have similar stories. Now we’ve come full circle and we’re focusing on reaching out and helping other women. We’re starting a mentoring program and that’s beneficial for me in a different way, to help other women in the industry.