Alexa Sorice, Account Executive for TierPoint, was recognized by Cloud Girls, in collaboration with the Alliance of Channel Women, as a Rising Star in the fourth annual Cloud Girls Rising “Women to Watch” awards announced on April 11, 2019 at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.
The Cloud Girl Rising award was created to honor women in the telecom and IT channel who have shown leadership and innovation in the emerging cloud space as well as to inspire more women to step forward and follow their example.
Sorice was honored as a Rising Star, a female up-and-comer in the cloud community who has shown initiative in advancing cloud and next-generation technology solutions for her organization, customers and the industry.
Like many women in tech, Sorice came to a technology career in a roundabout way. While working on her degree in business and psychology at Rutgers University, Sorice planned to become a preschool teacher. However, her father, an IT veteran, helped her to see another path. “My dad was in IT my entire life, so even though I didn’t choose to pursue a STEM degree, it was natural to talk about his work with him. I was fascinated by what he did.” Instead of returning to school to get a computer science degree, Sorice opted for a role in sales that leveraged her business and psychology training. She’s had sales roles with Sungard Availability Services as well as her current employer, TierPoint.
Cloud Girls is pleased to share more about Sorice in this edited excerpt from her award application.
Give one example of how you have innovated in the cloud space and shunned the status quo.
At TierPoint, the status quo was to only work with approved vendors. I discovered a startup DevOps player that I saw tremendous value and potential in. I thought they could enhance our cloud solution portfolio and help our customers develop more effective cloud strategies. I believed in them, so I pushed the envelope and convinced our vice president of solutions engineering to take a meeting and hear them out. That meeting led to another and then to yet another with higher-level executives. Before I knew it, this company was training my sales team on their capabilities, and we were selling side by side. This helped me realize that when you believe in someone or something, and you know that it could differentiate you and add value to you or your company, you have to go for it. This especially goes for an ever-evolving area like the cloud space.
What examples can you share of your ability to motivate your employees and team members around cloud services?
Many of my team members have been part of TierPoint for 10+ years. As a newer team member, I came in with a different perspective, and a unique approach to targeting our customer base that’s geared more towards cloud and managed services. I have shared my messaging, tactics and success in conversing with customers in my own way. I believe this has helped my teammates get out of their comfort zones and try something new, “pitching” more cloud.
How have you evangelized cloud learning?
I have evangelized cloud learning by putting cloud messaging in my own terminology and sharing personal experiences. I don’t have the extensive technical expertise that my engineers have, and I think this makes my cloud messaging more understandable and relatable to the average person.
How have you advocated for other women and enabled them to learn from you in the cloud space?
At my previous company, I belonged to our company’s women’s program where we did a lot with Techgirlz. As important as it is to advocate for women in my industry, it’s just as important to advocate for younger girls. Techgirlz is a nonprofit organization designed to help reduce the gender gap in technology occupations, and it focuses on girls at the middle school age. I helped plan events and develop activities for the girls in this group. I have brought this knowledge and experience to the women at TierPoint in hopes we will soon be able to participate in Techgirlz and other organizations for younger girls.