In this blog series, women at Datto will post stories from their interviews of each other. This week, Melissa Stanton, Project Coordinator, gives us an in-depth perspective on her colleague, Sarah Roberts, Content Marketing Executive.
“No child wakes up and says, ‘I want to go into Marketing when I’m older,’” Sarah Roberts says with a laugh. As two members of the global Marketing team, we both laugh, because we know how true that statement is.
Sarah grew up watching Japanese cartoons and reading Harry Potter – and always dreamed of becoming a novelist like the legendary J.K. Rowling.
Aside from being fabulously British, hilarious, and recovering from a broken elbow, Sarah Roberts is Content Marketing Executive for the UK Marketing team. She lives in Reading, the location of the UK Datto office and also known (fittingly) as the “Silicon Valley of the UK.”
Sarah is right, Marketing is not one of those careers that little girls and boys grow up dreaming about, but once they mature, they realize how cool Marketing really is.
“I was working for a helicopter magazine as a salesperson, and it was not the job for me. But we went to a trade show in Paris, and I met the Marketing Manager for a brand called Night Optics. I thought, ‘this is an amazing person, she has an exciting career. I don’t need to become the next J.K. Rowling to have achieved something’” Sarah remembers.
The ability to have a life outside of work is probably Sarah’s favorite thing about her Marketing career. Well, that, and that she gets to work at Datto – a place where she genuinely feels respected and has made progress.
Fortunately for Sarah, she has never experienced sexism or gender inequality as an adult in the workplace.
She thinks that has to do largely with Datto’s amazing culture. “I come to work in tshirt and jeans like that guy and that guy. We aren’t expected to be in a fancy dress, or high heels. There is no expectation for us to look a certain way – we are there to do our jobs, and that’s what’s important,” Sarah notes.
Not only has Datto allowed Sarah to be comfortable at work, but it has allowed her to achieve more than she thought possible. Because her role entails applying for and writing awards for Datto, she is at the forefront of the EMEA region’s many award wins. In 2016, the EMEA team won Specialist Vendor for the CRN Awards, which is a big deal in the UK. In addition, Sarah and Michael Breeze were commended by judges for their DattoCon EMEA 2015 event – one that the two of them planned and executed on their own!
Sarah has found “at Datto, you are given a lot of opportunity and responsibility and you always have the ability to ask for help.” So, although becoming Content Marketing Executive is not something every child wishes for, it’s something most children would be lucky to end up as.
The Women in Technology blog series is coordinated by Customer Experience Innovations project coordinator, Rachel Powers.