Amber Winn | Director of Business Development & Marketing, Wright Engineers
Posted by Communications2 on May. 29, 2021 / Member Spotlight / Subscribe 0
How long have you worked at your company?
Believe it or not, I’ve now been with Wright for almost ten years. About 3.5 of those years have been in my current role on the marketing and business development side of things.
How would you describe your role/job?
Adventurous! I imagine being in marketing and business development is probably adventurous for all our members. Sometimes you have no idea what the next day holds, so you always have to be ready to pivot.
At Wright, I have a lot of room and freedom to do what I think will help grow our business. So, for me it’s very flexible, fluid, and self-starting.
What are the rewards of your job?
It’s definitely all the interaction with people I get to have. I love getting to know people’s stories and learning about diverse life and professional experiences.
That, and giving people gifts! I truly love giving and I love being creative so it’s pretty fun to get to do both through my job.
What are your challenges?
This is the first role I have been in where there hasn’t been a detailed set of expectations around what to do. There really isn’t any clear path where A + B + C = D, so it requires me to trust my own intuition and migrate toward opportunities that I identify myself.
Luckily, I like being challenged, so I don’t see this as a bad thing.
What has been your most meaningful project?
I had the chance to put together our first hard copy portfolio magazine for in-person client meetings. I loved the quality of the finished product, and it was nice to wrap my hands around something tangible.
How long have you been an SMPS member?
I joined when my role at Wright Engineers transitioned into business development—a little over three years ago.
What is your role in SMPS?
Director of Membership
What led you to serve on the Board?
Our Past-President Vicky Golie roped me in! I’m glad she did.
I have really enjoyed the opportunity to serve our professional community in my Board role. It’s been a great experience for me.
How has SMPS membership helped you?
It’s taught me so much about marketing and business development. From broadening my perspective on the industry, to providing me tactical resources, SMPS has helped me a great deal in growing into my position at Wright Engineers.
What’s the best career advice you’ve received?
Business Development is a long game. Everything you do builds over time, and it can take a while to build the network and see the return on investment.
When I first jumped in, I assumed that the payoff on time investment would be very quick. I now realize how much more productive it is to build relationships more naturally, over longer periods of time.
What’s on your bucket list?
I don’t really keep a bucket list! I try to enjoy each day as it comes.
But… I suppose we all have a travel bucket list, right? When it comes to travel, Italy and specifically the historic city of Rome is high on my list. I would love to see the architecture because I can appreciate the details and the talent of craftmanship it took to be built.
What was your childhood dream?
I definitely thought I would be a professional singer. I think it took me until college to realize how much I actually didn’t want to live the life that surrounds that kind of path.
Guilty pleasure: what can you not live without?
Dark chocolate. But not just any dark chocolate. I admit I’m very picky when it comes to it, but it’s typically high quality, fancy, and expensive! However, I won’t eat all high quality, expensive chocolate. So yeah, I’m picky.
Any other advice or ideas you might be willing to share with our members?
No matter the direction your life takes you in, you always have the potential to excel in it. So whatever life has given you, don’t let that limit you! Find the adventure in the circumstances you’ve been given.
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