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Meet “startup girl” Jess O'Reilly, Regional Vice President for Marketing Cloud Asia. In this Q&A, you'll learn what it takes to be successful in the hyper-growth culture of Salesforce Asia, and why she believes it's the place to be if you're looking to accelerate your sales career.
I was a “startup girl” and had always thought I would work in startups my whole career. In 2013, the startup I had been working for BuzzNumbers, a social media monitoring platform, had been sold to iSentia, and after leading their digital product group for a year, I knew I needed a new challenge and wanted to explore options in Asia. I had offers for awesome opportunities to bring some Australian startups into Asia and was close to signing with one of them when I had a meeting with Lee Hawksley at Salesforce. He sold me on the idea that being on the Marketing Cloud team is like working at a startup in a large organisation, which was undergoing hyper-growth within Asia. At the time, there were only a handful of people in Marketing Cloud Asia - we've grown 5x in five years. I couldn't resist the challenge and haven't looked back since.
Tenacity, curiosity, energy and a team player attitude. I tell all new starters that this organisation is like drinking from a firehose and it never changes regardless of how long you are here for. The innovation is rapid and inspiring and you are constantly learning and evolving.
In this business, growth is what we are made of and expected to achieve. How many companies measure their success based on % growth on growth? It's awesome to be a part of and it is what keeps high performing hungry sales people passionate about joining, and more importantly, staying with our business long-term.
Whether it be moving to different departments, countries or into leadership roles — the options for career growth are endless. When you layer in the lens of Asia and the many countries that we cover, the opportunities to diversify your experience across cultures and religions and ways of doing business are right there at your fingertips.
One of the things I love about Salesforce is the opportunities it provides to challenge and push yourself out of your comfort zone. The Marketing Cloud business is in such an amazing growth phase that I was given a great opportunity to lead the Enterprise business across Asia. I love that no day is the same in my job. Every time you get on a plane you land in a new landscape of culture, religions, politics, customs and currency. I love seeing my team set goals and work hard to achieve them. I also enjoy the opportunity to meet our customers and understand their challenges and celebrate in their achievements.
Wow! That is an exciting question to think about, I believe Salesforce Asia will be a destination globally for external and internal candidates. We will be the Trailblazers with customers who have revolutionised the way they do business with their consumers at scale (because of the large populations across Asia) and without friction (breaking down the walls of delivering products and services across such a large land mass/countries).
I love this question, there are so many answers to it. Broadly speaking, why wouldn't you want to work for the innovator of the decade? We have technology that is at the cutting edge, an amazing culture that makes an impact not only on our customers but in the community and a culture that breeds brilliance and brings the best out of its people.
Drilling in a little deeper — why Salesforce in Asia? I truly think Salesforce in Asia is a special place to be, we are experiencing rapid growth, we serve the largest population in the world which is creating a strong desire for our customers to reach their customers in more meaningful ways and they are on the look-out for partners that can help them get there - we just so happen to be really good at that!
Lived in Singapore for 4 years and LOVE IT – the food, the people, the travel
Married to a lovely half Italian for 2 years who is in corporate finance and travels as much as I do (our dinner table discussions about our days in the office are always interesting!)
I am a pescatarian... haven't eaten meat since I was 11
Obsessed with any form of physical challenge — from footy to cross fit to long distance running
I am a die hard Roosters fan (NRL in Australia for those that aren't familiar)...
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