The salesforce.com Woman of the Month campaign turns the spotlight on the amazing women who help make salesforce.com the World’s Most Innovative Company and one of the best places to work. Honorees are nominated by fellow employees and selected by a dedicated committee that works to ensure a variety of roles and regions are honored. 

What does it mean to be a 21st-century Renaissance Woman? Just look at Karen Colpitts, Development Director of Data Acquisition for the Marketing Cloud at salesforce.com. After a career in law, Colpitts switched gears and entered the world of tech, where she’s held a variety of roles including Developer, Systems Analyst, Consultant, and Project Manager. Oh, and she also manages a stellar team, paints, and is currently learning to speak French (Spanish is next). Talk about a woman of many talents!

We sat down with our June Woman of the Month to find out her best tips for staying agile, open, and ambitious in work and in life. And in true salesforce.com fashion, we moved fast—we asked Colpitts 20 questions, and she answered each in 20 words or less. Here’s what she had to say.

1. What was the most pivotal moment in your career?

When I accepted that law wasn’t for me (after six years) and went back to school.

2. What helped you get to where you are today?

The understanding that I’m the only person responsible for my career. Opportunities don’t always happen—you usually have to make them. 

3. What work are you most proud of?

The times when I can remove roadblocks or improve processes for my team so they can work more efficiently.

4. How do you identify areas you need to work on?

Observe others, determine what they’re best at and why, then reflect on whether I have or could develop those skills. 

5. How do you learn from your mistakes?

I try to figure out why my approach didn’t work, and what actions might achieve different outcomes in the future.

6. Have you benefited from a great mentor or manager?

I’ve had great managers, but I’ve learned just as much from co-workers and reports. Exceptional people work at all levels.

7. What career advice would you give to your younger self based on what you know now?

I would tell my younger self to enjoy being young, and not to worry so much.

8. If you got a room of professional women together, what would you want to tell them?

Whatever job you are doing, own it. If you do that, no matter what the job is, people notice.

9. What if you got a group of professional men in a room?

Same thing.

10. If you were CEO for a day, what is one thing you would do?

Focus on insane customer service.

11. What are your top tips for getting ahead?

Push through obstacles, look for underlying issues, recommend the next improvement, and bring solutions.

12. What is your #1 tip for being productive at work?

Separating the work into what you should do, what someone else should do, and what shouldn’t get done at all.

13. Do you have advice for others considering a move to management?

Become an excellent listener. You’ll understand more about issues and opportunities for improvement than you could any other way.

14. What advice do you have for other women who might be interested in following in your footsteps?

Develop at least one strong skill set as your base. Become really good at that one thing before branching out.

15. What is your best piece of advice for career success?

Take ownership.

16. What’s the best career advice you’ve ever gotten?

“Stand up for yourself.”

17. What do you do to manage stress?

Remind myself that I work with a great team that can figure out anything.

18.. How do you maintain a work/life balance?

I spend lots of time in my art studio on weekends. Being creative is relaxing and provides a fresh perspective.

19. What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in your career?

You can’t know everything, and you don’t need to.

20. What’s next for you?

I’d like to become much more familiar with other groups within technology and in other areas of the business.

Want to hear more from Colpitts? Find her on LinkedIn. And stay tuned for more career tips and tools for success from our next salesforce.com Woman of the Month, coming your way in July.

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