In This Episode:
Learning From Each Other and Paying It Forward
The strong female leadership at Simantel and the lessons learned from them helped shape Executive Strategy Director, Erin Bowald, both personally and professionally. After starting her career in Nashville as a licensing administrator for a music label, Erin moved back to Peoria to be closer to family and found her way to Simantel through an old classmate that was working there.
As Erin came up in the agency, she became heavily involved in smaller accounts. That meant smaller budgets and fewer people on the team. But it had a huge impact on her career. She wore many hats and gained experience with a variety of tasks. That exposure helped propel her to the position she’s in today on our executive team. But there was another huge benefit as well—working closely with the women leaders of the company. Erin learned by watching them navigate situations and work to gain consensus from disparate groups of people. They taught her how, but Erin realized she had to find her own way, with their support.
The relationships with the women in leadership surrounding her today are different than they were 15 years ago when Erin joined Simantel. While they still learn from one another and support each other, they’re more like buddies as Erin calls them. There’s a sense of camaraderie and commonality, like we’re all in it together. There’s transparency and openness about their personal lives and a greater understanding of how that impacts work and vice versa.
In this episode Erin shares all that and more like memories of her various roles and accounts she worked on, what she’s doing today, advice for new Simantelites and clients… and what she’s most excited about for the future of the company.
“I don’t have to be these people, but I have to find things about them that I want to take on and use, but then bring my own value in. I’m trying to do that with my daughter, too.”
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About Erin Bowald
Erin started at Simantel 15 years ago as an account coordinator, also serving as an account manager before joining Simantel’s executive team as our Executive Strategy Director. She leads a team of client service professionals to help set the strategic direction for our clients. She is an instrumental leader at the agency and her energy and passion for understanding people to inform strategies is unmatched. Among the many client relationships that she manages, Erin has experience that spans both B2B and B2C industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, insurance, higher education and more.
Erin is active in her church, Imago Dei, and volunteers Sunday mornings for “breakfast club,” which provides warm meals to homeless people or struggling members of the community. She came to Simantel from the Nashville music industry, having worked in publishing/licensing and PR. She has also been known to be a wedding singer in her past. Connect with Erin on LinkedIn.