Tell us about your career journey.
Prior to my time at Okta, I attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and studied Business Administration. When it was time to choose a concentration, I was drawn to entrepreneurship because I wanted to understand every facet of how a business operated. This same curiosity guided me to a career in consulting after my graduation in 2020, even though I had completed a marketing internship the summer before.
During my time in consulting, I was the most junior employee at my firm and wore a couple of hats, including managing our social media. Back then, I thought I would eventually want to move into a full-time marketing role, because our brand was where I felt I was having the most impact. Ironically, it was getting more responsibilities in this area that caused me to change trajectories — and not for the reason you might think.
What made you want to make the switch from consulting and marketing to cybersecurity and sales?
After months of strategic planning, I finally got to lead a redesign of our company’s website. It was a massive undertaking, but one of the most challenging and rewarding parts was upgrading our security. What I thought would be one of the more straightforward aspects of the project had me preparing security recommendations for our CEO. Before I knew it, I was supporting the implementation of the authentication policies and controls we had outlined.
This was my introduction to identity and access management — not just in a theoretical sense but in a tangible business one as well. I got to see firsthand how critical cybersecurity is to successful business operations and how it protects your brand as your most valuable asset. Even though it wasn’t something I learned about in school, I immediately fell in love with it.
I kept thinking, "How do I get into a position where I can help people with these kinds of problems all the time?" That's when I realized cybersecurity was a place where I could make a real difference. I started talking with the sales team at Okta, and everything clicked.
I was humbled that everyone I spoke with was so willing to advocate for me during my interview, and I was able to join the company as a Sales Development Representative in November 2023.
Only a few months into my time at Okta, I had the chance to leverage my consulting and sales enablement background by creating a session on sales success for our first xDR Onboarding Academy cohort.
Why should someone consider a career in sales at Okta?
Every business needs customers and employees. In the digital age, both are tied to an identity. Because of this, Okta works with companies of every size — from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises – on their most critical initiatives. Moreover, because identity is so foundational, it touches a huge number of stakeholders, including security, human resources, engineering, marketing, and loyalty.
What this means for you as a salesperson is that no two conversations are the same, so you’re always growing and solving new kinds of problems. That might sound overwhelming at first, but at Okta, you have a world-class team behind you. From our Onboarding Academy to continuous enablements to transition programs for Account Executive, our sales organization is truly invested in your success. It’s been amazing to have come in with a non-sales background and already achieved so many of my goals.
While there are a lot of places where you can learn to sell a SaaS product, Okta is one of the few where you’re going to become an expert on what's next across so many different industries and roles. Regardless of your goals, I believe a job here will check all the boxes for you.
A year later, it all came full circle when I was invited back as the AE speaker in the very session I had helped create. I’m incredibly grateful for the chance to keep learning, growing, and giving back at Okta.
Do you have advice for new graduates or people with non-sales backgrounds?
If you’re interested in applying to Okta, don’t get in your head. It’s easy to think, “I don’t have the right kind or enough experience.” But trust me, no one wakes up one day and knows everything about sales or identity. I’m still learning new things every day.
During my time as a Sales Development Representative and an Account Executive, I’ve never met two people with the exact same work experience, and very few who came straight out of college with sales internships already under their belts. The only qualities everyone shares are that they’re naturally curious, dedicated to their craft, and like the challenge of solving complex problems.
If that sounds like you, my advice: Start networking, write some personalized outreach, and ask for the conversation. At the end of the day, it’s not too different from real sales, and when you start thinking about it that way, you’ll be more than ready for the interview and have people here rooting for you.
Interested in starting a career at Okta? Visit our careers page today.
