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Deidra Ross
Sales and Product Operations at Athleta
Professional Background
Deidra Ross is a community-minded and energetic business professional with an impressive track record spanning over 15 years in diverse roles across sales, marketing, business development, project management, program management, vendor relations, and channel enablement. Throughout her career, Deidra has excelled in cultivating strategic relationships with various stakeholders, ensuring that all parties are engaged and motivated to contribute effectively. Her ability to gain buy-in is a testament to her deep understanding of the nuances of communication and collaboration in the professional environment.
Deidra's journey has seen her take on significant roles that demonstrate her versatility and strong problem-solving capabilities. Currently, she is making an impact in Sales and Product Operations at Athleta, a position that aligns perfectly with her values of community engagement and sustainability. In her previous role as a Business Consultant at Union Plus, Deidra showcased her expertise by helping organizations optimize their operations and enhance their strategic initiatives. Furthermore, her tenure in Sales and Marketing Operations at AT&T, particularly in Channel Program Management, has allowed her to fine-tune her knowledge of sales strategies and marketing operations, developing her into a dynamic leader in the field.
With a results-oriented mindset, Deidra thrives in environments where her resilience and resourcefulness enable her to tackle challenges head-on. Her wealth of experience has not only propelled her career forward but has also positively influenced the organizations she has been a part of, marking her out as a true asset in the business landscape.
Education and Achievements
Deidra's educational background is both robust and multifaceted. She laid the foundation of her professional journey with a Bachelor of Science degree in Broadcast Journalism from West Virginia University. This experience has honed her communication skills, enabling her to effectively convey ideas and inspire her audience.
Building on this foundation, Deidra pursued further studies in Public/Organizational Management at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington. This educational endeavor equipped her with critical insights into organizational dynamics and effective management strategies, reinforcing her capacity to lead initiatives within a community-focused context.
Completing her academic pursuits, Deidra achieved her Master of Business Administration (MBA) from West Virginia University, specializing in Business Administration, Marketing Management, and Operations. This advanced degree amplified her understanding of business functions and strategic marketing, aligning perfectly with her roles in business development and project management.
With each step in her educational journey, Deidra has amassed a wealth of knowledge that she has adeptly applied in practical settings, establishing herself as a knowledgeable and sought-after professional in her field.
Notable Achievements
Deidra's career is punctuated with remarkable achievements that reflect her dedication and commitment to excellence. One of her key strengths is her ability to lead projects that require keen oversight and coordination. As a Business Consultant at Union Plus, she played a crucial role in developing strategies that enhanced corporate operations, yielding measurable results that benefitted the organization as a whole.
During her time at AT&T, Deidra was pivotal in the successful rollout of channel programs that significantly improved product visibility and availability, showcasing her acumen in managing complex sales operations. This experience enriched her understanding of market dynamics, further bolstering her capabilities as a business leader.
At Athleta, Deidra continues to leverage her experience and strategic vision to drive initiatives that align with the brand's mission of inclusivity and sustainability. Her contributions not only advance the company's goals but also foster a sense of community among consumers and stakeholders alike, embodying the core values of the brand.
Deidra’s commitment to continuous improvement is also evident in her active pursuit of innovation within the organizations she has been a part of. Her dynamic approach strongly positions her as a thought leader in the industry, making her a valuable resource for colleagues and clients seeking guidance in sales and marketing operations.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.