Raleigh Bisbee
Listen to the interview (approx. 1 hr, 6 min.) or download it.
Graduated in 2012 from the Boston Conservatory with a major in Musical Theater.
Position: Account Manager at Switch, a company specializing in providing centers for other corporations to house their computers and data storage. A salaried position, Releigh’s job is to speak with current clients regarding new offerings Switch has and making sure they’re taking advantage of all appropriate offerings by her company. She also gives tours of the facilities.
Overview: Raleigh was more ambivalent about wanting a career in musical theater than many of her peers, but she moved to New York after graduating after an agency signed her. But she didn’t hustle as much as many of her peers and grew frustrated about not landing roles, while supporting herself by waitressing and bartending. She tried a 9-to-5 job as a technical recruiter in 2014, but disliked it as she felt unsupported and the hours were too long and went back to auditioning and bartending. Meeting her now-fiance made her realize that she wanted steady income and a family and a career in musical theater was not for her.
One day in 2015 while tending bar, an older couple chatted with her and asked what she wanted to do; Raleigh replied that she wanted to be in sales. The husband was an executive at Ricoh, and got her a job selling photocopiers and business services to large law firms, where after a tough first few months Raleigh excelled. Then in 2017 her fiance got a good job offer in Las Vegas so they moved. Raleigh looked for other opportunities in sales or account management at a company with a good culture, and eventually a recruiter connected her with Switch, where they clicked well and a month later she was hired into her current position once it became open.
You can see Raleigh’s LinkedIn profile here.
Choice Quotes: “What I love most about my job is the company I work for–their mission, and the team of people I work with. It’s important for me to be on a team that is passionate about what they do, helpful, and invested in my own success.”
“I got into tech sales because I like interacting with people and am very competitive, so my personality was a good fit for sales. A beautiful thing about technology is that if you can acquire the skills and knowledge and put yourself in the field you can excel in it and climb the ranks. I also figured I’d go into tech sales because if I wasn’t going to do something I was in love with at least I could make a ton of money.”
During our last year at BoCo, we did a lot of workshops were on how to present ourselves in an audition. That’s incredibly relevant to sales, where you have about 15 seconds to make an impression! Those audition skills transferfed over in a way I couldn’t have imagined before.
“You have to pursue your dreams, but your dreams can change. I get that same enjoyment doing some community theater or cabaret on the side while doing having else as my main job as I would from being in musical theater for money.”
“Nobody else in sales/account management had experience before they started working; 9 times in 10 the most successful people have degrees in something else. You may not start in exactly the place you want to start. I can be stressful and unpleasant at times, but if they support you then with time, persistence, understanding and self-reflection you’ll be successful.”
See the full index of successful Berklee/BoCo alumni.