After a stint in car sales and a break to take care of her beautiful family, Senior Account Manager DeAndra Smith entered the Adult Novelty Industry via wholesale distribution and continued the adventure by joining Team Holiday in 2016. Since then, she’s stayed focused on helping her customers by partnering with them and gaining their trust.  With a main objective of focusing on the big picture and celebrating successes, she says that joining the Holiday Products family was one of the best decisions of her career.

How many years have you been in the industry? With holiday?

In the Industry 9 wonderful years, and with Holiday for 4.

How did you get into the business?

I started my sales career over at Galpin Ford. I took a little break from the work force to focus on my motherly duties. An opportunity presented itself for a position at an adult novelty wholesale distributor, so I went out for the position and the rest has been an absolute adventure.

What challenges have you confronted in your career and how have you overcome them?

Sales has a ton of ups and downs. The ups are the best part of life, but the downs can prove to be challenging. The way I have overcome this is I just stay laser-focused on moving forward and taking the good with the bad. My main objective is to not get stuck or focused on the deals I may have missed but celebrating my successes.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Being put into a situation where I’m competing against other distributors and the customer choses me because of how effectively I have serviced them.

What is your personal motto or mantra that you live by?

Customers will come and go but we can’t take it personally.

What career accomplishment are you most proud of?

One of the best decisions I made in my career is choosing to come to work for Holiday Products. The president of Holiday, Ken Sahn, has been one of the most supportive managers I have ever had. Holiday is a family and I’m so proud to be a part of it.

What are your professional goals for 2020 (and beyond)? 

First, not to die from coronavirus ? I would love to maintain and sustain the accounts I have grown with. I’m praying we can continue to grow together. These are hard times, and nothing is certain, but this industry has proven, it’s resilient, and will be here.