{"id":10691,"date":"2022-03-10T06:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T13:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tegnacorpstage.wpengine.com\/advertise\/?p=10691"},"modified":"2022-05-16T12:24:02","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T19:24:02","slug":"celebrating-womens-history-month-with-carrie-yates-director-of-sales-at-wzdx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/celebrating-womens-history-month-with-carrie-yates-director-of-sales-at-wzdx\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Women\u2019s History Month with Carrie Yates, Director of Sales at Fox54"},"content":{"rendered":"

At TEGNA, we are fortunate to find good, innovative females at all levels of our organization. For Women\u2019s History Month, we are celebrating some of our most fabulous females, and this week we\u2019re highlighting Carrie Yates, Director of Sales at FOX54<\/a> in Huntsville, Alabama.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then: Talk about your career path and how you got to today at TEGNA. <\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

My career likely started in middle school when my father \u201clet me\u201d help with some responsibilities at his advertising agency. I gained a good deal of exposure to media sales while working in his office. After college, I began working in the Advertising billing division at the newspaper in Omaha, Nebraska. Ignorant of the importance of what I was learning at the time and ambitious to move forward quickly, I jumped on the opportunity to be a part of the paper’s newly developed internet sales division. Next, I moved south to join WALA-TV in Mobile, AL as an Account Executive. I enjoyed great success with the new business but grew curious about other sides of the industry. This curiosity served me well and eventually helped me earn my first leadership role as the National Sales Manager at WALA. In 2012 I relocated to North Alabama as General Sales Manager (GSM) at WAFF, and two years later, I found myself newly married and GSM at the company\u2019s flagship station, WSFA. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2016, a ten-year-old red-headed boy came into our home, won our hearts, and became our son. This messy, sacred wonder profoundly changed my life and my outlook, and I stayed at home while we raised him out of the worst of circumstances into a happy, healthy young child. When I received a call from a talented TEGNA recruiter in late 2019, it was the right time and situation for me to come back home to broadcasting. I\u2019m now very proud to be a working mother and a part of the TEGNA family!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now: What is your current role at TEGNA?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve been given the opportunity to build, grow, and lead a team as the Director of Sales at WZDX in Huntsville, AL. It\u2019s a privilege I hold in the highest regard.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My Halo Moment: What was the most rewarding project you\u2019ve worked on at TEGNA?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

My most rewarding project at TEGNA has been, quite simply, WZDX. These call letters represent so much more than a News, Marketing, or Sales operation. They represent a journey for some of the most committed and most innovative people I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Affectionately known as the “small but mighty” station, we\u2019ve built a growing network of people who care about their work and the impact it has on others. In the chaos of 2020, the newly acquired station launched and implemented all new systems and processes, and hand-crafted a few things along the way to address the unique challenges we faced. The sales team has grown by 60% in the last 24 months and has collaborated on multiple projects with sister stations. The work is far from done in Huntsville, but I\u2019m immensely proud of the culture and the team that we\u2019ve built as a foundation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Good Company: What does being in good company mean to you?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

TEGNA has always put its people at the forefront, and integrity and character are the core values. To me, being in good company means we should expect good things from each other and from ourselves, and good results will follow.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Note to Self: What advice would you give yourself looking back on earlier days in your career?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0 <\/span><\/h3>\n

Work with others whenever possible. The gains achieved through collaboration are far greater than the sum of its parts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tangible & Emotional Intelligence: What advice would you give to someone looking to work in media\/sales\/marketing?<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

First, this is a business of relationships. Our clients want relationships with consumers, and we want relationships with advertisers and the community. You will always have access to resources, tools, and people that can help you create and make a transaction, but there is infrequent cause for a transaction without a relationship in play.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, good times and tough times come and go, but memories are long. This is a big business but a small community, so pay mind to your reputation.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Third, change is the only constant in our business. Being uncomfortable is a sign that growth is taking place, and that’s always a net positive.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is Women\u2019s History Month important to you? <\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

Women\u2019s History Month \u2013 a relatively new national celebration \u2013 provides an opportunity for us to reflect on our impact on American History and what possibilities lie ahead. Our story is still a work in progress. The act of doing more than you ever thought possible can give hope and empowerment to other women. As I look at historical women and their stories, I often see how a simple, relatable motivation catalyzed a superhuman reaction. We are all capable of making history, and indeed, we are making it now: Political opinions are what they are, but there’s no denying the powerful image of a woman taking the second seat in command in the most powerful nation on Earth last January, right next to the woman sitting in the third-highest seat. It\u2019s unlikely that would have happened if tens of millions of women hadn\u2019t gone to the polls to cast their votes – an option only available to us the last 100 years. In March, we will celebrate those that have blazed the trails on which we get to walk in whatever heeled shoe we choose. More importantly, it is a reminder to keep blazing ahead, fearlessly.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“In March for Women’s History Month, we will celebrate those that have blazed the trails on which we get to walk in whatever heeled shoe we choose. More importantly, it is a reminder to keep blazing ahead, fearlessly.” – Carrie Yates<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-good-people","wpautop"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}