“As long as we try our best, we will make progress”

Sandra has been working in the ICT industry for over 20 years in various markets within the Asia Pacific region. She now leads Kaspersky’s global vision for its channel partners, which aims to drive higher levels of success for the entire partner community. In the Women in IT podcast, she talks about the most important skills you need for a channel role and how to deal with failure in your career.

Обработка..
Sandra Lee,
Head of Channel Sales
for the Asia Pacific
region at Kaspersky

Sandra Lee graduated from the Helsinki School of Economics with an Executive MBA and from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. At Kaspersky, Sandra focuses on B2B partners in both the SMB and enterprise channels. Her team drives programs to enable both to be more connected, more rewarded, and more successful.

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It sounds like a cliché, but cybersecurity is so dynamic and so vibrant. It’s also very fun. If you are ambitious, enjoy a challenge, thrive in a fast-moving environment, and want to work with amazing people like us - join us. I think it’s really rewarding.”

Sandra’s role requires both hard skills and soft skills such as critical thinking, as well as analytical and organizational skills. It is also crucial to be able to communicate and connect well with people of all levels. To develop these skills, Sandra recommends taking courses on psychology, business management and communication.

It’s OK to make mistakes
  • Everyone fails at some point during their career, especially if it is as long as Sandra’s. She considers failures to be totally normal and shares what she has learned from them:
  • \\ Be patient about mistakes and don’t overemphasize them.
  • \\ The process is just as important as the result because that’s where we learn the successes and failures.
  • \\Do your very best and put in the effort, but at the same time, accept that you cannot always control the outcome.

For those going through the interview process, Sandra also shares her advice: “There are two parts of a successful interview. The first one is 100% your responsibility: you should do your research on the role and the company so you can connect and relate to the interviewer. Knowing the background of the company will also help you to demonstrate your value for a company. Second is the connection between you and the interviewer – this is something that doesn’t completely depend on you, but if you bring good energy, it can really help you develop a good rhythm.”

Listen to the full story in our Women in IT podcast.