We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Heidi Holman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Heidi below.

Heidi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

Growing up extremely poor and not having resources/connections that wealthy families naturally have made it challenging to get my career started. But my parents helped me make a few wise decisions that many of my peers didn’t.

First, both encouraged me to get a college education through academic scholarships. They knew they couldn’t financially help me but they did assist me with the application process. My mom typed up my handwritten application letters (it was the 90s). My dad talked to friends who had gone to college to help me narrow down some options. My mom drove me to colleges around the state to tour the campuses.

Second, my dad was a hiring manager at a retail location. He helped me understand what interviewers are looking for when you’re speaking to them. Even simple things that teenagers and young adults might overlook like making eye contact, dressing professionally, and asking for a follow up interview. If your parents don’t work in professional settings, you might not know these basic things.

Lastly, my dad instilled a good work ethic, encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone, and to take every opportunity that life offers you. It’s better to get a no than to miss a life changing break.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Professionally, I work for a healthcare tech company in marketing. I specifically lead our demand generation campaigns. That means that I have to evaluate programs for the sales team, manage a $1M budget, and prove ROI. I’m very good at helping startups scale and build pipeline. I’ve directly added $25M+ in sales pipeline this fiscal year.

Personally, I’m an artist and have drawn since I could hold a pencil. I’ve not taken the leap to make this my full time occupation yet because of the golden handcuffs of my marketing gig. But I love to paint and create. If I win the lottery, I’ll probably paint pet portraits for free.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The creative part comes naturally but I wish I knew how to better advocate for myself. Too many times I accepted what I was given instead of asking for more. I had to learn that I work for myself even when I’m working for a company.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Having integrity goes a long way. I do what I say I’m going to do. I learn from and admit my mistakes. I prove ROI on my projects.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @art_by_hrh
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidi-holman-ms

Image Credits

These are my photos of my artwork. I could only upload 2 total on the form pages.