What It Takes to Drive Customer Impact: A Sales Director’s Take

Regional Sales Director Kimia Kia will tell you that driving meaningful impact for customers is the secret to her sustained motivation. Only a year in at Confluent, Kimia loves being part of a team that brings meaningful Kafka use cases to life for customers.

Let’s learn more about Kimia, what she enjoys the most about customer interactions—and how the company and her team sets her up for success.

How have you grown or changed since joining Confluent?

Since joining Confluent, I’ve expanded my technical expertise in real-time data processing and streaming architectures. This has been possible by being part of a team who brings Kafka use cases to life within emerging businesses, across all industries. Seeing the power of Confluent’s technology first-hand has opened my eyes to the magnitude of this solution—and it’s been a fascinating ride. 

Confluent has also shaped me both personally and professionally. I’m fortunate to be surrounded by some of the most brilliant minds in the technology space—customers and colleagues alike. The old adage rings true here—if you want to be successful, surround yourself with success.

What's unique about Confluent's company culture? What’s one question you would tell people to ask about the culture during their interview?

One of my favorite aspects of Confluent’s company culture is the crew knows how to get things done! When anyone needs help, regardless of title or the level of support needed, it’s immediately all-hands-on-deck to find a solution. Confluent fully embodies the #OneTeam mentality and I’d encourage anyone considering joining the team to ask for an example of where they’ve seen this happen in recent weeks. 

What motivates you to excel in your role and how does Confluent support your ambitions? 

Outside of my family, my team is my biggest driver. The way my team members show up for each and every day, eager to improve our customer experience and tackle any challenges, is both inspiring and motivating. I’m a firm believer in the concept of ikigai (Japanese word for ‘the reason you get out of bed each day’) and my team has been a large part of my ikigai since Day 1.

Confluent supports my ambitions by continuously investing in monthly interactive training sessions and carving paths to continuous learning, growth, and enhancing our ability to lead in a top-performing sales organization. 

How does your company encourage diversity, equity, and inclusion? 

Confluent’s global footprint automatically creates an incredibly diverse and inclusive workforce. The company has taken it one step further by ensuring we all feel supported and empowered to be our most authentic selves. At GKO in January of this year, I attended a leadership session where each leader sitting at my table was from a different part of the world—we all formed a strong bond and continue to stay in touch over Slack and Zoom. 

Confluent also offers a variety of Employee Resource Groups including my personal favorite, Women of the Field. We come together on a regular basis to have uplifting and important conversations and participate in fun gatherings, like our recent virtual floral workshop celebrating International Women’s Day.

What’s the best part about interacting with customers in your experience? 

Many of the customers I’ve worked with at Confluent are passionate about building something meaningful with Kafka. They are also avid learners open to leveraging our in-house experts to achieve their goals. The best part is watching the evolution of an idea transition to a final product, and being able to see a tangible impact on the customer’s end.

There are thousands of companies in the world who are doing tremendous work to better the lives of many and I’m nothing short of grateful to be able to work alongside the engineers who make it all happen.