Today, Lorie Jones sits down with Angela Troccoli, head of marketing at Revecore, to shine a light on what it really takes to build a standout career as a woman in traditionally male-driven industries.
Angela brings her refreshingly honest perspective, sharing how she charted a unique course from supply chain analytics to marketing leadership by embracing risk, using her natural strengths, and never losing sight of her personal goals. She offers tangible tips on self-advocacy, strategic networking (especially for introverts!), and the power of tracking your professional wins.
This episode offers a wealth of actionable mentorship, covering key themes from smart financial investments to why investing in yourself and setting boundaries are non-negotiable. Join Angela with Lorie for inspiration to keep your ambitions front and center, and step confidently into your next chapter!
Show Highlights:
- A top book for powerful, likable leadership and confidence. [02:36]
- The role of thoughtful pivots behind steady career trajectories. [04:25]
- Are “math brain” supply chain skills transferable to marketing? [06:56]
- Why build your brand, even if you’re an introvert, and ways to do it. [09:32]
- How to make time to network and do it in the right spaces. [12:44]
- Uncommon advice to lean into building life beyond strengths. [14:52]
- Why women must learn self-promotion to get promoted fast. [16:49]
- A deep look at learning to set boundaries at all work levels. [22:41]
- Early financial planning moves not to miss for lasting freedom. [29:53]
- Experiencing otherness as working women, and tips for resolving it. [37:57]
- Key advice to early career women to keep their “pitch book.” [43:45]
How to connect with Angela Troccoli or reach out to her for guidance:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela1morel/?skipRedirect=true (Mention in your message to Angela that you found her through the Fearless Females podcast!)
- Angela’s website: https://www.angelatroccoli.com/
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review!
For more information about Lorie Jones, go to https://fearlessfinancialadvisors.com/fearless-females.
00:01.53
Lorie Jones
Good morning, fearless females. So today we have Angela Dracoli. She is the head of marketing at RevaCore. And I had a chance to just chat with Angela earlier, and I’m so excited about this interview. We were just talking about how much we were looking forward to it. So I’m so glad that you joined us today. Thank you so much, Angela.
00:19.96
Angela Troccoli
Thank you so much, Lori. I’m excited to be here.
00:23.06
Lorie Jones
So my first question is always, i am a reader. I love reading. What is your favorite book?
00:29.09
Angela Troccoli
Oh my gosh. So i love a book called likable badass. i hope I’m allowed to say one that is the book title and it is phenomenal.
00:38.36
Lorie Jones
ah yeah cut one
00:42.13
Angela Troccoli
I, I have both the paperback and the audio version and I, um, Sometimes I’ve actually listened to it twice when I used to do a lot of commuting for work.
00:53.34
Angela Troccoli
And what I love about it is that it really does break this kind of mythical paradigm between being very likable at work and being perceived as kind of a you know, less agreeable person. I won’t say the word, but you guys know what the word is. And um what this author has done is really breaking that down and, and, kind of shown how you can be both powerful and own the room and what that looks like and also be likable and be a a leader that people really want to follow. So um yeah, every time I’m kind of feeling like I need a little bit of a leadership shakeup or maybe I’m feeling imposter syndrome, like, oh man, how am I going to do this? How am going to own the room? i will go ahead and I’ll open up that book or I’ll turn it on while I’m in the car. And it is
01:43.80
Angela Troccoli
My absolute favorite book. I will recommend it to anybody who talks to me.
01:47.93
Lorie Jones
I love that. I have like some of those books that just speak to you, the ones that I’ve gotten through listening to or reading, and I immediately restart them.
01:51.70
Angela Troccoli
Yeah.
01:56.00
Lorie Jones
And I’m like, oh, missed some pieces.
01:56.04
Angela Troccoli
Yes.
01:58.20
Lorie Jones
I just need to do it again. Right. And and I’ll have like three or four copies of those things on my shelf. And when i find a woman, I’m like, oh, hey, you should read this.
02:08.48
Lorie Jones
It’s such a great book.
02:08.82
Angela Troccoli
Yes. It is my favorite.
02:10.74
Lorie Jones
So, well, perfect. Tell me a little bit about your journey, Angela. Where did you get, how did you get where you’re at today? Did you start out knowing what you wanted to do How did your path end up and kind of what do you do?
02:22.94
Angela Troccoli
You know, it’s funny. um When I look back at my journey, it almost feels like it was the right blueprint. Like it was done on purpose, but it was absolutely not.
02:36.95
Angela Troccoli
I started my career in supply chain operations, um which, if you know, thinking about the fact now that I’m ahead of marketing, that feels like a bit of a departure. um
02:46.35
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
02:47.32
Angela Troccoli
And the reason that i started there is because i I love the the logic of it. I love spreadsheets. I love data. um you know I’ve always kind of had that engineering brain, but of course studied economics, so supply chain it is, and really, really found a calling there.
03:05.69
Angela Troccoli
But in that role, kept getting pulled into product management, R&D, then into portfolio, then into product marketing. And so through those opportunities that I just sort of always said yes to, like, yeah, I’ll do that next thing. I’ll take that next chance.
03:22.20
Angela Troccoli
They were these gradual pivots that, again, when you look back, it makes perfect sense.
03:22.31
Lorie Jones
Thank you.
03:26.96
Angela Troccoli
um But at the time, always felt like this next journey, this next opportunity. And i’m I’m definitely the person that likes to lean in and say yes, just to, you know, um try it out, see if I like it. And and it got me here. so Now in my current role, I lead marketing. So I lead everything from revenue and demand gen to social digital events and still product marketing. um And it’s been an incredible experience, you know, having wonderful mentors that I feel extremely blessed to have. known and still know and that have gotten me here. But yeah, it’s it’s been a winding road, I would say. It it was not ah not an easy path, but one that I feel very grateful for. And I feel like I’ve taken something away from each of those pieces.
04:13.82
Lorie Jones
Yeah, so you said spreadsheets and my heart went pitter-patter because that is my love language.
04:17.37
Angela Troccoli
I
04:17.94
Lorie Jones
As far as I’m concerned, there is nothing better.
04:19.32
Angela Troccoli
meat i agree. My whole life is in a spreadsheet. Yeah.
04:23.48
Lorie Jones
yeah exactly. i my kids joke with me. they They think it’s so funny because we go on vacation and I have this color-coded spreadsheet for every single day.
04:31.64
Angela Troccoli
Yeah.
04:33.06
Lorie Jones
And they’re like, mom, you’re insane. Yeah.
04:35.32
Angela Troccoli
We would travel well together, I think.
04:36.70
Lorie Jones
yeah
04:37.03
Angela Troccoli
We would would get along. Like, here’s my spreadsheet. Feel free to edit it.
04:40.30
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
04:41.23
Angela Troccoli
I love it.
04:41.37
Lorie Jones
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Here’s the 14 tabs you can do for each day. Yeah, exactly.
04:46.04
Angela Troccoli
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
04:46.81
Lorie Jones
But um so did you, supply chain management actually kind of spoke to me when I was in, I didn’t realize there was, I didn’t, i I must have been naive, but I didn’t even realize there was such a thing as like this cool space of supply chain. So is that what you studied at school?
05:02.36
Angela Troccoli
It is. Yeah, I actually got my master’s in supply chain operations and started off at Hewlett Packard doing global demand planning, which was the absolute best first role for me because I just got to kind of I’m a little introverted.
05:10.72
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
05:18.47
Angela Troccoli
So I got to live in that little introverted space, but still feel like So immediately the big global impact of the work that I was doing, um you know, i I got to showcase it to leadership and, and could see the direct connection between my work and the the bottom line of the business and how we were performing. So just being able to kind of waterfall that through the numbers was really fun for me.
05:45.08
Angela Troccoli
um And yeah, but I, Yeah. I don’t know what else to say.
05:50.23
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
05:51.17
Angela Troccoli
it was It was fun. And I still love that. So I would definitely say that even even today in in the marketing domain, I still love to create very clear crosswalks between the work that I’m doing and the direct impact that it has on the business that I’m serving.
06:06.99
Angela Troccoli
So I would say that I’m a non-traditional marketer in that way. I love the math behind the marketing. and Not that I want to get caught up in it too much, but I love the, almost the comfort of it being there. Um, I wouldn’t consider myself to be a creative. If you ask my daughter, like the, um, the level of skill I have in terms of creativity is like stick figures. She’s quite the artist. So it’s a bit, caught I don’t know where she got it from.
06:31.86
Angela Troccoli
um And so being able to have that that math behind it is is really comforting to me. And I would say goes all the way back to studying supply chain. And marketing has supply chain elements to it. There’s still logistics. There’s still campaign flows. And so I bring it into everything that I do. and it And I think it makes me a better marketer to have just sort of a different background.
06:54.14
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I think that’s a really valid point too, that like there, you you typically think of marketing as this creative endeavor, but I find that there’s a little bit of process in, in the creative pieces at just like, there’s a little bit of creative and like financial advising, you’d think it’s all spreadsheets and, and, and stuff like that.
07:10.64
Angela Troccoli
Yeah.
07:12.85
Lorie Jones
And there is, ah there’s a lot of, of creativity and, and nuance in those things. So I love that you get to bring those two pieces together and do both of them.
07:23.18
Lorie Jones
That’s cool.
07:24.25
Angela Troccoli
Ooh.
07:25.18
Lorie Jones
What is the best investment you’ve made in yourself, Angela? If you can kind of go back and look along your journey and say, oh my gosh, I just, I’m so glad I did that thing because it it made me who I am today.
07:38.36
Angela Troccoli
Yeah, that is that is such a deep question. And
07:46.26
Angela Troccoli
I would say the the best investment I’ve made in myself was a recent one. And that was an investing in my own brand. And I think this is something that a lot of individuals, maybe maybe I’m aging myself a little bit because I think some of the younger generations are like all about investing in their brand first and foremost.
08:02.68
Lorie Jones
Thank
08:05.22
Angela Troccoli
And some of us kind of missed the memo. We weren’t born with cell phones in our hands. And I would say over the last couple of years, I’ve been very aware of how little I had invested in my brand. And so i consciously set aside time and money to to invest in myself and to invest in my brand because I’ve built um an expertise that a lot of other people don’t have.
08:34.98
Angela Troccoli
I have a skill set that a lot of other people don’t have. And I think as a marketer, we spend so much of our time investing in other brands, the brands that we serve, um but also in the brands of the C-suite that we serve, right?
08:45.06
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
08:49.64
Angela Troccoli
I’ve ghostwritten for more C-level executives than I can count. And we don’t do that for ourselves. And I was actually just having this conversation with a girlfriend of mine um who she’s just now really starting to invest in her brand.
09:03.42
Angela Troccoli
And she was like, I you know got inspired because you were doing it and I want to do it too. And we don’t do it enough. So I think for me, that was the the best thing that i I kind of decided I wanted to do.
09:14.86
Angela Troccoli
And it was a family decision as well, because you still work a big day, right? I’m sure you’re you’re not working nine to five, right? And so part of that investment was also me telling my husband, hey, on Saturday mornings, going to spend time working on my brand.
09:23.51
Lorie Jones
No. Uh huh.
09:29.66
Angela Troccoli
um And so he had to also be bought in. My daughter had to be bought into it because, you know, it’s it’s in your non-working hours that you’re having to do this. But I think in the end it’s worth it because it leaves more of a of a footprint on this world than you otherwise would need to get to do.
09:47.29
Angela Troccoli
So, and that’s that means a lot to me.
09:49.56
Lorie Jones
So what ways are you investing? Is it like you’re creating content or you’re just showing up on these platforms? Like, give me the details there.
09:58.97
Angela Troccoli
Yeah, so I am creating content. um I’m mentoring um other young professionals, which is important to me.
10:03.54
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
10:06.81
Angela Troccoli
I’m showing up at events more. I’m networking more. You know, also mentoring peers of mine that are maybe wanting to take that next step in their career and just looking for a sounding board. showing up on different platforms. And I’ve also recently authored a book about marketing. So that’s another way that I’m kind of investing in myself, investing in my brand.
10:25.82
Angela Troccoli
um And so, yeah, I think, you know, the traditional ways that you would do it, ah kind of applying my knowledge of marketing, but seeing myself as the product and um yeah, and just kind of putting myself out there in a way that I hadn’t done before.
10:40.35
Angela Troccoli
It’s like I said earlier, I’m an introvert. This is really hard to do, but when you find the right channels and you find something that kind of gives you that energy and you can put the plan together and spreadsheets make a little more comfortable, then it’s, it becomes fun, but it was a process.
10:44.18
Lorie Jones
hard. Yeah.
10:55.23
Angela Troccoli
It was a learning process.
10:56.89
Lorie Jones
And it sounds like what you’re talking about building personal brands is a little bit of networking too. Like you’re building your your personal network along with that brand.
11:02.92
Angela Troccoli
Yeah. Yeah.
11:06.55
Angela Troccoli
Absolutely. It’s hard to do. i mean, when you are giving so much to your work, giving so much to your family, and and you also want to make sure that you’re carving out time for your health and your wellness, there aren’t that many hours left in the day. i mean, it depends on how many you use to sleep, but I like my eight hours. And so you really have to kind of find the balance and you know, look for those opportunities where the networking makes sense to you. I i think sometimes networking is is not always the right activity to lean into. It has to be one that’s going to bring value to you just as much as you bring value to that community. So finding those communities that are really a good fit is is critical.
11:45.50
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I think that’s, I think it’s so interesting that you mentioned that I’m a little bit of an introvert too um And, and I have a hard time with the networking, but I found that what I really, really like to do is volunteer.
11:59.34
Lorie Jones
Like, so, so if I can sign up for something and go volunteer and like help grow the organization and maybe make it a little bit more efficient, And if there’s a spreadsheet involved, it’s a win.
12:00.09
Angela Troccoli
Yeah. Yeah.
12:11.15
Lorie Jones
And that way I’m networking. But at the same time, i’m I’m not depleting my energy. I’m actually building it. so
12:18.62
Angela Troccoli
Exactly. I think that’s the big takeaway for me, right? Is how do you find those people, those activities, those channels that help to fill your energy um and and kind of just give you what you need to frankly take on the rest of the world with a little bit more excitement because so much that we’re surrounded by whether it’s macro or even within our own kind of small areas,
12:45.80
Angela Troccoli
environments, ecosystems, it can really be depleting. And, um you know, i think anything that you can do, any investment you can make in yourself that way is really gratifying. But it it took time for me to realize that. That wasn’t just the self-evident thing. Maybe it is to other people, but it certainly took me a little bit of time.
13:02.81
Lorie Jones
So what is the worst advice you’ve ever been given? Did someone, did you ever get some really bad advice? And I’m always interested in if you took it.
13:12.06
Angela Troccoli
man, like work advice?
13:14.04
Lorie Jones
Any advice like,
13:14.87
Angela Troccoli
Any advice? um I’m going to give two. I’m gonna give two, and I hope that this is appropriate for for your audience. um So one was more personal and it was, this is gonna sound like really terrible advice, especially as a parent, but um I was given advice early on in college. So clearly it stuck with me. it was a bit of a traumatic advice situation. I was given advice early on in college to really push myself.
13:48.31
Angela Troccoli
And to go into the classes that were really advanced. I was a bit of ah of a math savant. um And I regret that so much because I feel like you know, leaning into your strengths is important, but leaning into your strengths at the expense of an experience is is not good advice. And so i I reflect back on this as being like a bad college advice, but you could look into that in so many other, um you know, avenues, whether it’s like, keep pushing this career, keep going for this thing at the expense of other experiences.
14:28.34
Angela Troccoli
Man, you only have so much time, right? So, remember to to keep things in balance and And don’t get into a position where you’re looking back and going, whoa, I missed a lot, right?
14:42.52
Angela Troccoli
Or you put so much investment in this one thing that when you inevitably fail, because we all rise to that level of incompetence, I actually think that there is that for everybody.
14:53.56
Angela Troccoli
um It’s crushing because you don’t have other things that kind of, again, are filling your cup. So I would say it was a many decades ago experience for me that I still try to remember, like,
15:05.94
Angela Troccoli
have the balance, don’t lean in too hard to your strengths, even though it’s good to know what they are. um It’s also good to just kind of have a lot of things that lift you up versus just one.
15:18.55
Angela Troccoli
So I would say that’s personal bad advice and you could apply it again, personal, professional. um And then other advice that I recently heard, it wasn’t advice given to me, but it’s advice that I would caution other women ignore.
15:32.34
Angela Troccoli
to ignore And that was how and when to ask for a promotion.
15:37.85
Lorie Jones
Okay.
15:38.90
Angela Troccoli
So I have counseled a lot of young women on promoting themselves and really, you know, put a pitch book together. um Always be networking with your peers. Make sure that your boss knows the great things that you did. They’re probably not keeping tabs and really focusing on building your brand internally at an organization.
15:59.70
Angela Troccoli
I’ve been doing that for gosh, at least 10 years with, with other women who come to me and said, Hey, no, one’s listening to me or this guy got promoted.
16:02.59
Lorie Jones
yeah.
16:07.42
Angela Troccoli
I didn’t what happened. and like, well, they went to the happy hour. I’m sorry, but that’s just how it, how it went. um But recently I S I saw some advice where um a woman was counseling her audience that um you know,
16:24.25
Angela Troccoli
If your boss is giving you a lot of work and you really want that promotion, um stop doing the work, give him ultimatum, tell him I won’t do that that extra work unless I get promoted. And while I respect theoretically, the desire to stand up for yourself. And I think that’s really important for women in the workplace to do.
16:45.29
Angela Troccoli
It’s also a very short-sighted um and kind of one-sided way of looking at the situation. And so if I were to give a woman advice, having had to promote people and been promoted myself, so kind of seen both sides of it, you know, give your boss a little bit of time and be be clear about your needs but also ask them for their input what would it take for me to get to this next role um what do i need to show you that i’m capable of are there things that we can invest in together or can we put together a plan so that when you’re being asked to do work you know that it’s contributing to that goal you share that vision together you’ve got your clear you know plan um it might mean that you have to ask them six months in advance but in most cases that a lot of organizations Leaders have to plan six plus months in advance.
17:07.35
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
17:34.49
Angela Troccoli
They have to get approval from ah HR. They have to get approval from finance. Things don’t just magically happen. I can’t you know magically say, here’s your promotion. wo like The money isn’t just like sitting in a bucket for me to distribute.
17:46.23
Angela Troccoli
And so, yeah, I think if i if I’m talking to other women who are looking for that next, you know I’m a manager. I want to be a senior manager. I’m a senior manager. I want to be a director.
17:57.27
Angela Troccoli
If you think you want that in the next one to two years, tell your boss right now. Because then you can really start having that conversation before it becomes, before turns into resentment and before it becomes an ultimatum.
18:10.05
Angela Troccoli
So those are the the two bad pieces of advice I’ve gotten.
18:14.20
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
18:15.25
Angela Troccoli
and And what I would have given myself as advice instead. you know that wasn’t the the question, but I’m like, here’s the advice I would give you instead.
18:20.89
Lorie Jones
Yeah, this is the one I would use. Yeah. No, I like that.
18:22.81
Angela Troccoli
Yes.
18:23.53
Lorie Jones
I like that idea of um I think that it’s so important that as women, we we to our own home. Actually, I think it’s important for everybody. And it’s the advice I give across the board to anyone that I’m mentoring.
18:33.58
Angela Troccoli
Yeah. Yes. Okay. Yeah.
18:36.94
Lorie Jones
I’m like, no one cares. I think it was Gargi Chaudhry, who’s the head of iShares, who said that Nobody cares about your career the way you do.
18:47.77
Lorie Jones
Like not a single person does. and so And no one’s going to pay attention to what you’re doing unless you tell them what you’re doing.
18:49.78
Angela Troccoli
ye
18:54.77
Lorie Jones
So…
18:55.47
Angela Troccoli
That’s right. You know, think about it. Like your boss has their own career they’re thinking about. They have probably a P&L they’re worried about.
19:06.65
Angela Troccoli
Depending on where they are in the organization, they’ve got leaders that they need to support. Um, Gosh, right now, I don’t think any company is like, whoa, we’re doing great. And so there’s there’s pressure. Plus they might have a family at home or a partner, um parents that they’re taking care of. They’ve got a lot of stuff going on and they probably don’t just have you as ah as an employee. They’ve got maybe five, six, seven.
19:31.64
Angela Troccoli
So do them a solid. And if you have a gold star moment, tell them it’s not arrogance. It’s self-promotion and that’s actually an okay thing so that they go, oh, okay, so you know Jennifer just did this incredible thing and got great accolades.
19:49.06
Angela Troccoli
I’m going to pocket this. I’m going to remember this. And frankly, the more that you share that up to your own leadership, they get to promote you too because it’s top of mind for them. And so then when the promotion moment comes around and they’re having to justify the ask to either their peers or their leadership, they’ve already been priming them whether they know it or not.
19:57.99
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
20:10.68
Angela Troccoli
So Yeah, I think it’s, there’s definitely some good skills to kind of just like always be priming your your leader um on the great things that you’re doing because it it’s going to benefit you. But it it takes um a repeat kind of focus. You can’t do it once and then ignore it. has to be part of your your daily rhythm practically.
20:34.84
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. Always. And, and just, and keep it, keep it journaled somewhere like so that you can, when you come back around at those quarterly reviews or the yearly reviews or whatever, um you’ve got your list of wins and you, and it’s top of mind now again, because they’ve already forgotten what you did three months ago.
20:42.01
Angela Troccoli
if exactly yeah great point
20:58.34
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
21:01.91
Lorie Jones
So what about a do-over? I like to think of these as situations like if I knew then what I know now, that would have gone so much differently. and And it’s not that I regret what I did, but I definitely learned from it and I would do it differently now.
21:19.06
Angela Troccoli
Yeah. um this is on a This is a personal professional example.
21:26.42
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
21:26.97
Angela Troccoli
And gosh, I’ve got plenty of regrets. I think ive there are plenty of mistakes that I made where I would think I would have done that differently, but here I am, so I can’t complain.
21:33.67
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
21:36.31
Angela Troccoli
had
21:38.74
Angela Troccoli
i had a very um let’s call it a high intensity role of a few a few companies ago and a very demanding CEO.
21:52.92
Angela Troccoli
um And i just wanted to say yes. I just wanted to say yes to the last minute assignments and the let’s launch this thing that’s not ready to launch and do it in two weeks, not two months. And I really, really wanted to deliver.
22:11.93
Angela Troccoli
Now that’s that’s on me, right? But i I would work through holidays. I would work through family vacations. I would, you know, if if he needed it, I was there, you know?
22:23.35
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
22:23.79
Angela Troccoli
and And the regret that I have is not acknowledging that it didn’t have to be me And delegating is also leadership and boundaries is also leadership.
22:41.98
Angela Troccoli
And, and I shouldn’t have put all that pressure on myself to, to make him happy or her. I mean, it does. And yes, technically the CEO was a man, but to make my leader happy.
22:54.37
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
22:54.77
Angela Troccoli
Right. um Saying no with boundaries is okay. And at that time, you know, and this is hindsight’s 2020. When you’re kind of in that very um steep growth part of your career, it’s hard, I think, to set boundaries and to say no because you see you see the flag.
23:09.91
Lorie Jones
yeah
23:17.59
Angela Troccoli
It’s right there. And I just want to grab it. I want to grab the flag. um But in hindsight, all of that that I gave up didn’t really move the needle enough.
23:33.78
Angela Troccoli
Did it? Yes. But did it move it enough that I’m thrilled i missed half of a vacation I had in Hawaii with my family? no I would have loved to watch the sunrise and go snorkeling with my daughter, not take three calls.
23:51.22
Angela Troccoli
And so, you know, that was an important lesson for me. And ultimately, I’m not there anymore.
23:57.02
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
23:57.58
Angela Troccoli
Right. And, and so remembering that it’s just a job. I mean, again, like who doesn’t say that? Who doesn’t know that? But when you’re in the moment, it’s hard to feel it.
24:09.05
Angela Troccoli
And so I think the biggest regret I have is not feeling it sooner and not acknowledging earlier in my career that I can still grow and be successful without feeling like it’s all on me and that I have to be the one to show it.
24:22.90
Angela Troccoli
that I can’t delegate and say, I’m good, I’m gonna do this part and they’re gonna do that part. And if they don’t deliver, you know,
24:31.67
Lorie Jones
Yeah, team project.
24:33.24
Angela Troccoli
yeah, it’s hard, right? Especially when you’re type it’s hard, but i do i do regret that.
24:35.12
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah.
24:39.08
Angela Troccoli
I regret not setting better boundaries earlier in my career. I’m glad that I have them now.
24:45.27
Lorie Jones
How did you get better at doing that? Inquiring minds want to know.
24:49.18
Angela Troccoli
um
24:50.08
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
24:51.42
Angela Troccoli
through the painful realization that it doesn’t move the needle that much. And um
25:03.93
Angela Troccoli
after so many instances of feeling like you’re giving up so much in your personal life to sustain your professional one, you start to ask yourself, am I in the right professional space?
25:20.76
Angela Troccoli
right Is this the culture for me?
25:23.17
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
25:24.06
Angela Troccoli
And there are thousands of companies out there. Thousands and thousands and thousands. Find the one that allows you to be your best self.
25:38.10
Angela Troccoli
But i i had to I had to get pretty hurt. I had to feel like I was giving up a lot and it was making me upset to I think finally realize it’s not worth it.
25:51.03
Angela Troccoli
You know, I had to get through that pain to to acknowledge, okay, next time, no. I’m setting the boundary.
26:01.42
Angela Troccoli
i’m looking for I’m looking for the place that is a fit for me and a leadership team that’s a fit for me.
26:01.46
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
26:08.73
Angela Troccoli
And that’s where I will thrive because I’ll be able to deliver everything. and still have the balance that I want on the personal side without feeling this regret.
26:20.15
Angela Troccoli
You know, because in the end, I hope this is the case for most people, your family is just, they’re going to be there. Your job may or may not. It’s okay. It’s a job.
26:31.99
Angela Troccoli
um And having been through, having experienced on the leadership side, things like rifts, having to make those decisions and be part of those conversations, you know, you’re a number, it’s okay.
26:47.88
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
26:49.46
Angela Troccoli
and And the only time I’ve i’ve given advice recently to to a younger woman who worked for me and she was deciding, do I stay here or do I go? So we were talking about where she was and she had an opportunity.
27:02.17
Angela Troccoli
I said, be a little nervous when a big company leader tells you you’re like family.
27:12.82
Angela Troccoli
It feels so good, but you’re not. You’re not. And so if that’s the kind of language you’re hearing, honestly, run. Because that just means he’s going to ask things of you that go beyond the like the scope of your professional like role with that company. He’s going to expect you to work later. going to expect you to give more than you want to because you’re family, right?
27:39.43
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
27:40.34
Angela Troccoli
But that’s just lip service. And the sooner you learn that in your career and you can just be okay with it, you can accept it. Now, i’m sure I sound a little jaded, um and maybe I am.
27:51.35
Angela Troccoli
But I think it’s important, especially, again, I’m overgeneralizing. Women tend to be a little bit more nurturing, empathetic. We feel more. So that language mean means something.
28:04.79
Angela Troccoli
and And I think we have to remind ourselves, no. This is a job. I have to have these other things that matter to me. that Those other things may not be family.
28:15.85
Angela Troccoli
It could be, it could be i have to have my friendship, my circle of friends.
28:19.92
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
28:21.13
Angela Troccoli
I can’t miss this thing. right But I think it’s as soon as you realize that, it’s this, gosh, it’s such a relief. It’s such a weight.
28:32.10
Angela Troccoli
Lift it. Because who are you letting down? It’s a job.
28:35.85
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
28:35.99
Angela Troccoli
And I think that’s actually really nice, but it was scary.
28:38.81
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
28:38.87
Angela Troccoli
It was scary when I first realized it because I thought, oof, I feel a little too far along in my career to’ have noticed that now. But, um you know, at least I got there.
28:50.97
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
28:54.01
Lorie Jones
So tell me if you can kind of look back over your journey, Angela, do you have something that you could just go back and like you high five yourself for one really great past financial decision? What would that be?
29:16.02
Angela Troccoli
Telling my husband to increase our stake in gold. Um, no. Um, so, um, we, we have a very balanced portfolio and, and I think every woman should, I think every family should, um,
29:37.21
Angela Troccoli
we invested in real estate early and while it feels like a more traditional and like slower growth investment than the market, cause it is, um,
29:54.52
Angela Troccoli
I felt really good about the way that we approached it. So we we invested in a starter home, pretty much sight unseen. It was like, here’s a piece of paper of what we think it will look like and that dirt over there will eventually be this community.
30:08.47
Angela Troccoli
And we we had my husband had worked in real estate, so he knew the comps were actually in our favor. And so we’re like, let’s just do it. And we then took that investment and we were able to turn it into the next investment and then the next investment. And so we had more of a long a long game plan when it came to how we were looking at our portfolio. But I think that first investment and making the financial decision to not go on that trip, to not go out to dinner and to save the money so that we could start this, it it was very…
30:45.56
Angela Troccoli
It felt very contrary at the time. Everyone was like, YOLO and like, let’s go to Yacht Week. And we were like, we’re going to stay home and eat frozen pizza so we can afford this investment in our 20s.
30:57.33
Angela Troccoli
Right. That was really weird.
30:59.54
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
31:00.47
Angela Troccoli
um
31:00.50
Lorie Jones
okay
31:01.78
Angela Troccoli
But i’m I’m so glad. And I think we both feel more confident now as we look ahead to the next 10, 15 years and ideally retirement at some point. that we we got ourselves started off well early.
31:15.64
Angela Troccoli
And I think that, I hope that as you know individuals, women are kind of seeing their bank accounts go up and they’re seeing their portfolios go up, that they’ll work with advisors like yourself even, who can help kind of guide them on the right way to balance where all their money is because that and do it early.
31:41.46
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
31:41.85
Angela Troccoli
I also think getting getting an advisor early, not later.
31:45.17
Lorie Jones
Early.
31:46.03
Angela Troccoli
Don’t wait until you’re like, I hope I retire in five years.
31:48.41
Lorie Jones
yeah
31:49.72
Angela Troccoli
Goodness.
31:50.13
Lorie Jones
i’m I’m retiring in 30 minutes. I better get myself an advisor, right?
31:53.98
Angela Troccoli
Right? No, it’s true though. Like, oh man. And it’s like, ah this is stuff like you should have been thinking about this for the last 20 years.
32:01.14
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
32:01.66
Angela Troccoli
People don’t realize that. So I think you didn’t ask me for the second, but i think the second most important thing that we did was we really, we sat down with a financial planning, um with a financial advisor who planned out with us. Okay.
32:15.66
Angela Troccoli
here’s where you are. You can have this type of growth, this type of growth, this type of growth. Here’s what it means from a risk profile perspective. And like, we really took the time to plan it and think about it and visualize it’s like down to the things like how much money do you want to spend on your daughter’s wedding?
32:33.47
Lorie Jones
Mm hmm.
32:34.23
Angela Troccoli
Right?
32:34.63
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
32:34.97
Angela Troccoli
Like, who that’s kind of, that’s a big question, but it’s now it’s in the plan.
32:35.13
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
32:40.15
Angela Troccoli
And so You know, I think that confidence was really nice. And that was one of the best decisions we made was we actually had a financial advisor who walked us through that and was willing to get down to like the personal goals that we had that, man, we both felt like, whew, this is great.
32:52.52
Lorie Jones
Mm hmm.
32:57.32
Angela Troccoli
I feel so good now.
32:57.98
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. That’s what i I do get clients that walk out of my office and they’re like, and you you just see that sense of relief.
33:05.02
Angela Troccoli
Yes.
33:07.07
Lorie Jones
Like, Oh good.
33:07.70
Angela Troccoli
Yeah.
33:08.35
Lorie Jones
I’m not, I have, I have this one um who has like the spreadsheet and she has a spreadsheet like you would not believe. And she’s been spreadsheeting for years and she loves it.
33:19.58
Angela Troccoli
Exactly. Yeah.
33:20.55
Lorie Jones
But spending just an hour with me and kind of putting that, that information into the system. She, she saw the visual of what her plan could be.
33:32.90
Lorie Jones
and she would, just it it was literally, it was just like, like all the work that she had done to get there.
33:33.27
Angela Troccoli
exactly
33:40.38
Lorie Jones
She knew it was worth it. So I, I love that answer. Obviously I love that answer, but yeah.
33:44.34
Angela Troccoli
but And it wasn’t, that’s not even planned. It’s true. i mean, and um I think the the uncertainty is what’s scary, right?
33:52.48
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
33:53.78
Angela Troccoli
It’s the uncertainty. And, um you know, I would say for for a lot of folks that I know, i half are probably pretty well set up, and half of my my peers, I’m like, I’m sure it was really fun to backpack around Europe, but goodness, did you have to sell all your possessions? Because now what?
34:14.07
Lorie Jones
yeah uh-oh
34:14.78
Angela Troccoli
And so, yeah, like um’m I’m going to go travel around Europe when I retire. so like I’m good. um and And, you know, you can’t take it with you. So there’s always going the fun things that you can do. But think having a person in your corner who’s going to tell you straight,
34:33.87
Angela Troccoli
Here’s what you need to earn. Here’s what you should probably spend or not spend. And here are some solid investments that you can make that kind of are across this risk profile. No one just wakes up in the morning with that knowledge or intuition.
34:46.70
Angela Troccoli
It takes years of seeing it, experiencing it, advising other people. And so, you know, just like if someone said, hey, I’m going to start a company and I need to learn more about marketing, I’d hope they’d call me, right?
34:58.55
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
34:59.51
Angela Troccoli
um
34:59.56
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
35:00.73
Angela Troccoli
This is the same thing. You got to tap into the experts that you know.
35:04.16
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of scary, well what scared you the most when you started out on this journey? Was there anything that was like you were really worried about? And are you still or did you figure out a way to get over that?
35:28.09
Angela Troccoli
I took out a lot of loans for school. And so that was scary in the moment.
35:38.87
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Uh-huh.
35:40.82
Angela Troccoli
But I knew that I would do whatever it took. And so I think that once I
35:52.28
Angela Troccoli
got that job,
35:55.51
Angela Troccoli
and put a plan together, like, here’s how I’m going to pay it off. um It got less scary. But I think that’s the only time where I was it scared, right?
36:07.13
Angela Troccoli
um I wasn’t scared, for example, when I took out a loan for our first house. But there’s something about that first time you see all those numbers and you’re like, that’s how much I’m going to owe you. And that’s the rate. That’s all right. Let’s hope this works out. That’s kind of scary.
36:24.79
Angela Troccoli
um
36:24.89
Lorie Jones
eat it Yeah.
36:25.94
Angela Troccoli
Yeah, it’s like the only time I think in your life where you’re betting on you, right? There’s no asset. You are the asset. But going back to one of the first things we talked about, then invest in you, right? If you invested in you then, invested in going to college, um no matter what type of college, whether you have an advanced degree, an AA, a master’s, a PhD, doesn’t matter.
36:51.29
Angela Troccoli
You invested in you at that point. um keep investing in you. Right? That’s, that’s, if you made that decision when you were 18, 19, you can make it that decision now, but invest in you. It’s one of the best investments you’ll ever make.
37:06.62
Angela Troccoli
And it really, I think does pay off. So, you know, it was scary, but I, the spreadsheet helps.
37:13.24
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Keep betting on yourself. Yeah. I love that idea that, that you really are investing in your future.
37:20.01
Angela Troccoli
Yep.
37:20.27
Lorie Jones
You’re, you’re, you’re betting on the fact that you’re going to, you’re going to work hard. You’re going to be successful. You’re going to do well.
37:25.70
Angela Troccoli
Mm-hmm.
37:26.84
Lorie Jones
You’re going learn the things you need to learn quickly.
37:27.11
Angela Troccoli
Yeah.
37:29.66
Lorie Jones
so you fail less, fail better.
37:31.29
Angela Troccoli
Yes. Yeah. Fail fast.
37:34.33
Lorie Jones
Yeah. yeah
37:35.59
Angela Troccoli
Yeah, exactly.
37:37.34
Lorie Jones
Did you face any unique challenges along your path because you were a woman?
37:43.73
Angela Troccoli
Is that a trick question?
37:45.08
Lorie Jones
i know I only had one person tell me no in the all the whole time.
37:48.28
Angela Troccoli
No. Who are they? Can I meet them? Um… Did I face any? Yes. I would say, you know, I’ve worked in, I’ve worked in technology most of my career and there’s always going to be moments where you are certainly the only woman in the room.
38:13.50
Angela Troccoli
and And, it’s fun. So I’m going to take a little bit of a side, side note. In college, I actually studied the effects of being othered, both from a gender and a racial a racial perspective.
38:29.48
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
38:29.85
Angela Troccoli
I had an incredible graduate student that i worked for, and and so I understood the actual physical effects on your body when you are the other person in the room.
38:43.45
Angela Troccoli
And so I think because of that, i was my awareness was heightened. and And I protected myself in those scenarios because I’d learned that if I didn’t, what the effects would be in terms of psychological safety, your physical, you know, it can it can be just difficult on you, on your on your body.
39:07.73
Angela Troccoli
um And so I think those were the moments that were the hardest to navigate. Sometimes the youngest in the room 20 plus years. plus years
39:20.39
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
39:21.08
Angela Troccoli
That’s hard. um and And not everyone else, I think, was quite as sensitive to it. Not to say that people have to be sensitive, but also like toxic masculinity is very much a thing. It’s alive and well.
39:35.26
Lorie Jones
you
39:35.48
Angela Troccoli
And so I think for women who you know are still experiencing it, I’m so sorry. um i wish it wasn’t true, but it’s still very…
39:48.92
Angela Troccoli
very much there and that was the hardest thing I just constantly had to face throughout my career. Even on Zoom meetings, you know, like it’s a ah three by three Zoom call and you’re the one woman in the nine squares. That’s hard.
40:05.90
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
40:06.69
Angela Troccoli
It feels a little weird. It’s it never It never goes away. Maybe that’s me. Maybe I’m too sensitized to it. But um yeah. But luckily, I’ve had an incredible support system, including a lot of incredible male mentors.
40:23.03
Angela Troccoli
think that helps a lot because then you don’t feel like you’re isolating yourself. You you get different perspectives. Yeah. Yeah, I think you just have to kind of have thick skin and be aware that there’s always going to be some level of adversity that you face.
40:40.25
Angela Troccoli
and um And just similar to how I had to find the right culture for me, that was part of it, right? Finding the right… the right team that made me feel really welcome and really good, um that was something that i had to look for. and And I feel very blessed that i found it a handful of times.
41:02.23
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. I think that, I think that is a really important point too. It’s just that there are places where um you can feel included and, and supported and you can grow and stuff like that.
41:12.12
Angela Troccoli
Yeah.
41:17.34
Lorie Jones
i found you know, one of those just recently and where I’m at. And and it’s a different feeling.
41:21.19
Angela Troccoli
Yeah.
41:23.82
Lorie Jones
You can definitely feel the difference between those that are those that are working for your best interests that are really trying to help you get ahead and and grow.
41:34.90
Lorie Jones
I think that’s cool.
41:35.45
Angela Troccoli
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
41:38.65
Lorie Jones
What is the thing you are most proud of
41:45.99
Angela Troccoli
That’s such a good question. um
41:53.40
Angela Troccoli
On a personal level, i am most proud of my daughter and am sure that everyone gives that answer, but she is phenomenal and inspires me every day.
42:10.26
Angela Troccoli
um she is a little miniature version of me. So she also reminds me of how sassy I can be. It’s a great reality check. Um, but I’m really proud of the young woman, the young girl, I shouldn’t say woman yet, um that she is growing into.
42:27.36
Angela Troccoli
and And I feel really proud of myself that i um not only have this delightful person in my life, but that she wants to be like mommy when she grows up.
42:38.95
Angela Troccoli
That’s something that I feel really proud of.
42:39.17
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
42:40.63
Angela Troccoli
She sees me working, she sees me growing in my career, and she sees me and and the success that I’ve built for myself and it inspires her and that just means the world to me.
42:51.83
Angela Troccoli
And I’m also really proud, i think I mentioned earlier of a book that I’ve written. It actually took two years to write this book. um And I’m really proud of it because it’s something that I started with a mentor of mine who I adore very much. The book is dedicated to him.
43:09.56
Angela Troccoli
And, you know, it’s it is kind of a little bit about my experience as a marketer in the the world of startups and scale ups, but it also pulls from a lot of interviews with other marketing leaders.
43:22.84
Angela Troccoli
and shares a lot of lessons, a lot of lessons that have, you know, kind of been learned the hard way. um And as I mentioned, you know, one of the things that I care a lot about is giving back. And so um this is sort of my way of of giving back, right? Like I wrote it down. This is the stuff that’s probably going to come up.
43:41.85
Angela Troccoli
Here’s how to, you know, navigate yourself out of that problem. um And I’m really proud of it it. It was something that was hard for me to put myself out there like that. And um yeah, I’m glad I did it.
43:52.82
Lorie Jones
yeah it it is ah it would be a little bit hard like this is my this this is the neatest thing I’ve done and it’s like putting your baby out there for people to laugh at like that’s hard yeah please please yeah I know
44:03.48
Angela Troccoli
Exactly. Yeah. Like, please like me.
44:09.59
Angela Troccoli
Yeah.
44:10.81
Lorie Jones
um Any advice for a young lady, Angela, who’s kind of just starting down this path that you’re successful at to help her be successful like you?
44:25.14
Angela Troccoli
Give yourself a little bit of grace and
44:32.54
Angela Troccoli
keep that pitch book of yourself. Keep it right. I think you mentioned, right? Like whether it’s a journal or it’s in a PowerPoint or it’s just a word document or a notepad you open up on your phone, keep that.
44:51.16
Angela Troccoli
Write down all the times where you got accolades or you felt really proud of something that you did. And when you’re feeling down, like, oh, this is so hard.
45:02.62
Angela Troccoli
How am I going to get to that next step? Give yourself a little bit of grace and look at it. Yes, it is important to share it with your leader when you’re asking for that promotion or what have you, or when you’re prepping for an interview for that next job.
45:17.66
Angela Troccoli
But also remember that it’s for you because you are incredible. You deserve to be where you are. It’s not always going to be easy. You will make mistakes and sometimes you might disappoint and that is fine.
45:32.18
Angela Troccoli
For a lot of type A personalities out there, that can be catastrophic, but you’ll survive it. And you just got to give yourself a little bit of patience because we’re all human.
45:43.77
Angela Troccoli
And, you know, just remind yourself of all the greatness that you give because that truly, I think, is what keeps you going. And, yeah, I mean, you’ll get there if you want it.
45:56.91
Angela Troccoli
you’ll go get it
45:58.77
Lorie Jones
I love it. I actually had um ah a team member who was working underneath me. And every time someone wrote something good about her, she would she would put it in her pile.
46:10.89
Lorie Jones
of ah her it was like a Word document that she had.
46:11.74
Angela Troccoli
it.
46:13.69
Lorie Jones
and she would she would just take it out when she had a particularly bad day and kind of look through it. And the great thing about this particular person is she would do that for us too.
46:18.90
Angela Troccoli
Yeah.
46:23.05
Lorie Jones
Like she would look through the emails and she would like find the nice things that clients said.
46:24.60
Angela Troccoli
Oh my gosh.
46:28.05
Lorie Jones
and
46:28.28
Angela Troccoli
That is amazing.
46:29.47
Lorie Jones
said, that’s so cool. And she’s like, look, look, someone said something so really great about you.
46:32.95
Angela Troccoli
Wow.
46:35.38
Lorie Jones
Don’t forget this or something like that. So I love that idea. I think that is so important to remember that we do cool things and we are really, really trying hard to show up in this world in a way that that just makes the world a better place for our kids, for those um mentor mentees that we have for our jobs, our companies.
46:40.50
Angela Troccoli
Yeah.
46:53.31
Angela Troccoli
Yeah.
46:56.09
Lorie Jones
um And, and like, take, take a little bit of time to celebrate that. I love that you reminded us of that.
47:01.09
Angela Troccoli
Yeah. course.
47:02.00
Lorie Jones
Thank you so much, Angela, for your time today. i appreciate you chatting with us.
47:04.31
Angela Troccoli
of course
47:06.20
Lorie Jones
If I have a young lady who wants to get in touch with you and ask a few questions, how does she do that?
47:11.93
Angela Troccoli
Please definitely encourage her to connect with me on LinkedIn and to reference that she either chatted with you or heard the podcast. I would love to meet any young woman who’s looking for just a little bit of a pep talk or advice on her career. I’m here to help. Or she can go to my website, AngelaTropoli.com, and she can contact me there.
47:34.10
Lorie Jones
Well, perfect. Thank you so much. I’ve just really enjoyed this time together. Thanks.
47:38.62
Angela Troccoli
Likewise. Thank you so much, Lori.