Alesia Hendley
Sales Engineer
Snap AV – Access Networks
3 years in the industry
Black Leaders In Consumer Tech Award Winner 2021
Tell us about your career so far.
My professional career started after I realized I was an audio engineer with no musical talent to record, which lead me to find the professional AV industry. I got online and Googled “sound engineer jobs.” After working for many years as a stagehand and heading media teams within churches, I finally got my shot at an in-house AV team at a large multipurpose facility in Houston, TX.
I come from the commercial side of AV. I’ve been an end-user where I learned how to integrate and operate a wide range of technologies from live sound to AV and IT. I’ve leveraged my social and technical skills to not only continue growing my career, but to also help push our industry forward by showing people that you can be anything you want and that there is a place for all of us within this industry. Here is the latest link on more of my career path if you’d care to know learn the deeper details of my journey – https://soundgirls.org/alesia-hendley-from-live-sound-to-av-it/
Describe your current role.
Currently, I am a sales engineer on our client services team. I focus on inside sales tasks and, most of all, customer service. I work with every department on our team to make sure our clients continue to have great experiences with our products. From educating our clients on our products and technology to helping them place an order, I always want to ensure they know we’re here for them, to help them every step of the way with reliable support along with enterprise solutions.
When it comes to diversity and inclusion, how is the CE industry doing both historically, and also in the past year?
AV overall has done a horrible job, unless it’s Black History month or Juneteenth. Black and minority voices in our space are not heard or seen. If you don’t already know someone in the AV business, it’s challenging to land a good gig. I don’t see many people that look like me in AV and that’s why I’ve worked extremely hard to build my own personal brand. You can’t miss me — I’m at tradeshows, I’m on podcasts, I’m writing for publications across the industry, I’m active on social. I’m always learning and continuing to put forth my best work each and every day. I know there are more people of color in our industry and I am excited to see who else is honored here with me. That’s what excites me most! I’ll be able to connect with others within my community.
What would you tell non-black professionals in the CE industry who want to support the inclusion of black people in the industry?
Share our voices. Share our work. Share opportunity. And not only because we’re black, but because we do great work. Support and celebrate our work like everyone else. Simple.
What accomplishment are you most proud of?
I am extremely proud that I never quit. If I had, I wouldn’t have made Commercial Integrator 40 Under 40 in 2017 or System Contractors News -The Nine in 2018. And I wouldn’t be listed here today.
What technology are you most interested in at the moment?
Currently, IT/networking. Everything lives on the network and it’s important to learn the foundation.
What’s the top trend in CE for you right now?
Voice recognition technology. In my opinion, it’s been fun to watch as more and more devices become voice-activated.
What’s your favorite gadget right now?
Other than my phone, my Bluetooth headsets and USB microphones. My headsets help me wind down at the end of the day during my walks on the beach. And USB microphones are just becoming better and better with each release. I lowkey am starting to hoard microphones, LOL.
Any additional thoughts you’d like to share?
Thank you for the opportunity to share my voice and my journey. I hope this inspires someone in some form or fashion.
