Jocelyn started helping her parents out with DSI’s early growth by answering phones from the State of NM. At that time, DSI was only a toner supply business and this was their largest customer. She spent her summers remanufacturing cartridges with her siblings, taking apart toner cartridges and refiling them for resell. As small as it seems, the business hit it off with local companies because buying remanufactured cartridges reduced operating costs by half. Jocelyn did a little bit of everything when DSI was in its early years, after taking some time off for college and exploring other sales careers, Jocelyn returned to DSI in Albuquerque to be an account executive and soon moved up to a Major Account Executive, and finally to the Vice President of Sales.
Jocelyn had her kids, Grace and Kyle, when she was 8 years into her career as a Sales Manager and Major Account Executive. Like her parents, who provided Jocelyn and her siblings with an “awesome, amazingly joyful, peaceful childhood,” Jocelyn wants to provide the same kind of childhood to her children. Having two children under 2 can be very stressful for someone who actively participates in the community through official business centers, college sales centers, charity donations, being a Big Sister through the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. We asked Jocelyn how she juggles having two little ones and many activities outside of being DSI’s VP of Sales, she advises not to do it alone, allow friends and family to help. Jocelyn says no successful leader does it solo and it’s even more challenging for women. She thanks the entire amazing “village” that helps her be at DSI while maintaining a strong relationship with her kids and husband.
Around the office, Jocelyn is partly characterized by her stubborn positivity that seems to never waver. She admits that it isn’t an all-the-time attitude and sometimes she crashes. To start off her day and kick off this mindset, she wakes up at five-am every morning to give herself time to read her Bible. She believes the positive mindset is God-given, from the perspective of those who work in the office with her, the positive Bible verses on her office whiteboard contribute to this. It’s not only her own well-being that Jocelyn focuses on. Our VP took the time to create biweekly scheduled meetings with Sales and Executives that help with work-life balance and assist our Sales Reps with defining goals and establishing activities to achieve those goals.
What does a normal day look like for Jocelyn? As mentioned before, she starts her day off with waking up at five-am and reading her bible. By 5:30 she’s ready to go and has some quiet time before her kids wake up. At 6:15 it’s time to get the kids ready for school and Grace loves to make pancakes so by 7:30, breakfast is over and everyone goes to school and work with full bellies. When she gets to work, Jocelyn focuses on determining effective market strategies and promotions, market pricing, RFP (request for proposal) pricing, sales rep support, sales training, and growth projecting.
When asked what it’s like to raise her own family as she grows her family’s company, Jocelyn said it’s an honor and she takes pride in the opportunity. If she were at any other company, she believes she wouldn’t have the same experience. To maintain work-life balance, Jocelyn is very intentional with her time and manages her schedule very decisively so that work doesn’t impact her relationship with her husband and kids. To relax, Jocelyn loves yard work, gardening, and cooking with her daughter. Her family recharges her simply by being there and she is thankful for the time she gets to spend time with her family outdoors.
Jocelyn’s biggest strength, among many, is her desire to learn and her innate positivity. She has gone from tutoring in High School and processing supply orders in DSI’s early years, to creating an entire company from the ground up with no customers and no revenue. Today, DSI celebrates over 25 years of serving its community thanks to Jocelyn’s leadership and community involvement.