Title: Regional Sales Manager
Company: AVer USA
Location: San Jose, CA
Overtime: In her own words, Harvey “lives to eat,” so she is a foodie. One of the things she is learning to eat is fire—that’s right, she’s spins fire for fun.
Why You Need to Know Her: The former San Jose State psychology major is focused on enhancing the lives of everyone around her, whether it’s through technology or teamwork.
Meet Sheon Harvey, Pro AV therapist. That may not be her official title, but after seven years with AVer USA, she’s realized that throughout all her success—and there is a lot—her true passion is helping others, whether it be clients or colleagues.
Harvey’s story technically starts in Yokohama, Japan, where she grew up, but really began when her family moved out to the San Francisco Bay Area. “I went to San Jose State and I was very gung-ho about my studies,” Harvey said. “I was a research assistant and on my way to get my Ph.D. because I wanted to be a marriage and family therapist. But I realized that with my psychology degree, I wasn't able to find a job that was going to sustain me out here in the Bay Area.”
That’s not to say technology was a foreign concept to her. Her dad built computers, so she was tech savvy from a very young age. And from all those years studying to be a therapist, she knew she wanted to help others. That’s when she saw the listing for AVer and submitted her resume. Harvey admitted she probably was not the most qualified candidate, so when she didn’t hear back it wasn’t all that surprising.
But that didn’t stop her. “I printed out my resume and went and knocked on their door,” she recalled. “It was the director of human resources who answered the door, and he was on his lunch break. He was so impressed that I went out of my way and drove all the way there and pretty much demanded an interview that he said, ‘All right, this girl has guts. Let me give her a chance.’”
AVer took the chance—and did it ever pay off. Though she started as a sales and marketing specialist, she wore many hats, and quickly became a member of the newly created videoconferencing team. In 2016, that team had three people on it and made $2 million. Within three years, the team more than tripled in size and revenue jumped to $20 million.
“It was really amazing to be part of that substantial growth in our little videoconferencing department,” Harvey said. “Just seeing with amazing teamwork, you can move mountains. I was able to move into an account executive position and started growing our team and then eventually became a regional sales manager.”
For Harvey, success is only enjoyable when it’s a shared experience. “I don't feel like I'm winning unless everyone on my team is winning,” she said. “I realized this is the industry that I want to be in because I want to be around like-minded people that want to help each other out and also really learn from one another. I have an amazing team of people that are so brilliant. I'm always learning new things within this industry.”
AVer was recently nominated for a gender parity award because it represents so many women in Pro AV, an industry that has not always been that way. “When I first started, I felt kind of lonely being the only woman at trade shows, or maybe one out of five,” Harvey said. “One of the amazing things about working at AVer is that we have so many women represented in the higher leadership roles. And I'm seeing more and more women that are joining the AV workforce and I love that. You see that shift every year that I go to InfoComm and Enterprise Connect.”
After seven years climbing the ladder, what advice does Harvey have for the next generation of AV professionals? “Knowledge is power. It sounds super corny, but it really is,” she offered. “The technology within our industry—it's always changing. You've got to be ahead of the curve—knowing what's coming out, what's hot—just so we can tailor our solutions to what people are wanting these days.”
There she goes, looking out for other people once again.
