Presenting

Women are more naturally empowering leaders and co-workers. We have an inquisitive nature. We are also more likely to step back and get other people's opinions. e environment here is ver y collaborative. ere's really no top-down leadership. I think the natural leadership style of a woman fit in really well with the culture we were look ing to build. Women oftentimes don't advocate for themselves. Do you see that continuing? Absolutely. I even have to catch myself doing it. For example, I just got back from maternity leave two months ago. A nd recently when I was talking to the board, they were saying that we're seeing phenomenal growth, and things are going really well. ey asked me what factors may have caused this difference. I started listing off all of the things I thought it could be. I had to push myself to say that the timing of this growth and renewed excitement dovetails with me being back in the office. It just didn't feel natural to say that. Do you think women here at Clickbooth see you as a role model? We have a great team. Half of our executive team is women. Probably a lile over half of our entire staff is women. It's a great group and we build one another up. We tr y to keep things fun and girly, but we are also there for each other and boost each other up. How has motherhood affected you? I have two lile girls. My 3-year-old is Charloe and Lila is five months old. I would say that being a mother of girls has been an exciting experience for me. I was 28 when I first got pregnant. I was already the CEO of Clickbooth at that point, but in my career I hadn't really felt that being a woman was different. But being pregnant, for the first time in my life I had to stop and take a break, I had to eat and get enough sleep. My actions weren't just impacting me, but also the baby. You start to say…men don't do this and have to go through this. A nd then experiencing maternity leave and coming back and being confident, you have to find your footing aer that and strike a new balance. It's not that feasible to work all hours of the night when you have two lile ones at home. So I have to work very hard to get as much accomplished as possible during the day, go home and spend time with the girls and then log on again later. Of course, I love them to death. ey're the best thing I've ever done. What helps you find balance? My husband and I have been together for 12 years. He's been there the entire way along my career path. I could not give him enough kudos. I would take on more at work, so he would take on more at home without sk ipping a beat. A nd he jumped into fatherhood full force with both feet. I think having girls has made him think even more about "girl power" and not playing into gender stereoty pes. What tips would have been beneficial in your career? I think probably the most important thing is that even though it's technolog y, it's still relationship-based. Women are naturally great at relationships…building them and breaking down walls. A lot that can happen in technolog y is communication, which tends toward email and instant messaging—but you have to pick up the phone and see people face to face to develop a rapport. at gets a lot more done than shooting emails back and forth. Women are naturally good at that. What do you see for yourself five years and even 10 years from now? Five years out, I'm really excited because Clickbooth just went through this sale process. For the first time ever we have private equity back ing and access to capital. e next five years are a fantastic runway to see how big we can build this. We are constantly ranked #1 in our industr y and we've got a really great brand. A re we going to move through acquisitions? A re we going to grow organically here in Sarasota? What new technologies do we want to launch? at's the next five years—how big can we get this, and how big can we grow while maintaining our culture and our core? For the longer term, I love Clickbooth so I could see myself spending my whole career here, but down the road I could also see FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: Erin's daughters, Charlotte and Lila. The leadership team at Clickbooth's annual "Think Bigger" event. 54 | GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com

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