Katalina Dawson (00:10)
Hello and welcome back to another episode of Career Path. I am your host, Catalina. Today we are discussing finding yourself professionally. And my guest today is Erin Snyder, who is the VP of Membership and Partnerships at NCBA. Erin, I am super excited to have you on today. Thank you for joining me.

Erin Snyder (00:28)
Hi, thank you for having me. Excited to get started.

Katalina Dawson (00:32)
Well, unlike most of my guests, I did not have the pleasure of meeting Erin in person before any of this. So we have still only met online and I don't know Erin very well. So I'm super excited for this episode because I get to know more about you personally and professionally just by chatting here, which is going to be great. So with finding yourself professionally, the first question that I always ask is kind of going to touch on a little bit of this, but I'm excited to dive, deeper in really understand how you found yourself in your career. But let's start with, how did you get to where you are today and tell us a little bit more about yourself?

Erin Snyder (01:06)
Yeah, thanks so much. So I have been in the association world, if you will, for almost 18 years with a little bit of other experience in between. So my first job out of college was at an association, mostly in retail banking and financial services. So learned a lot and then made a huge career change and life change and moved out to the West Coast from Washington, DC. And so had a few different roles, kind of finding my feet out West, which was very exciting. I got into virtual events and event technology and did on the ground in-person events kind of after the pandemic subsided and we were back to in-person. So all very exciting stuff, mostly in event space, but I'm super excited to be back in association world working at NCBA, getting to know the members and connect with our partners and sponsors. And so that's been my career so far, mostly in membership and events.

Katalina Dawson (02:07)
So I'm kind of curious, how did you get into associations specifically? Because I feel like people don't set out and go, you know what I want to do when I graduate college? Work for associations.

Erin Snyder (02:15)
I consider myself very lucky that I grew up in the DC area. So I kind of had a little bit of knowledge of just kind of what jobs were available in the DC area, DC region. So I knew, you know, I could go work on Capitol Hill or intern on Capitol Hill and have maybe like a little bit more political, you know, experience. But then I also learned about associations and I, the reason I took the association job at the retail banks was I loved having the opportunity to travel. was, you know, fresh out of college. I wanted to be, you know, kind of going all over the country. And we had like a bunch of different conferences at the time that were spread out throughout the year. So it was very exciting to have that job initially. And then I just managed to kind of raise my hand, take on other responsibilities as I grew in the association and really came into different roles. I took on exhibits and sponsorship. I took on more like meetings coordination. And so I got to learn more about the events that we were, you know, kind of working on throughout the year and really got some excellent background where I just started as the registrar. I was, you know, working on registration for all these conferences and it was really that golden opportunity to be in DC and and kind of have that direct access to associations that got me started.

Katalina Dawson (03:40)
I love the way you talk about it, just like opportunity, opportunity, opportunity, and that you're grasping at it, which is so great. And I also love that you love traveling because it is so much of that job. My God, I know you're traveling right now. You're actually in my neighborhood in Chicago, which I apologize for because it is so terribly cold right now. It's so dry. I don't know if you're going to be here through the weekend. We're getting into the negatives. So hopefully you skip out before then. good. Good for you.

Erin Snyder (03:50)
Yeah. So cold. No. Back to the West Coast.

Katalina Dawson (04:08)
Good. I'm jealous. But let's talk a little bit about in your career so far, has there been one role or one particular experience that helped you learn more about yourself as a person?

Erin Snyder (04:19)
Yeah, I'd say, you know, my role later in my association career starting out, you know, as I took on more and more responsibilities and I was getting more into the exhibit and sponsorship part of my job, my role in sponsorship sales, I would say really taught me to kind of Get over any nervousness or anxiety I had about calling people on the phone and asking them for you know for sponsorship money for the event I used to get super, you know nervous and overwhelmed but I learned everyone I'm talking to is a human just like me. Nobody's out there to get me nobody's out there to be mean to me on on purpose, you know, and I I learned to trust in my experience and that I can use that to think on my feet. I didn't need to know the answer to every question. I could say, hey, I'm not sure about that, and that's OK. I will get back to you. I'll circle back with you on that. I need to do some follow up on my end. That is totally OK to say. So really trusting in my experience and using that to think on my feet when I was feeling a little anxious.

Katalina Dawson (05:24)
That's phenomenal. Yes. It took me a while to let that sink in, especially if you feel at all like a perfectionist. I definitely do. And my goodness, when it's like, I don't know the answer, it took me a long time to be like, it's okay not to know the answer. What's not okay is to not go look for the answer. You can't just be like, I don't know. Leave it at that. You got to make sure you're, yeah, good luck for you. And it's also,

Erin Snyder (05:32)
Exactly. Good luck!

Katalina Dawson (05:51)
that fear of reaching out to people can be so innate with people. I know that one of the top five fears, I actually think it's the second to death in like the ranking of most common fears, public speaking.

Erin Snyder (06:06)
yeah.

Katalina Dawson (06:07)
Even without being public, think speaking to strangers, especially when you're asking for something, can be so difficult. I mean, I remember growing up, my sister wouldn't even want to order a pizza. She'd be like, can you call? And that's my older sister. She'd be like, here's the phone, you call. And I'd be like, okay. But it can be so innate in people and that's a hard thing to overcome. So finding that the experience and being like, I know my stuff and if I don't, I'll still figure it out, can be such an amazing confidence booster. So that's incredible.

Erin Snyder (06:39)
And honestly, the worst thing they can say is no. And you take that with, you know, the humility we all have and we move on, right? We move on to the next.

Katalina Dawson (06:49)
Yeah, that's also great when you think about like, what is the worst case scenario here? And thankfully in our profession, usually it's just no. Just no. And then you're like, what am I afraid of? Because no means, okay, next person. And you're offering sponsorships, which is usually a very give and take thing. You're not just like, just buy this. It's like, hey, there's a lot of opportunity to these sponsorships and being able to

Erin Snyder (06:58)
It's just a no.

Katalina Dawson (07:17)
share that with people is great. So this kind of helped you grow in your career. Was there ever a time where you found out something about yourself like, wow, I'm really good at this and I didn't expect to be or something like that where you almost discovered something about yourself?

Erin Snyder (07:32)
Oh, good question. I think when I did move out West and was changing my life, my career, and I don't want to say I had to start over necessarily, but I had to kind of take a step back and really focus on what I was going to look for in a new job, what I was going to focus on, how I was going to sell myself to a potential new employer and how my experience at the association, having all those different roles and different backgrounds would correlate and kind of translate to what they were looking for. And so I found myself at a virtual events software platform. This was obviously during the pandemic. So virtual events were all the rage. And I really honed in on the technology aspect of it, like learning some coding, learning some of the integrations that were needed for clients registration systems to talk to our event platform. So that was really kind of unexpected and fun to have that experience and to have that background too, just kind of getting into that. I was lucky to have.

Erin Snyder (08:42)
really great teammates who mentored me when I first came on board. And it helped that I had a little bit of experience working in the association. I managed our mobile app and all of that kind of stuff. just getting really into more of the technical side of these virtual events was pretty fun. And I actually got pretty good at it. I was mentoring other employees as they came on board. So that was really cool.

Katalina Dawson (09:03)
Boom. That's awesome. So we've talked about some ways that you grew professionally and skills that you kind of uncovered. So I'm also curious if there's ever a moment where you realized like, I love this and this is my favorite part of my job, just through the experience of doing it.

Erin Snyder (09:25)
the most important thing to me in every role that I take on and I learned this when I was leaving my first job that I'd been at for 13 plus years is that the relationships that you build not just with you know the sponsors and and the staff but the board members even like the hotel venue folks that you work with throughout the years at each event that you're doing All of those relationships are so important and that is what I kind of look for the most when I go to start a new job or whatever, like making sure I'm building those relationships and I'm becoming a trusted resource is just so important. And I think that's what I enjoy the most is actually just talking with people. If I can do it in person, even better, but learning about what makes them tick, what they're looking out for.

Erin Snyder (10:15)
even more than just a transaction, right? I don't want to just have an email relationship with somebody that I'm asking for money for, you know? So it's having those connections throughout the year. That's why I really love doing what I do. I get to be, you know, interacting with our partners and our members throughout the year because we have these year-round partnership opportunities. So I think that's probably the most important thing I've learned about myself is just. I've learned how important it is to build those relationships and maintain them because it comes, you know, it comes back in your career when you've been working this long and you know folks at different companies, it helps you out later down the road, hopefully.

Katalina Dawson (10:52)
Yeah. And you, you're a people person and you're delightful. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you yet in person, but I am super looking forward to it. And it has been so easy to e-meet you. mean, both over email, but even more so when you get to see a face, even though it's just, you know, like zoom meetings, but yeah, there, there's so much to it. And there's the saying people do business with people they like. It is so abundantly true.

Erin Snyder (10:56)
No, thank you.

Katalina Dawson (11:19)
And I remember when I went to, it was ACA Fall Forum, which was actually also in Chicago. ⁓ We were talking in groups. They had broken us up into groups during a session and we were talking about things. And this one woman was discussing, ⁓ we were talking about relationships with vendors. And she said, she talks about her kids all the time at work, even with vendors. She talks about her children because they are her pride and joy in her life. And she said,

Erin Snyder (11:25)
Okay.

Katalina Dawson (11:48)
there are some vendors I've worked with that months later, they'll be like, how's your son? And brings up his name or says like something that they remember that the son was going to college or whatever it was. And she's like, those moments make my time working with people because then it doesn't feel like you're just working with a company or something unnamed. It's face to face. It's dealing with people. There's heart to it. And she's like, there's such a difference when

Erin Snyder (11:54)
Yeah.

Katalina Dawson (12:13)
You know, I know I've mentioned my kids or things in my life and I talked to a vendor that I've talked to hundred times and they say my name wrong and they don't remember me and they don't remember my kids. there's so much to the personal aspect of business and just being people together. And you are definitely somebody who embodies that. I can feel it, I can see it. And I love the way you talk about it because you can tell you have that passion for it, which is incredible. So I'm glad you got to.

Erin Snyder (12:29)
Well thanks.

Katalina Dawson (12:43)
travel and discover it even more within yourself the more you work with associations. Because I don't think you can work for an association without being a people person. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Erin Snyder (12:46)
Yeah. No, that is 100 % correct. And I think even more so these days with most people being remote or the majority of staff being remote, because you do want the best people at your company. So being remote is kind of helpful in that challenge. But you miss out on those personal connections you get when you're in office. So I think it takes a little bit more effort to really connect with somebody and hopefully you get the opportunity to do it not just online but hopefully in person at some point which is why I love events ⁓ and traveling for events. But yeah, think having that personal connection and touch point is just so important.

Katalina Dawson (13:24)
Yes, absolutely. Now, as your career has changed, it's gone through so many different parts and pieces, places in the US, is there something about yourself that has stayed the same or that you realize career-wise is just very strong for you? I don't know if I'm explaining this correctly, but yeah.

Erin Snyder (13:52)
Yeah. think for the most part, maybe not starting out, but for the most part, my kind of overall, my attitude and my demeanor hasn't really changed. Like if I ever freak out, you will never see it on my face. I'm pretty unflappable. And I think, you know, the team or teams that I've worked with really appreciate that calm in the storm. And so especially on, you know, especially working in events or even in associations, you know, a lot of stuff comes your way, a lot of stuff you can't plan for comes your way, right? So it's just that being calm, taking things in as as you can, and thinking on your feet. I mean, I like to think I'm a pretty good problem solver. I like to think things through before I answer. So I tend to be very thoughtful, impensive when a challenge is thrown my way. So I don't think that's changed about me. That's pretty much stayed the same my whole life. And that's a personality thing, I think.

Katalina Dawson (14:53)
Yeah, the rolling with the punches. I love it. now based on what you've said before, I was thinking about the fact that, you know, when you first started talking about what you did, your career path from where you started to where you are today, you very clearly are always on the lookout for opportunities and not only that, but you grasp at them. And so how you were saying that you had this pretty persistent personality trait of rolling with the punches and like being able to, think on your feet and keep calm in the storm. Is that the same with searching for opportunities and grasping at opportunities?

Erin Snyder (15:19)
Yeah, I mean, again, it kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier about making those cold calls. You the worst thing you can hear is no or no, thank you. And you move on. So I think I learned when I was moving out west and I was kind of pivoting to a new role, you know, I wasn't I wasn't going to find an association job out there. I needed to kind of look and focus my efforts on something a little bit different, you know, and take parts of my experience and really translate that for any potential employers. And so I was looking for opportunities kind of everywhere. I wasn't just focused on in-person events or virtual events or, other sales jobs. I did kind of look at sales jobs, but I really broadened my reach to see what was out there at first. And then I kind of narrowed it down. And that's how I landed in that opportunity with the virtual events software platform, which is not where I thought I would be because it was such a technical role. But I think I was because I was open to that and I had the events experience, it made sense. And it was kind of an exciting thing to be part of, especially during that time when everyone was hosting virtual events. And that was really our only option. And so just kind of opening yourself up to these other experiences and not pigeonholing yourself into what you think your experience is or what your role should be.

Katalina Dawson (16:50)
I think that's phenomenal advice. Especially, you know, a lot of people talk about the fact that when you go to college, you're 18 when they ask you to pick what do you want to do for the rest of your life. That is a big question. That's a huge decision to make. And I bounced around quite a bit when I was, you know, in college just on what I wanted to do for my major specifically. I started with psychology and then I was like, Well, maybe I don't want to do that. And then I was a film major for a little bit. And then I was like, this doesn't translate to a lot of stuff. There's not a lot of opportunities. And then I switched my major to English because I've always been very passionate about writing and was like, okay, there's a lot of opportunities in copywriting. And it was kind of a time in college where I kind of explored it, but you're also exploring it at a massive expense. So.

Erin Snyder (17:26)
You

Katalina Dawson (17:45)
You're able to kind of within your career path, try different things and learn what you're actually suited for based on your personality, based on skills that you find out you may have. That's fantastic. I wish there was a way that we could do it even earlier, but it's kind of hard. You know, at 18, you still have so much room to change and grow. And there's things that I'm doing today I never.

Erin Snyder (18:04)
Yeah.

Katalina Dawson (18:13)
at would think I would do. I never would have thought I would have a podcast. So that's one thing. So thinking about even your younger self, is there one piece of advice that you could give to young Erin about finding your place at work and professionally and in your

Erin Snyder (18:16)
Yeah. good question. I'd say, you know, again, don't just because of your college major or whatever you chose in the long run, don't, I think don't let that limit you in whatever company you end up with. Hopefully they're amenable to you raising your hand. I would say, you know, don't just feel stuck in the role that you have. See what other team members are working on. If you can volunteer extra time, if they have a huge project coming up and they need some additional help, raise your hand, see where that opportunity lies in another part of the company that may be interesting to you. Or even if it's not that interesting to you, just see what you end up liking and not liking. I think that helped me personally just in my role in my growth in that first job was really, you know, kind of raising my hand or somebody saying, you know, we really, we've had one person managing all of this work. We could use some help and not being afraid to just kind of stay stuck in where you are, right? It's how you grow, you learn by doing. That's how I learned personally. So just making sure that you're always open and people know that you're open to learning other things within that role.

Katalina Dawson (19:47)
Yeah, and it's never too late. That's something that I've always heard, but I feel like I was able to take in more. I recently did an episode with Susan Namm. Are you familiar with her? Have you ever met Susan? At Velocity? If I get a chance, I have to introduce the two of you. You would love her. But Susan Namm is incredible. And she and I did an episode literally talking about it's never.

Erin Snyder (19:52)
Yeah. I'm not, Okay.

Katalina Dawson (20:11)
too late and how, as she has gone through her career, there's times where you feel you might be pigeonholed or that, you can't do something else. And that's not the case. That's not the case. You, can change gears. You can be like, you know what? I've been doing this position in this company for a while and I'm really eager to cross train and start doing something else. Or, in Susan's case, she just recently went back to school and is getting another degree and like just

Erin Snyder (20:22)
Nope Cool.

Katalina Dawson (20:38)
incredible, incredible stuff. And it really hit home when I was doing that episode with her that it's false, that we can't change in our careers as we go. That's part of having a career path is growing, is changing. And it's a path. Once you're on the path, it's not like you can't do anything else. It's not a train track where you're locked in. You make the path and you can always

Katalina Dawson (21:04)
change direction on the path or curve around, do something different. And finding those opportunities, like you said, is huge key to it. Raise your hand. Just be willing. That's huge. It's never too late.

Erin Snyder (21:15)
Yep. I love those memes or tweets or whatever they're called on social media these days. the people who are posting, at 47, I went back to school and became a nurse. At 52, I got married. At 67, I did some other life achievement. It does not matter when you're achieving these things.

Katalina Dawson (21:39)
Yeah!

Erin Snyder (21:42)
If you find out when you're 45 that you want to do something different, take that risk. I mean, I think it's worth it in the end.

Katalina Dawson (21:50)
Absolutely. A couple of ones that came to mind too is I know Oprah didn't become famous till much later in her life. I believe it was John Hamm too that became like one of the most well-known actors in the US at one point. People were like, he was like an acting teacher up until a couple months ago. And then like suddenly he just, yes. And so it's like, you can still do miraculous things. You can still, you know, find your way within your career path and find yourself professionally doing so many different things. Another guest that I just had on recently, Christine, used to be a professional bodybuilder. Now she teaches health and wellness to professionals at a very high level and her passion is about like helping others. And it's just, it's incredible how even within like, like I said, it's like a very similar path, but there's, different, gosh, what is the word? I'm trying to think of like the...

Katalina Dawson (22:43)
two roads diverged in a yellow wood. Like there's different branches of like your path that you can go explore and go figure out, you know, what suits you. And as you change in life, things that used to suit you might not suit you later because I agree with you, Erin, right now I enjoy traveling for work and going to conferences, but I am also not married and do not have children yet, but I very much plan to have children. And I know that when that day comes,

Erin Snyder (22:45)
yeah.

Katalina Dawson (23:12)
I'm probably not going to be eager to be hopping on a plane leaving all the time. So I know that for me, my career path is going to adjust at some point as well. And I'm really excited to see where it goes. So on that note, Erin, where do you see your career path going in the next couple years? I know it's a loaded question. You can absolutely say, I don't know. And we'll find out.

Erin Snyder (23:16)
Yup. gosh I'll say this, I'm excited to be back with NCBA. I did a little bit of work with them in 2020 while I was still gathering my wits about me after moving out west. And I'm excited for all the changes the association has put in place since I worked with them. I think they're in a really good spot. There's tons of opportunity for growth, which is exciting and I'm just kind of thrilled to be part of it on the ride.

Katalina Dawson (24:04)
So you're just rolling with the punches, I love it. That is fantastic. Well also, Erin, that is all the time we have today. I wanna thank you so much for joining me, for sharing about your experience, your past, and your passions. I love that you have a passion for rolling with the punches like we just said, and searching and grasping for opportunities. It is just been great to have you on. Thank you so much.

Erin Snyder (24:06)
Yeah, thank you. I so appreciate the conversation. This was fun.

Katalina Dawson (24:31)
Awesome, I'm so glad to hear it's fun. And to our listeners, if you have any questions, comments, or even topics that you would like to see us cover on future episodes, please leave them in the comments below. We will always try our best to get to all of them, but we'll see you in the next episode. Thanks so much, bye.