that's when i knew
THE PODCAST
MEET THE HOST || Robert Crayton III
Robert comes from humble beginnings. Growing up in poverty stricken neighborhoods of East Oakland to a single mother the cards have been stacked against him from the jump. Robert realized this early on and rather than see his mother struggle to pay the bills, he picked up his first job at the age of 14 selling newspaper subscriptions to homes across the Bay Area.
Living in a city where many young boys of color lack the appropriate guidance, Robert was fortunate to come from a family that valued education. After graduating high school he attended SJSU where he graduated with a degree in Sociology and Business Administration. Post SJSU, Robert spent the first 3 years of his professional career working as sales consultant for the nation's largest residential solar company, Sunrun. It’s at this point Robert discovered his skill and passion for sales.
After a few years in the solar industry, Robert decided to pursue a career in Tech sales. Robert entered the tech field as a BDR in 2017 and has held several revenue generating roles since. After being in the tech industry for three months, Robert quickly saw how the cards that he had been dealt began to impact him professionally; he’d see inequities when it came to hiring, promotions, pay, and other critical decisions, Not only did he experiences these inequities first-hand he consistently saw them happening with other professionals from marginalized groups. On the flip side, Robert was in a profession that afforded him the ability to earn a meaningful income, despite the pay disparity between himself and peers from other backgrounds; he began to question why there weren’t others from his community pursuing careers in tech.
This is what lead Robert to creating That’s When I Knew, the Podcast. On That’s When I Knew the podcast, Robert seeks to use the stories or business professionals to inspire and educate up and coming professionals who may be interested or are in the early stages of pursuing a path into technology sales.
