In recognition of International Women’s Day, NEP is celebrating women’s achievements in broadcast and live events all month long. Over the years, we have seen a rising movement of women taking on more roles in these industries and there are amazing professional opportunities and career paths for women. Today, we highlight Stephanie DeMoss, SVP of Global Sales Operations for NEP and Leigth Mitcheltree, Director of Business Operations for NEP Sweetwater.  We hope their stories will inspire more women to consider a career in broadcasting and live events. If you or someone you know is interested in applying to NEP, make sure to visit https://www.nepgroup.com/career/careers#openings to view all of our current openings.

‍About Steph

Stephanie (Steph) DeMoss is the SVP of Global Sales Operations for NEP, a new group dedicated to improving our global sales processes, systems, resources and support for our sales teams. Steph started with NEP over 15 years ago, growing with the company as we expanded our services and the geographies we do business in. During her time at NEP, Steph has supported the U.S. market in a number of roles, including as part of project services, operations, account management and the sales management team. In the last few years, she helped develop more efficient processes now used by the U.S. Sales team, started a sales training program and was a key member of NEP’s global sales team. Throughout her career she has built strong client relationships managing all types of accounts both in the U.S. and globally.  

As a result of her hard work and dedication in sports broadcasting, Steph has received two Sports Emmy Awards; a George Wensel Tech Achievement Award for the support of CBS’s 3D production at the U.S Tennis Open and a Technical Team Remote Award for support of ESPN NASCAR.

Steph’s story is a great example of how an employee’s career can progress at NEP.

What sparked your interest in the industry?

I was brought in by a former boss from a previous job. She had been at NEP for a few years, and she would talk about all of the amazing projects that the company was working on. It just all sounded so cool, I thought she had the most interesting job of anyone I knew. When a position opened as her counterpart in the Golf Channel department, she recommended me and that was the beginning of my career here.

Tell us about your role at NEP?

The Office of the COO is a new team in the organization, so right now I’m building up & putting structure around a plan that will enable the sales teams to sell more. We’re going to do that by bringing together sales teams across Broadcast & Live Events to collaborate on cross-selling opportunities & a strategy for growth around key accounts; we’re identifying & solving for sales process efficiencies; we’re working closely with marketing to make sure we have high quality, consistent, accessible sales materials & messaging so that we’re aligned across all of the business units; and will be putting together sales & product training curriculum so that the sales teams are educated & can sell confidently. All of this should increase sales & elevate the customer experience.  

What do you consider to be the most significant achievement(s) of your career so far?

I’m going to answer a different question, I hope that’s ok! What I’ve seen in the past year, which has been the most difficult that most of us have lived through, is an amazing group of people who have supported each other in a common goal to not only keep things going, but to get better at it. Every bit of our business has been impacted, and everyone’s personal life has been impacted, but there’s still a deep company-wide optimism that we will come out of this better – and I truly believe it. No one has stopped working towards that goal no matter how difficult it’s been. This is literally everyone in the company. When teams of people come together like we have, I think it progresses us forward socially by years, it makes us a stronger team. So not my achievement, but our NEP community’s achievement and it makes me incredibly proud to work here alongside this team.

Can you see any signs that the historical gender imbalance in the industry may be starting to shift?

I’ve seen progress since I started 15 years ago, and the focus and commitment in the last few years across the industry has grown.  Certain behavior is just no longer acceptable, and there’s a confidence to speak up against it because there’s more support than ever before. The culture of inclusion has become a priority for our clients as well.  You see more women with seats at the table, whether it’s in a control room, at industry events or in meetings.

What is your advice for women who are looking to get into the industry?

Don’t be intimidated by the imbalance of women in the industry, it’s a great group of people that we work with.  If you work hard, and with confidence and treat people well, then you’ll have many opportunities to grow.

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About Leigth  

Leigth Mitcheltree is the Director of Business Operations for NEP Sweetwater, an NEP Live Events company located in Los Angeles. She was born and raised in southern California and is a graduate of UCLA with a Bachelors in English Literature and a minor in Communications. Before coming to Sweetwater in 2007, Leigth worked at Paramount and a private production company. She first started at Sweetwater as a scheduling coordinator. After moving into project management, she then picked up some account management duties and began managing operations for Sweetwater’s operations team. In her current role, Leigth oversees daily operations and business-related decisions.

What do you consider to be the most significant achievement(s) of your career so far?  

The longevity of staying with a company for 15 years and being able to change roles 4-5 times while continuing to grow with the organization is pretty staggering, actually!  

Can you see any signs that the historical gender imbalance in the industry may be starting to shift?  

While the actual numbers of women in the industry might not be even yet, there is absolutely more acceptance and appropriate treatment of & toward women taking place, which hopefully will make more women comfortable in this environment and eventually balance those numbers.  

What is your advice for women who are looking to get into the industry?  

Network with other women. There is a strong tendency to bond together when you’re one of just a few ladies on an event/in a space and using that bond to help each other grow is much more productive than being territorial.

Read other stories in our series:  

https://www.nepgroup.com/post/celebrating-international-womens-day-deb-honkus  

https://www.ct-group.com/us/news/creative-technology/creative-technology-celebrate-women-in-av-worldwide/

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