Yasmin (Yas) Marrero is the director of student sales and design for Campus Ink, a role she’s had since 2020. What stands out about that is not necessarily the infamous year, but rather, the fact that she came into it at the young age of 23. But to really tell the story, you have to rewind a few years to 2016, where she first worked for the company as a student design and sales manager while attending the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

By her senior year, she was named general manager of the design and sales program on campus and even managed a team. While she didn’t work with Campus Ink right off the bat out of college in 2019 (she first worked at Overture Promotions), she quickly found herself back there. Only a few short years later, Yas reflects on what it’s like being a young female in the industry and how the challenges that come with that have shaped her up to now.

The Concept of “Inexperience”

“My first few years were challenging in the sense that customers want experienced people to work with them,” Yas says. The concept of “inexperience” coupled with gender assumptions can be quite the hurdle to overcome. “I found it a challenge to convince male-dominated management, coworkers, and customers that even though I was young, less experienced than most, and a woman, I would be able to take care of the job,” she says.

But that hasn’t stopped her from continuing to push. In fact, Yas currently manages the student sales and design program, its curriculum, and the student accounts for Campus Ink. If numbers are your thing, she personally manages about 50 college students and over $1 million a year in sales. If that isn’t enough, she also works on creative account and project management, proving that youth and gender won’t stop her from achieving success.

“I like to think I am a mover and shaker in my role and in the industry because of the exposure I have had in this mainly older/male space,” Yas notes. “I have ideas, and I’m being given a platform to share them, which is amazing.”

While her strong work ethic has played a role in her career thus far, she also attributes her mentors as influential. The beautiful thing about that is, many of them are male. “My mentors — all men — are the example,” Yas says. Steven Farag, co-owner of Campus Ink; Dave Robbins, VP of sales at Overture Promotions; and Jedd Swisher, co-owner of Campus Ink, have all helped her grow. “I can only hope for women who have roles in male-dominated industries to have leaders like Steven, Dave, and Jedd while … making their way up the ladder. It is so important in the workplace for women to have people in higher positions who genuinely value and support you and your work.”

Gaining Confidence

One of the challenges that comes with being a young woman in any industry is the confidence, or the building of confidence, rather. “A challenge I had along the way was just gaining the confidence to hold my own,” Yas says of her experience. “I am really good at what I do, and I feel that it took me a while to realize it. I doubted myself, had a lot of uncertainty if I was doing things correctly.”

But even that comes with growth, time, and learning new things both about yourself and your career path. Yas states that for her, one day everything just clicked. “You fail enough. You realize when you say or do something, ‘X’ reaction occurs, and you maneuver around it next time. And you keep hitting those roadblocks. But then you get to a point where you are so good at getting around those blocks. And that’s just time plus experience (failure).”

And from that lesson, she hopes to inspire other women just making their leap into the professional world. “Learn as much as you can from the people and experts around you,” Yas advises. “Ask questions when things don’t make sense. Make comments when you have something to say. The best way to educate is to jump off the deep end. We learn by trying.”

Luckily, there are so many other women out there who have been through it and are happy to help others along their journey. In the promotional products and apparel decorating communities, this has been a growing trend in the past few years. “I am seeing more women than ever. We want to help each other,” Yas says. “It’s really awe-inspiring to be a part of that movement.”

That also leads to her other piece of advice: relationships are everything. “People like to buy from people,” Yas points out. “If you can be ‘that person’ for each unique customer you come in contact with, 80% of your job is done. Be a person first. Have a purpose.”

If anything, Yas feels, don’t let youth and inexperience stop you. Instead, embrace growth and education. And do so with confidence. “We don’t know everything, and we most likely never will, so never stop being a student in your career and in life,” she says.