Career Path of a Senior Territory Manager at iRhythm Technologies

I majored in political science and business at the University of Arizona. My dad was adamant that every summer I have some sort of job or internship. I was in college and had no idea what I wanted to do. I thought maybe law school would be the route.

At the time, my dad was running a medical device company in San Jose, California. He told me I needed an internship and a job. He gave me contacts of some of his colleagues, and I reached out to the marketing manager and the in-house lawyer who was in charge of intellectual property. I interviewed, and that's how I landed my first medical device internship after my freshman year.

I returned to the company, which was a spine company, and interned again. This time, I focused more on marketing because I realized intellectual property wasn't for me. It involved a lot of filing and paperwork, and I had more fun with marketing, working on projects, interfacing with the sales team, and creating marketing collateral.

My dad also exposed me to the medical device world. He let me attend a cadaver training, where doctors and PAs practice on a donated body to get used to a procedure before using it on patients. I also attended networking events for medical devices. After those two summers, I was hooked.

I loved working with the sales team, in healthcare, and with the human body. So, my third summer, I aggressively applied for medical device internships in the Bay Area, starting in January before school let out. I landed an internship with an ear, nose, and throat company that focused on sleep apnea, within their marketing team as a marketing coordinator.

While I was having these internships, I also built a LinkedIn profile. I added anyone I came into contact with, being adamant about staying in touch. I would ask if I could stay in touch, as I would be looking for a job in about a year.

After completing that internship, my last summer I interned with an aesthetics medical device company, CoolSculpting, now owned by Allergan. At the time, it was Zeltiq, and I interned in two departments: marketing and sales training. I fell in love with sales training.

I found it so fun creating training materials, working with the sales team, and collaborating at events. From there, I knew I had a strong interest in sales and training, and working in an aspect that supported sales. After graduating, I started the job hunt, which was definitely brutal.