RVWA Spotlight: Introducing Alyssa Cox of Forest River Inc.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Several times a month RVBusiness will post an “RVWA Spotlight,” which will highlight a member of the RV Women’s Alliance (RVWA) in each instance. Provided by RVWA, the member spotlight series interviews many of the women who make up the RV industry, highlighting how they got into the industry, what they currently do, and advice for other women. The series also dives deeper to better understand these women and what drives them.

If career change presents itself, don’t be afraid to be a trailblazer.

When a company prides itself in being “the quiet company”, it might be hard to imagine making a go of it as a marketer for that company.

But Alyssa Cox was confident enough in her own abilities and intrigued by the change of career paths that she made the jump

Cox said she had been in marketing with a local marine dealership before hearing about an opening at Forest River.

Before a wave of hires about three years ago, digital marketing and social media had not been a focus for her division, yet. Before, the sales team had taken care of any of those job. Cox was going to be something of a pathfinder if she took the job.

“I took the leap of faith and now here I am. It’s been three years now,” she said.

Cox now works with Don Gunden’s group that includes Rockwood, Flagstaff, Puma, Palomino, Columbus and River Ranch.

Cox said the chance to get in on the ground floor of the marketing effort especially appealed to her because she loves the opportunity to grow.

“Obviously marketing has come a long way here in the past three years,” she said. “Pretty much all of Forest River came out of nowhere with their digital marketing efforts. There’s a lot of people now who are helping on the digital forefront of the industry which is making a huge impact. Every day is different here. No day that we come into the office is exactly the same and that’s kind of what I need to thrive.”

In addition to her career growth, Cox said she also is excited to see the number of women who are joining the industry and she commends the companies within the industry for recognizing the value of women in leadership roles.

She said she just recently completed a Dale Carnegie class that was meant to help her grow professionally, but she found the coursework to be very personal, as well.

“It helps me on both forefronts, so I think that investment on behalf of their employees is something that could be exciting for anybody to get started in the industry,” she said. “The ability to keep growing within the industry – all the available avenues and positions that are opening throughout the company, new things coming about – that’s all really exciting for us.”

She said that type of offering is typical of the kind of interest Forest River shows in helping its employees better themselves.

“The opportunity is endless,” Cox said. “Forest River does a great job of investing in their employees both personally and professionally.”

When it comes to career advice for women?

“Be true to yourself no matter what,” Cox said.” I think that’s one of the biggest things for women in the RV industry. Stand tall, put a smile on and win every single day. That’s the biggest thing for me.”

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/rvwa-spotlight-introducing-alyssa-cox-of-forest-river-inc/