Meg Hewitt

Name: Meg Hewitt

Years as a Camper: 6 summers

Years as a Staff Member/Positions held: Counselor, Butterfly Unit Leader, Trainee Director, Admin Staff

Current Profession and Title/Years in role: Strategic Account Executive, Retail at Salesforce (since Sept 2021), Sales RVP at Salesforce prior to getting back into sales.

Can you provide a brief overview of your job responsibilities? I work with luxury retail customers in New York City and spend my time having strategic conversations helping them improve their customers' experiences and grow their businesses.

How do the values or skills you learned at Camp show up in your everyday work and/or personal life? Leading people at Camp and being responsible for others at a young age definitely seeped into how I got into sales, sales leadership, and sales training. It was my job as a sales leader to teach, mentor, gain skills, and make people successful, and that’s what you do as a camp counselor. It’s amazing how much I contribute my professional success to my experiences at Camp Kanata. When I became a counselor, I was aware of how responsible I was for our campers, their well-being and you had to listen intently, be aware and empathetic so they could have fun and build relationships with others in a safe environment. So much of that is so applicable to being a successful sales leader. Sales is so heavily rooted in trust, communication, advising, cooperation, and negotiation. I got experience with those skills at a young age and was able to grow comfortable with them.

I learned early in my sales career how many new sellers get thrown in the deep in without training, which leaves new hires in the uncomfortable position to quickly sink or swim. I became passionate about helping and co-founded the sales training program at a previous company so they had a true sales education and one-on-one guidance on how to be effective at their jobs. I got really into sales methodologies and found a cool tie with psychology and the empathetic side of sales. That program was my jump back into leadership, which I so enjoyed while at Camp Kanata.

Is there a person that had a huge influence on you while you were at Camp? How and why did they/it impact you? I’ve kept in touch with a handful of my most influential counselors but the first person who comes to mind is Cara Harrison, my counselor in Cabin 2 as a Butterfly. We reconnected as adults and she became my hairdresser when I moved back to North Carolina during COVID. I got married recently and she was by my side, smiling and crying with me all morning doing my hair for this special day. It was a full circle moment: she was someone that I looked up to as a young woman and then she was there with me on my wedding day.  

What personal and professional advice would you like to share with the Kanata community? For campers, be bold, be yourself, have fun, and get dirty. Meet as many people as you can at Camp. Some of my favorite people in my life are people I met at Camp. Dance, have fun, let loose. Be the person you don’t feel like you can be anywhere else.

For counselors, remember how much influence you have on campers’ lives. Listen closely, give them your undivided attention, make them feel really special, don’t play favorites, and acknowledge their accomplishments. Show campers how to have fun, if they see you doing it they are so much more comfortable doing it too. If you can be genuine, kind, and vulnerable with your campers it will really change their lives.

Favorite Camp song: Ain’t No Mountain High Enough  

Do you have a hidden talent? I can squirt water out of my eyes :) I learned this early in my life when I held my nose underwater and opened my eyes, bubbles came out!

What three words best describe you? Empathetic, energetic, kind.

What profession other than your own would you like to try? I would love to start a camp-like experience for health, wellness, and art for all ages. Running a company filled with all my passions!

What would you eat if you could only have one food for the rest of your life? ICE CREAM!