March 21, 2025- Leadership journeys rarely move in a straight line from A to B. There are many stops along the way, especially when you start out in an entry level position. Every day brings a new lesson, and some of those lessons may be harder to learn than others. But there’s also a new opportunity each day – you just have to be willing to look for it.
Shannon Trahan is no stranger to looking for opportunities. As the director of sales – south region for CME, she knows exactly what a multi-stop leadership journey looks like because that’s what her career looks like. Repertoire Magazine recently spoke to Trahan about her path from customer service to director of sales, the impact of PWH on her career, and what it takes to lead a team of high-performing professionals.
Early career ventures
Trahan has been in the healthcare industry for 27 years – wanting to get her foot in the door of the healthcare industry, she started working in customer service for Optimal, a healthcare supply chain services company. Over the first 16 years of her career, she worked in customer service, operations, as a database manager, and in national accounts.
While doing some consulting work for Professional Women in Healthcare (PWH), she attended a networking event where she had a conversation with Cindy Juhas about taking the next step in her career. Cindy extended an offer for Trahan to work remotely as an inside sales/marketing representative. “I highly respect Cindy and value the leadership skills and mentorship that she’s provided,” Trahan said. “Of course, knowing how well-respected Cindy is in the industry, I was thrilled to have an opportunity to work for her and knew it was going to be a pivotal moment in my career.”
Continue Reading in the latest issue of Repertoire Magazine.