People of Pluralsight: Meet Bailey Dunlap

Welcome to the sixth edition of the People of Pluralsight series. This series spotlights our team members—the people who make the difference—and showcases their diverse talents, experiences, and stories.?

In this edition, we’re excited to introduce you to Bailey Dunlap, current SMB Account Executive and future Solutions Consultant.?

Bailey Dunlap first joined Pluralsight as a corporate recruiter. A connection sparked her interest in Pluralsight after sharing a bit about the culture and product, but it was the conversation with her previous leader, Dani Foust, that really sealed the deal.?

During her time as a recruiter, Dani was a big influence in helping Bailey begin her journey to finding balance as a working mom. At the time, Bailey was a new mom to her first son, and Dani helped her understand there’s no perfect 50/50 balance of work and life. She taught her that the key to finding balance is to understand where you’re most needed in each moment and focus your energy there.?

After having her second son, Bailey decided to leave her recruiting job at Pluralsight to focus on her two boys. Although this was a difficult decision, she knew it was the right one for her, and her leaders were extremely supportive. Once she was ready to return to work, she knew the obvious choice was to look for another opportunity at Pluralsight. Instead of returning as a recruiter, Bailey decided to tap into her previous experience and passion to look for a position in sales.

She landed a Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMB) Account Executive position and now spends much of her day consulting with customers, understanding their challenges and helping them strategize to build plans for employee learning and career growth. Although Bailey had previous experience working in sales, she’s grown more at Pluralsight than in any other role:

“I don’t think I’ve ever grown as much as I have in the last couple of years working at Pluralsight. Working here has challenged me in ways that are very healthy for me, while also teaching me that I don’t have to constantly challenge myself. I’ve learned a ton about how to prioritize, how to balance work and life and even myself—not just as a mom but as a human. And I’ve learned how to handle ups and downs and have a little bit more resilience as well.”?

Bailey credits the Revenue Enablement Team, her leaders, and her team for her professional growth. Each week her team engages in a Top Gun (like the movie) training focused on perfecting their skills in a variety of areas. The most recent training asked the team to focus on excellence across their value selling process, including the development of deal strategy plans.?

Deal strategy plans look at every side of a deal to figure out the gaps and gain a strong understanding of the opportunity. Bailey presented her deal strategy plans as often as she could to her team so she could receive feedback and continue honing her sales skills. At the end of the quarter, her team awarded her The Mama Goose award (named after her Top Gun call sign) for her focus on continuous growth and learning.?

Because of her team’s focus on growth, she’s also constantly working with new people due to team members being promoted out of and into her team. In fact, Bailey recently applied to and accepted a new role as a Presales Solution Consultant to continue her growth at Pluralsight and will start this new role at the beginning of November.

In addition to growth within her sales role, Bailey has continued to learn a lot about balancing work and life as a working parent. Her advice to anyone returning to work after a career break? Take a deep breath and reassure yourself you’ll get through the challenging days. Be flexible, set boundaries, and stay in constant communication with your leader.?

“The more you talk about your concerns with your leader, the less stressed you will be and the more you can partner together to find solutions.”

Some Pluralsight-specific benefits that have helped her find balance are Summer Fridays and unlimited PTO. Summer Fridays allow team members to take five Fridays off during the summer months in their region. Bailey used some of these days to spend time with her kids and others to relax and take care of herself. With unlimited PTO, she also feels supported to take the time she needs to be with family or take vacations.

Given Bailey’s focus on continuous growth and pursuit of balance, we’re appointing her the title of Work-Life Wizard.?

Bailey and her husband live in a suburb of Dallas with her two boys (three and a half and one and a half years old), who often make their house feel like a nonstop WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) match. When she’s not refereeing wrestling matches, she loves to read and recently got into video gaming. She can’t pick a favorite book that she’s read this year, but she really enjoyed “Mistborn” by Brandon Sanderson and “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig. The video game she loves at the moment is “Deep Rock Galactic Survivor.” In her words, the game is “Bailey-proof,” since she needs to use only the joystick on the controller to play.?

Here are some other fun facts about Bailey:

Favorite thing about working at Pluralsight:

• The people. She’s worked at a lot of different companies, but there’s something special about the people at Pluralsight.?

What she’s most proud of accomplishing at Pluralsight:

• The Connections Committee that she started with another co-worker in the Talent organization. They started this committee during an uncertain time, and it allowed people to build deeper connections and feel known and seen within the larger team.?

Her favorite culture pillar:

• Always learning. This is something she’s passionate about in her own life and she’s grateful to work with others who are just as passionate about growth and development.

The people who have made the difference for her at Pluralsight:

She could give a list of 40 people, but she’ll just mention a few.

• Dani Foust completely redefined her approach to work and how she views it.
• Danielle Balagula is still one of her best friends, and she challenges her in a way that’s helpful and necessary while also encouraging her.
• Dylan O'Neill , her current leader, is so encouraging and has been willing to listen and adapt to how she needs to receive encouragement.?
• Eliza Peters was her Solutions Consultant, and she took Bailey by the hand to help her be more consultative in her customer interactions and adapt her process to meet different customers’ needs.
• Michael Sharp really cares about each rep on his team. He’s encouraged Bailey and was especially helpful when she was having a rough quarter. Knowing that he cared about her and saw her value helped her feel a strong sense of worth.?

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