Building a Sales Career Through Authentic Relationships with Rebekah Panepinto | Ep055

Episode Information Show Notes What happens when a drummer who played for 10,000 people realizes the music business won’t pay the bills? Rebekah Panepinto shares her unconventional journey from Nashville musician to successful Account Executive, proving that your next career move might come from the least expected place. This conversation goes deep on how relationships trump resumes, why being visible matters more than being perfect, and how asking better questions opens doors you didn’t know existed. Guest BackgroundRebekah Panepinto is an Account Executive and podcast host who has built her sales career by prioritizing authentic relationships over transactions. After pursuing music as a drummer for Grammy-nominated artists, she pivoted to tech sales where she discovered her talent for building partnerships. Her journey from healthcare IT to global software consulting shows how following trusted relationships creates better outcomes than chasing job titles. Episode HighlightsThe Pivot MomentRebekah earned just $150 playing drums for 10,000 people while getting paid more per day as a nanny. That moment at 21 forced her to Google “best jobs in Nashville” and discover healthcare IT—launching an unexpected career path. Zero to Sales HeroWithout any sales experience, Rebekah got recruited by a bandmate who saw intangibles in her that she didn’t see herself. He taught her the fundamentals while she brought natural relationship-building skills that can’t be taught. Female Drummer AdvantageBeing a female drummer in a male-dominated music industry prepared Rebekah for tech sales in ways she never expected. It taught her to believe she could do anything and to never back down from male-dominated spaces. The Everyone’s-a-Prospect TrapEarly in her sales career, Rebekah believed everyone on every flight and elevator was a potential customer. Learning to properly qualify prospects saved companies from bleeding money on bad-fit customers. Podcasting Beats NetworkingTraditional networking events create forgettable exchanges. Podcasting builds authentic relationships where people share vulnerable moments and create lasting connections. Continuous Learning PhilosophyGrowing up homeschooled taught Rebekah how to love learning as a lifelong journey. Now she dedicates an hour every morning to podcasts and audiobooks, absorbing insights from business leaders while working out. Key Takeaways1. Follow relationships, not job descriptions. Every one of Rebekah’s career moves came through trusted connections2. Personal branding is non-negotiable. Being visible and consistent makes you memorable when opportunities arise3. Quality relationships beat transactional wins. Nobody should dread your outreach because you only call for the check4. Learn from everything. Even finance podcasts teach you about newsletter strategies and content creation5. Going all-in creates mastery. Whether it’s scuba diving or sales, full commitment accelerates learning Resources Mentioned– Tom Bilyeu’s Impact Theory Podcast– Ramit Sethi’s Money for Couples– Antifragile by Nassim Taleb Listen to the full episode to hear how Rebekah builds multi-channel touchpoints with prospects, why she’d choose relationship quality over quota-hitting, and what she learned from being capped at her first sales job. Released: January 13, 2026 Subscribe to Career Downloads for weekly conversations with tech professionals sharing their career journeys. TranscriptManuel Martinez: Welcome everyone, my name is Manuel Martinez, and this is another episode of Career Downloads, where each episode I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about their background and their experiences, to help you uncover any actionable advice that you can use as you’re managing your own career. So I’m excited for today’s episode. I have with me Rebecca Panepinto, and she is she’s an account executive, and she does a lot of, she also has her own podcast, she’s a drummer, so there’s a lot of information there that I think, it’s not just focused just on her career, but a lot of the skill sets that she has developed outside. Talked about it in a couple other episodes, some of those transferable skills. So I think this is gonna be a really good one to kind of, for those people who are like, well, I don’t wanna be just career oriented, I think she gives us a good mix of kind of both realms. So with that, I’ll go ahead and introduce Rebekah. Rebeka: Yes, thanks for having me. Manuel Martinez: I’m glad you were able to kind of make it, being from New York, right? Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, it’s like, hey, I’m gonna be in Vegas, let’s do a show. Manuel Martinez: That’s awesome. Rebekah Panepinto: Excited, I’ll have you on the show here soon too, but it will be virtual, not in person, not as exciting. It’ll be fun. Yeah, we met through just LinkedIn. I saw what you were doing with your show, and I said, hey, I wanna know you, and understand how you’re doing this, the impact you’re making, and learn a little bit more. So here we are now. Manuel Martinez: Yeah, I like it. And I’m glad you did reach out, because again, I saw that you had a podcast, and kind of what you were doing, so it wasn’t so much career focused, but more around digital transformation, and the different people that you have on. So I have watched a couple of those episodes, and I got some good insights from just, I like hearing how different people think, and then also, I think you do a really good job of kind of asking those good questions, right? And then you got a lot more episodes than I do, but that’s a skill that is helpful not only here, but just in general, just being able to ask better questions, you get better answers. Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, and just building relationships. There’s something about this that builds a relationship that’s truly authentic, and almost experiential, and like a moment that is shared together, versus just like bumping each other and networking event, you know? And like you quickly forget somebody’s name, or where they’re from. But the way you can build a relationship through podcasting is just a game changer, especially when you’re a salesperson. I’ve always tried to be a salesperson who is not seen as just somebody coming after the next sale, but instead more of a trusted advisor and somebody who wants to build relationships for the long haul, and have a repeat customer when the CIO goes to another company, et cetera. And so by having a conversation, even though typically mine are virtual, you’re able to open really cool doors and get people in a really good place where they feel comfortable to share their career, their advice, their principles, whatever it may be, to be able to be really vulnerable, so. Manuel Martinez: So can you tell me a little bit more about kind of where you grew up, and then eventually what got your career started? You know, what kind of go from there? Rebekah Panepinto: Oh, it’s been an adventure. So I was actually one of those weird homeschool kids, was born in Phoenix, and started college at 16. And so that had me finishing my undergrad at 19, which is a really weird stage in life to be basically like, what do you wanna do for the rest of your life? Because you don’t have a clue at 19. But that was the place I was in. I was like, well, I guess I’ll just get a business degree. And back in the back of my head, as you mentioned earlier, my drumming, is I wanted to be a big drum star. So Nashville was calling my name. So I took off halfway across the country, actually be a live in nanny to start. It got me to Nashville, and I was able to finish my undergrad online while working in the music business on the side, and actually providing for myself through being a nanny, because that’s a pretty good gig in the Nashville area, if you have the right family. And so big drum star was the dream at first. I spent two years, so age 19 to 21, going pretty hard after music. Until 21, I played a show for 10,000 people, and I got paid $150, and that was it. I was like, music business is not gonna happen for me. I love it, great opportunity. I remember I was signing autographs till 2 a.m. that night, just like this is it, and then had to go get in the car, drive through the night to wake up a nanny the next day to get paid more per day as a nanny than that gig even paid. And the craziest part, even that gig, the people I was playing with had paid for the spot, and it was just like, it was insane to see the reality of this is not gonna be financially feasible at all, especially as just the drummer. But hey, I got to feel like a rock star, I got to taste it, and it was fun. Artist I’d played for was Grammy nominated, and it opened some cool doors. It was really fun. I still have some YouTube videos out there somewhere. But I woke up that next day, here 21, just finished my undergrad. I was like, I gotta do something else. This is not it, and I’m not gonna be a nanny for the rest of my life. And so I kid you not, I Googled best jobs in Nashville, Tennessee, and it was healthcare IT. I was like, okay, I think that’s an answer. HCA, number one employer in Nashville, I was like, I guess I should go work for HCA, like the overconfident 21 year old I was. And I applied for a paid internship at HCA, and I got it, I was shocked. Well, here’s the funniest part of it all. The guy who hired me, his son was a drummer. He and his son had been doing drum covers in their little home studio they have similar to yours, and had offered through the interview process even, I wasn’t even hired yet, if I ever wanted to come record, like he had a studio, his son wasn’t really doing it much anymore, and he loved it, like help...