Tales from Sales: Stephanie Sakay

Stephanie Sakay lives in Texas, where the Los Angeles native was interviewed about her work as a Specification Sales Consultant for Alcon lighting. Stephanie discussed how her previous role in customer service and her literary studies in college inform her approach to lighting consultation, including active listening and clear and assertive communication.

The lighting industry professional also recalls the unique advantages of working at the family-owned and operated company based in LA. Stephanie’s story is one of thoughtful growth: from studying Shakespeare at UC Riverside to navigating the curveballs of daily sales with poise. She doesn’t shy away from the unknown—instead, she meets it head-on, finding meaning in the unpredictability of each workday. Whether it’s helping a frantic designer find calm or guiding an electrician through a mid-project pivot, Stephanie listens first, leads with honesty and always stands shoulder-to-shoulder with her clients.

Reflecting on her years of service and entrepreneurialism, Stephanie savors the relationship with each customer and Alcon Lighting team member, where she’s spent years building not just business relationships, but bonds rooted in trust and understanding.

Question: What’s your favorite part of coming to work every day?

Stephanie: My favorite part of coming to work every day is just [facing] the uncertainty of the day, knowing I will get through it. Every day at Alcon Lighting, I’m presented with a curveball. Sometimes that’s super challenging. I think what’s most exciting about the day is knowing that the uncertainty can be rewarding.

Question: Did you have a challenge like that today?

Stephanie: No. I’m also grateful for days when there is certainty.

Question: What happened today that either went wrong and you’ll learn from, or that went wrong and you handled well?

Stephanie: I received a call from a client who was frantic about needing something right away. The customer needed to show [progress to] their contractor, and even though I told her that I might not get her the answer she wants this minute, I told her I was going to see what I can do. I will get her an answer once I find out. This gave her perspective and just brought her down from panic. We’ll see what happens once I get more information and call her. In that moment when I was able to bring down her stress level during that conversation, that was rewarding.

Question: How did you do that?

Stephanie: Mirroring the caller where they’re at. I’m not a robot or a therapist [who] can immediately calm them down. Sometimes their tone makes me want to panic. It’s just a human to human thing; you kind of match the emotions of who you’re talking with, so I told her, ‘I’m in this situation, too—let me see what I can do.’ When the customer hears that you’re human and you’re on that rollercoaster with them, it gives them empathy for what I’m trying to do for them.

Question: You majored in English in college, did studying English make a difference in your approach to your work as a lighting sales consultant?

Stephanie: Yes. I double majored in English and political science. Majoring in English has helped me a lot in my career, even for [a task] as simple as writing an email. There’s not much precedence for email etiquette in the lighting industry—everyone speaks in shorthand—so I take pride in [the ability to] pause and efficiently articulate or explain something without confusing or leaving out information. I think my background helps me communicate with clients. I loved studying English at the University of California at Riverside. I learned about reading and analyzing [literature], and I was curious about creative writing—so I read Shakespeare and classical literature.

Question: Did you have a favorite author in college?

Stephanie: I read Shakespeare and it was so different—I was out of my element—and [his] fiction was exciting—it felt like such a privilege to be studying Shakespeare in college, both tragedies and comedies, though the tragedies are best.

Question: Do you have a favorite?

Stephanie: Othello. Romeo and Juliet—Lady Macbeth is my favorite character, well, one of my favorite characters, so also Macbeth.

Question: Who’s your favorite author now?

Stephanie: My favorite author right now is Patrick Radden Keefe, who wrote Empire of Pain, about the Sackler family. I’ve been really into investigative journalism and unveiling big things. When I was younger, I read more fiction—back then, it was Haruki Murakami. I just remember loving the magical realism. He puts you in this different world. It’s fun to get lost. As I get older, I realize reality is not that bad, and so now I’m into reading investigative journalism.

Question: Is your favorite genre of literature investigative or detective writing?

Stephanie: Yes. I like seeing big companies get taken down. The last book I read is called The Radium Girls, and it’s about this company using radium to paint the dials of watches for the war—that’s when they didn’t know Radium was so bad—and all these girls start getting sick in Ottawa, Illinois. It unraveled this huge scandal, so I think it’s the taking down of these big companies that make a profit from the suffering of others.

Question: What’s your favorite type of lighting?

Stephanie: Ring or circular chandeliers—or pendant lighting. If you think about a ring chandelier or a ring pendant, it’s a simple, circular design.

Question: What makes working at Alcon Lighting different?

Stephanie: This is a family-owned company. We’re not huge. It’s close-knit. I know everyone. I talk to them every day, though I work remotely.

Question: How does Alcon Lighting maintain that for its remote workers?

Stephanie: I think we avoid that by having [regular] dialogues and company gatherings. Our company culture was kept alive by [social] gathering. Then, came holiday parties which were super fun. Because our team is more spread out [across America], sometimes it’s harder to get everyone in the same time zone on the same night but there’s a lot of fun in our company—through our unique personalities. Also, since it’s a family-owned business, we’re closer. For example, for a Christmas party [at a bowling alley], one of our colleagues brought their mom because they were an amazing bowler and we had our Christmas party bowling league—how cool is that?—so we get to know a deeper part of people we work with for hours of the day.

Question: What is the most consistent customer compliment you get?

Stephanie: People thank me for being frank. Maybe an order didn’t ship on time, or something went wrong with production that caused a delay. I strive for conversation to be honest, though I know it might not be something the customer wants to hear. Like I said before, when the customer knows we’re on the same team tackling the problem—and that [the situation is sometimes] out of my [control]—they know I’m trying to do the best I can with what I have.

Question: Are you direct with your customers?

Stephanie: That’s right. That’s what happened on a call today. Sometimes, people have charged emotions, and so sometimes I’ll just tell them ‘this is what’s happening and these are the options we have.’ I won’t just drag them along when I know like what’s real and what’s going to happen—versus what they wanna hear—so I think it might be in every salesperson just to know how to lay the [facts out]. After so many years of doing this, you also build a [reserve]. There are absolutely sometimes when people just need to vent or something’s wrong and just listening to them helps. People are people, and sometimes they need to vent and I happen to be on the line.

Question: What’s your favorite customer compliment?

Stephanie: The last one I had was for customer service—the customer said he hadn’t had that quality of service in the industry in a while. That was refreshing and kind—very rewarding for someone to say thanks for just being reliable. Good customer service is rare, which is so sad—a little bittersweet—because it’s like, wait, no, you should get this everywhere from everyone. So hearing that was great. This is a customer in San Luis Obispo—he’s an electrician who, at first, was looking for surface-mounted cylinders that would fit the project, so he ordered the lights. Later, he wanted to change [the order] to pendant lights. It was a smooth order from start to finish. He was excited to do business with Alcon Lighting because he felt that my service was great.

Question: Do you know why the mounting requirement changed?

Stephanie: I think his customer wanted to match other pendant lights in the room or something along those lines.

Question: So you were able to show him that the pivot could be relatively streamlined and simple, and wouldn’t be a hassle?

Stephanie: Yes. I was also able to provide accessories for a field adjustment. It worked out. I had checked with production to see if the newly ordered lights are capable of being field-adjusted. The production team explained that we could send pendant lighting kits the customer needed to [conduct] the field installation—it was no big deal. We sent the lights within 24 hours. I think the combination of being able to accommodate that, in addition to shipping right away, helped.

Question: How long have you worked for Alcon Lighting?

Stephanie: I started work here on March 9, 2018. I didn’t have a lighting background. I tried to learn from the back-and-forth customer service support inquiries with our warranty or order status—looking at invoices to see what people ordered, but it was minimal. I knew I wanted to stay at Alcon Lighting and I knew I’ve always had an inkling or appetite for learning. I’m a very curious person, so when I was given the opportunity to go into sales, I took it and I remember the first thing [co-owner and sales director] Jake [Hakimi] said was ‘we’re going to train you,’ so my sales work started from there. I picked up a good amount in customer service, but other than that, it was a lot of training. I signed up for a course from the Illuminated Engineering Society (IES) on the fundamentals of lighting. That helped. That and being in the office around other salespeople. I attended class in a showroom near Helms Bakery in Los Angeles every Tuesday from 6PM to 9PM for a few months. I thought it was cool that the company wants to invest in me—that they could see value in me.

Question: You also attended what’s known inside the company as Jake University, the company’s lighting education sessions. Have you graduated?

Stephanie: I don’t think anyone graduates from Jake University, but I think you can become an honorary alumni. Jake [Hakimi]  has a wealth of knowledge. When I started to learn, learning more about lighting, learning more about the industry, I remember going into his office with a notebook and not knowing if and when I could go out for lunch because he would just keep going and going and I remember filling pages of my notebook and I was like, ‘OK, when is training over today?’ Those days where I was learning from him or walking around the office with him, explaining such a complex subject to me in layman’s terms, I probably learned the most about lighting—more than I did in that lighting course. Jake has a way of simplifying things we see in everyday life—Jake’s training was so valuable. I think he saw that I had the drive and passion to learn.

Question: What did you do to retain the information? 

Stephanie: During the first week, I was [enlisted] in sales boot camp. Jake said—this is one of the things he told me during my first year—to go home and read all the articles on Alcon Lighting’s blog, so I did that. Also, at the end of every work day, I would rewrite my messy, scribbled notes because it was hard to transcribe during Jake’s lessons. I would re-write my notes to review what I’d learned—to keep fresh for the next day.

Question: Do you remember details of your first sale?

Stephanie: I think my first sale was $8,000. They were for linear pendant lights for a distributor. I was so excited that someone bought something from me that I entered the wrong billing name into our system. What was most memorable was not even the sale—just my excitement, like: I can do this.

Question: Do you recall your first lighting sales experience after you made the switch from customer service?

Stephanie: On my first day on the job, I remember being nervous. I wondered who’s going to call? What are they going to ask for? What if I don’t know the answer? Looking back at it now, there was excitement and anxiety, especially being surrounded by other salespeople taking calls, making deals left and right.

Question: What was your background before you were hired at Alcon Lighting?

Stephanie: I worked in wholesale fashion and merchandising—everything but lighting.

Question: You found the job through Craigslist in 2018?

Stephanie: Yes. The ad described this family-owned company on Robertson Boulevard. I didn’t think I’d ever apply to a job in the lighting industry. I was curious enough to try. I responded and heard from Jake. Then, I came in for an interview, which was about an hour and, when I didn’t hear back, I followed up. I think my follow-up is what got me the job.

Question: How do you think your customer service experience helped form your transition to sales?

Stephanie: I owe a lot of what I know to my customer service position. I had initially applied for the customer service job because my belief was that you would only know a company working up from the bottom. And customer service is the foundation of a company.

You get to know the customers, the [problems] they’re having, everything from front to back. So I purposely wanted to get into customer service because if I was going to succeed in this company, I wanted to know everything about it and customer service is where to start.

Though I came from wholesale fashion and merchandising, where I wasn’t doing customer service, I felt like this was the right place to begin. I learned the [elements] of the lighting industry and Alcon Lighting, and it helped me prepare for a sales role, which is more intense.

Stephanie Sakay, now based in Austin, Texas, remains a steady and reliable force at Alcon Lighting. Her thoughtful approach, clear communication and commitment to doing the right thing continue to earn the trust of customers and coworkers alike. This conversation highlights not just her adaptability, but the practical strengths she brings to every project—proof that great work doesn’t depend on where you are, but how you show up.

More Tales From Sales

Tales from Sales: Andre Kibbe

Tales from Sales: Perris Weber