By Ashley Reyes
The SEMA Future Leaders Network (FLN) named Zenen Chamizo as the network’s newest spotlight member. Chamizo is the sales and marketing manager at Kooks Headers & Exhaust, a manufacturer of headers and exhaust components for the automotive aftermarket.
Get to know Chamizo in his interview with SEMA below:
SEMA: What is the best advice you have ever received?
Zenen Chamizo: It’s not about the mistake you made, it’s about understanding you made a mistake and finding a solution. I made a mistake in the past and was not sure how to handle the situation and ran to my boss with no solution to the problem. He told me, “Before you ever go to your boss at any company with a problem, have a solution—even if it’s not the one he agrees with.”
SEMA: What keeps you in the industry?
ZC: The opportunity to continue to work with people from different brands, markets and learn the way different products can make a difference in a car’s performance.
SEMA: Where can you be found on a Saturday?
ZC: On Saturdays, I can be found on the lake with my fiancée, golfing, out in the city of Charlotte enjoying the breweries or on the football field coaching.
SEMA: How do you prepare for an important meeting?
ZC: I start preparing for the meeting a week in advance to give me time get my stuff done as well as review. I stay in contact with the person to make sure that we are still good to go on our meeting. I do my research on the person and their company to find out everything I can about them. Depending on what the meeting is about, I will have notes or a PowerPoint.
SEMA: If you could go to lunch with one industry leader, living or dead, who it would be?
ZC: Robert Yates because he is known as a legendary engine builder. In the ’90s, Robert Yates made a set of cylinder heads that helped make more than 50 hp than any other competitor. I would like to learn how he thought about the engineering processes when building a motor that gave him that much more of an advantage.
Fill out an FLN member spotlight form. Selected candidates may be featured on FLN's social media, SEMA News and FLN member updates.