Farmer, Barrel Racer and Xplore Employee – Donna Sagin Lives and Breathes Rural Internet

Xplore Business Senior Marketing Manager Donna Sagin is responsible for crafting messages that resonate with business customers.

She joined NetSet Communications, a small Manitoba Internet service provider in 2017 – the year they were acquired by Xplore.

Donna was born and raised in Manitoba but lived in Saskatchewan for nearly 10 years.

“Most of my background is in non-profit, event management and marketing. I did a stint with the Government of Saskatchewan for a while, and have worked in and out of the agricultural world,” she explained.

With a Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness, and having grown up in a rural Manitoba farming family, Donna has a really good understanding of what her rural customers need.

“I know the struggles of dialup and slow Internet. I understand how valuable Internet is for rural life. It was great to go into these rural areas and know what they were feeling. As a rural resident, I get it,” she said.

Donna’s interest in marketing peaked because of her family’s involvement with the farming and rodeo community.

“Growing up, we were always involved in different organizations and I ended up helping plan events and get the word out. It’s always been part of my life,” she said.

Donna grew up training and riding barrel racing horses. Barrel racing is a women’s rodeo event where the horse rider attempts to run a cloverleaf pattern around a set of barrels faster than any of their competitors.

“I’ve been riding since I was a baby. My dad was a bull rider, and a calf roper, my mom barrel raced, my sister barrel raced. I’m the only one still competing today but my dad helps me with horses to this day,” she said.

Now, she travels all over Western Canada and the Northern United States to compete, winning many Canadian National titles, including Canadian High School Rodeo Champion when she was just a teenager.

“Horses are kind of my thing,” she said.

You can imagine how happy she is having moved back to the family farm.

“I like the space. I have space to go and do stuff outside. I know all my neighbours. There's a sense of community. I can walk over and we can sit and have coffee. Living in the city, I didn’t have that same connection,” she said.

Aside working from home full-time for Xplore, Donna and her husband take care of horses and put up hay every year.

“We have Xplore Internet here on the farm and it’s been good. I work from home. I have a package with speeds up to 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload and it’s reliable. I’m able to do all my marketing work from home with lots of video and conference calls,” she said.

As a farmer who works from home and relies on Xplore in her day-to-day life, Donna lives and breathes what she does.

“That’s the best part of my job. I am that rural customer. I get it. I’m working from home. I’m on the farm. I understand the ag industry. If I’m having issues, it creates the basis for the messages I write for customers like me,” she said.

It is truly rewarding for her to help get businesses in her community and beyond connected and to watch them grow.

“These businesses can stay in their rural location because we’ve satisfied their need for a reliable Internet connection,” she said.

COVID really hit home just how important business Internet connections are.

“When everything shut down, we saw the impact to some businesses that weren’t online. People aren’t using cash as much, everything is online, so businesses that go down literally can’t accept payments. Making sure they have an Internet solution that is reliable means that they can keep functioning even in emergency situations,” she explained.

Xplore Business provides backup solutions so that in the instance that their first Internet connection goes down, a business can feel confident that they won’t lose any time or money.

"Even if you’re on the most reliable network, things happen so being able to offer a backup connection is key. We can even be your backup connection if you have another carrier for your main connection. During the Rogers shutdown, if you had a backup with us, guess what – you kept running,” she said.

Xplore’s new tagline “Go Beyond” is at the centre of everything we do. When asked how she goes beyond, Donna said it’s all about keeping her word.

“I think it’s doing what we say, and saying what we do. That is key for us. Staying true to our word. If we say we can do something we can do it,” she said.

Xplore offers fast & reliable Internet with speeds up to 100 Mbps and unlimited usage. Give us call at 1-866-601-0021 or Check Internet Options - and sign up today.