What has your career looked like before Mavenoid?
I first started out in product marketing in the Education Technology space. I LOVE solving problems, and having led a number of market and user research initiatives, the transition from marketing to product began! Putting my product knowledge into practice, I led multiple campaigns to promote online safety in education using technology which even resulted in a slot on a speaker panel at SXSW to talk on the subject.
A number of roles later, including Head of Product for Platform and CRM in utilities, I've found myself at a truly product-led organization here at Mavenoid, and I couldn't be happier to say so!
What, if any, have been your challenges navigating being a woman in this industry? Have you been confronted with gender-related roadblocks?
In product management, you are required to make decisions and be proactive in your decision-making. However, there are still biases in this area where perceptions have led to descriptions of 'she's bossy' when making decisions and taking leadership, as well 'she's emotional' when being passionate about a problem or product — all of which (I would argue) would not have been described of a male in the same position. Despite this, I have been very fortunate to work with some incredible male and female colleagues who have waved their flag of support — meaning that the gender-related 'roadblock' was more of a speed bump.
Can you take us through a regular day for you in your role? What projects or goals are you working on or leading currently?
There's no such thing as a regular day in product, but we have one clear goal — to solve problems for our users and brands.
To do so, we have to truly empathize with our brands and their customers. With that being said, we embark on continuous discovery with our users, whether that be via user interviews, market data, or even direct feedback. This acts to enable Mavenoid to utilize our superstar engineering and design team to identify how best we can support our customers with the greatest impact.
Currently, we are focussing on our Next Generation Assistant for self-service to improve usability for end-users to resolve their queries. Further, we aim to enhance the efficiency of our agents using our Live Support capabilities while further improving the feedback loop into self-service... watch this space!
What is your experience being a female Product Manager on the product team at Mavenoid?
Truly, my gender has not played a part in my role at Mavenoid.
Everyone is treated equally and with the same level of ferocious respect. The great thing about Mavenoid is that our core values run through every Maven — inspiring each other and continuing to learn from each other's experiences.
Who are your role models, and how have these role models helped you along your career path?
I'm fortunate to have a strong family around me, all of whom have instilled a great work ethic and extraordinary integrity. It's to them who I owe any successes — their support drives me to be better with each action I take. Shout out to my mum, dad, nans, step-mum, aunty, uncle, and cousins!!
My cousin, Caitlin, deserves a particular shout-out as she truly is an inspiration. She is only 16 years old and just recovered from a heart transplant at the Great Ormond Street hospital. She has shown everyone around her what true strength is, and she inspires me to treasure each day.
Further, I've had great female role models in my working life. One of which is our very own Head of Product (Galina Ryzhenko), who is a product rockstar! Galina promotes what it truly means to be 'product-led,' putting the customer and business at the heart of every decision- a great example of an intelligent, skilled, and spiky member of the Mavenoid team.
What advice would you give to other women that are thinking about starting a career in tech or are at the start of their career right now?
A career in tech never occurred to me when I first embarked on my journey. As I focussed on History, Psychology, Philosophy, and English Literature whilst in education, I was not as exposed to STEM subjects as you would find in a typical tech career path. However, my enjoyment of understanding how people think and feel, as well as core competencies in writing structured for and against arguments, made for a great skill set in Tech Product Management — most importantly, I love it!
My advice would be to find something you're passionate about, even if it's a soft skill such as collaboration or organization. There are plenty of roles outside of a typical tech career story. Look at our careers page for inspiration!
What's a recent success story you can share?
Well, we have just launched Mavenoid Copilot, which we are super excited to share. We recognized that one of the key pain points for agents was navigating between multiple systems and clicking through various tabs- which not only made agents less efficient but also caused frustration. From this, we created Mavenoid Copilot to remove this burden. Copilot helps teams quickly find answers (from Mavenoid content) to customers' questions and immediately reply in any app - without switching tabs. Game changer! Download Mavenoid Copilot.
What is your favorite part about Mavenoid?
Every Maven has their own superpower. To be part of such a talented, skilled, and collaborative team has made for a recipe to build a great product. What more can a Product Manager ask for!
Interested in learning more about joining Mavenoid’s team? Check out our open roles!
