I have this lifelong love of solving technical problems with creative solutions, and with daily duties ranging from design operations to people management, I got to apply all my experience to creative leadership, product strategy, and desk toys. I really loved working with this collaborative team that trusts each other, has a “no stupid questions” culture, and always makes space for fun.

I oversaw the North American team responsible for the Staffbase Email product, building on the success Bananatag had in the internal communications space as we integrated with the rest of the larger Staffbase platform.

We made products that a bunch of big companies use to connect and engage their employees.

At the heart of the product is the ability for customers to level up the way they do email, with everything from real-time editing in a drag-and-drop designer to custom pulse surveys and super segmented analytics. It also offers designed templates, text messaging, and some slick integrations with Slack, Gmail, and Microsoft 365, and so much more. Over the past 5 years I played a key part in propelling the product to where it is now.

I’m proud to have led the digital accessibility project, rallying the dev and design teams while working hands-on with project management and stakeholders to achieve the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard. While this was essential for big customers (including a half million dollar one), it ultimately means everyone can use the software.

Embracing individual contribution and adding people management has been the most significant change in my career. Whether it’s being mindful in the hiring process, coaching through career progression, empowering professional development, or sponsoring next steps, seeing my team succeed really makes the player/coach life worth it.

Starting a new job is stressful enough, but our move to working from home presented the opportunity to completely reinvent remote employee onboarding. From developing custom get-to-you-know-you worksheets to hackathoning our favourite team board game into a virtual format, my work is still out there helping people get started on the right foot.

My favourite part of the job is adding day-to-day delight, both in the product and in our teams. As a torchbearer for team building, I got to create actually fun icebreakers like coworker bingo, play the part of meeting DJ, and was continually trusted with the budget to run virtual and in-person events that fostered an inclusive culture (and made my kids say “you get paid for this?”).

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Inclusive terminology

I led the project to make our terminology inclusive, removing words from our internal vocabulary, documenting our reasoning, communicating the change, and helping us through the somewhat tricky process.

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Extended people management

When our Head of Product went on an extended parental leave, I was entrusted with managing the product managers in addition to my direct reports, including weekly 1-on-1s and ongoing career development.

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Workshop facilitation

From week long cross-team design sprints to rapid lightning decision jams, I’ve facilitated a series of successful workshops in my time, doing everything from inventive icebreakers to virtual documentation, and most importantly, snacks.

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Coaching corner

It’s been awesome to amplify the impact of our team through a coaching approach. I’ve helped a first time manager taking on their own direct reports, supported our first practicum students, and brought in external coaches to help with process overhaul.

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Design principles

Through helping shepherd the creation of global design principles and applying them to our daily work, our design team has been able to come together around a shared vision much quicker than others.

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Cross-collaboration

Design is not the property of one department, and I love assembling avengers for stronger interdisciplinary relationships, especially engineering, marketing, and the heroes in customer success.

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Master of ceremonies

Our team had a weekly schedule of regular ceremonies, from alignment to design critique to continuous learning to collab time, which I was able to innovate on to make meetings people actually like.

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Slack star

In addition to being a part of the creation and adoption of “Slackspectations” documentation for the whole company, I am personally responsible for adding 1341 reaction emoji to the workspace.

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Formidable challenges

I’ve had serious learning experiences in supporting direct reports through racism, gender iniquity, family deaths, travel bans, COVID related sickness, performance improvement plans, and layoffs.

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Uplifting engagement

Fun is serious business to me, and I put as much effort into Halloween costume contests, meeting DJ duties, team lunches, Zoom backgrounds, and properly celebrating May the Fourth.