Whatnot Career Growth & Development

Describe your career journey so far. What skills and experiences have you acquired along the way that have helped you get to where you are now?

My career has been anything but linear — I have spent the last 13 years choosing industries and companies that are interesting to me and then finding my place in them. Litigation consulting was where I started my career, giving me really great structure and a depth of experience in having to become an expert in topics I do not know much about. That carried over in an incredible way to the world of tech, which I have now been a part of for the last 10 years. I have split the last 10 years across three amazing companies: Box, Faire, and now, Whatnot. Box was my gateway to understand how great SaaS companies are built and why passionate leaders matter (Aaron Levie will forever stand out as a world-class CEO). Faire was where I grew up as a professional — I earned opportunities to take on big bodies of work, I made mistakes, I iterated on those mistakes and I learned that having the right people around you during all of that makes a world of difference (always choose opportunities where you can lift others and they can lift you). At Whatnot, I have had the opportunity to blend the best parts of my career so far into one, merging great leaders, a clear mission and a world class team.

What support did you receive from individuals or resources that helped you step into a leadership role?

I would say a key set of peers and mentors have been my biggest assets in shaping my own leadership style. I have been extremely lucky to be surrounded by intelligent and thoughtful peers throughout my career that have helped be a sounding board and a grounding resource for me. When I have felt overwhelmed or out of my own depth, I have been able to go to three key women in my life (Olivia Chen, Roxie Rum and Victoria Nelson) that helped give me direction and instill confidence in who I am and can become as a leader. I have also found amazing women mentors in women like Jennifer Burke and Katie Leighton, women I have had the opportunity to work with for the past 10 years. They have heard me out when I am feeling lost and spoken hard truths to me when I need a snap back into reality. Most importantly, all of these women have shown up in their own careers with confidence and vulnerability that I aspire to have. Watching them in their roles and being able to go to them for help without judgement has been key in creating a foundation for my own leadership style.

How do you encourage other women on your team to become leaders themselves? Are there any stories you can share that showcase how you’ve done this?

I try to do this through action and vulnerability. I show up everyday as the leader that I would want to see for myself and I am honest with myself and my team when I feel like I am missing that bar. When starting in my current role, I focused on showing up as a leader by getting into the weeds of the work that my team was driving. I did not just want to hear high level how things were going, I wanted to meet them where they were doing their work, understand the why behind the work and give perspective on how I think that work could evolve. This allowed me to be effective with my team quickly and establish credibility that I am not just trying to talk the talk but walk the walk. On the point of vulnerability, I make it a point to highlight the power of harnessing your emotion to make you a more in touch and effective leader. I have had many instances where women have come to me saying “I am just feeling emotional” to dismiss a feeling of overwhelm or discontent. My response is usually the same: “Your emotion shows me you care.” Then we focus on how they can channel that care to find a better way of working.