Executive Summary
Product and innovation champion experienced in leveraging technology & design thinking to create tangible impact on people and the bottom line. My work experience is in B2B + B2B2C tech (civic, HR, fintech), health equity, and international development.
Operating Principles
- Be data-informed but conviction-driven
- Hold strong opinions, but hold them loosely
- Solve urgent problems urgently, iterate thoughtfully
- Empower people to empower people
- If you see something, say something (reframing the admittedly problematic law enforcement slogan)
Working Styles & Preferences
When I'm most productive ✍🏽
Choose 1-2 ––
- Morning ☀️
- Afternoon 🌤
- Evening 🌅
- Late night 🌝
When (& what) I like to eat/drink at work 🥖
- Breakfast – by 11am; just coffee 😬
- Lunch – unpredictable
- Snacks – 1-2x daily; whatever's in the cupboard
- Beverages – I live on coffee and seltzer!
Dietary restrictions: vegetarian; cilantro-phobe
How I like to work 💼
Choose and/or add —
This depends a bit on WHAT I’m working with
- Deep thinking work → Surrounded by coworkers and pop tunes, but plugged in
- Collaborative work / brainstorm → Let’s be in a room together!
- Need occasional breaks for snacks / seltzer
How I manage myself 📂
- Google Calendar
- Slack reminders
- Slack Canvas notes
Software I love using ❤
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Figjam
- Notion
- Airtable
- Slack
- Canva
Software I don’t love using 😖
- Microsoft Word / generally Microsoft products
- Zoom (but dealing with it)
- Google Docs (but dealing with it)
- Confluence (but dealing with it)
- Jira (but dealing with it)
Communication & Relationships
How to: ask me a question ❓
- Start with Slack and let’s see how far we get, but as soon it gets complex - let's chat IRL / on video chat! Feel free to shoot me a Zoom link or Slack huddle ring.
How to: ask me to do something 💪🏽
- See previous response
How to: give me feedback 🎁
- Be direct, constructive, succinct, and caring
- Examples are 👌
- Takes me a sec to digest, but digest I shall (and you’ll know when I’ve crunched it!)
How to: "earn an extra gold star" with me 🌟
- Be concise
- Be well-organized
- Bring data or evidence from the get go
- Be visual where it makes sense
- Move with speed and conviction
How to: persuade me 🤔
- See previous response
- Generally, I’m a “strong opinions held loosely” human…so don’t mistake conviction for rigidity
How to: teach me how to do something 👩🏫
- Show don't tell
- Observe me doing it, correct where I mess up
- Throw me into a conversation way above my head and let me listen and furiously side-Google / Chat-GPT
Qualities I value in others 🙌
- Growth mindset
- "I can figure it out" approach
- Creativity within constraints
- Curiosity
- Data-driven
- Integrity
- Honesty
- Equity
Personality & Personal Life
Personality test results 🧪
Honest moment: I really don't like these tests but willing to use them as a quick reference :)
Examples:
- Enneagram: 3 (Achiever) wing 3 (Helper)
- Meyers-Briggs ENFJ
Qualities I value in myself 🤗
- Curiosity
- Sense of Urgency
- Attention to detail
- Responsiveness
- Thoughtfulness
- Willingness to debate (downside: this can come off as or become disagreeableness)
Things I am working on 🏋️♀️
- Not moving TOO quickly (and sometimes lacking patience)
- Being a little less debate-prone 😆
- Taking more breaks throughout the day
- (Generally, my anxiety)
- Getting more exercise
Pet peeves / triggers 😒
- Stating assumptions or conjecture as fact (it's fine if it's couched as non-fact!)
- Poor communication
- Grammatical errors (especially the ones I make myself on Slack, whoops!)
- Lack of responsiveness (within reasonable limits)
- Cilantro
Things people should know about my life 👋
- Getting a nonprofit up and running outside of work → https://www.karensclub.org/
- Trying to learn Spanish and see as much of Central / South America as I can!
- Have lived and worked abroad (East Africa), would like to do so again someday
- Involved in local Jewish community; have historically done some organizing and canvassing for social justice causes and political campaigns
- Prospect Park is my happy place
- Like a plant, I need sunlight to flourish
- Currently getting into diamond painting 💠 🎨
- Watching too much TV; I’m a good person to ask for recommendations 🤓📺
Freeform
That’s it for now, but feel free to ask me any questions!