Maven's VP, Product Marketing Shares Career Lessons and Advice

What’s the most important lesson you learned as you grew your career? Was it through a piece of advice, an experience, or something else? 

The most important lesson I’ve learned is how to ask really good questions and keep digging — even if uncomfortable — until I “get it.” This has helped me learn faster and contribute, but more importantly, it’s helped me understand people better and build strong relationships. 

I first learned this on a consulting project where market research was required, and I was in charge of conducting dozens of interviews with former engineers about a very specific type of industrial goods. After the first handful of interviews, my manager asked me what my key takeaways were, and I had none, despite my thorough interview guide and endless pages of notes. 

My manager then offered to lead an interview and showed me what good looks like. He was willing to ask the “dumb questions” that I had avoided; he’d keep digging until he got to the why behind what they said, ultimately putting together the real story.

This lesson has helped me immensely in different roles at Maven, from my first role in creating operational processes to address pain points for our care team, to my more recent position in building trusting relationships and developing business with external partners.

How do you stay motivated and inspired as a leader, and how do you try to motivate and inspire others at your company?

I feel very lucky to work at a company where our mission genuinely motivates me. We’re driven to improve the health of women and families who have been historically underserved by status-quo healthcare. We show up for people with compassionate support in some of their most vulnerable and joyful life stages — from the postpartum mom to the couple pursuing adoption to the woman thriving in her career while going through menopause. 

Two things that personally keep me going are hearing our members’ stories, which we highlight in every all-company meeting, as well as hearing our team members and executives share their own. Kate Ryder, our founder and CEO, has shared her story of raising three kids with her husband while leading Maven, and Will Porteous, our chief growth officer, has shared his experience where he and his husband became new dads through surrogacy. 

I think it’s important that executives — and all leaders — share this level of vulnerability with their teams, as it really builds a trusting environment and helps everyone feel more connected.

What advice do you have for those looking to advance their careers in tech, and why is this advice important?

It’s important to seize the opportunity in front of you rather than worrying about what steps you think you need to take to “climb to the top” or achieve the next level. While having a career plan can be helpful, over-planning can sometimes lead to “just trying to get there” and missing the moments where you can make a big impact.

Instead, I think it’s helpful to double down on what you’re uniquely good at and work for people that you can learn from and then trust that good things will come from it. This may mean taking an interesting lateral move instead of pushing for a promotion or staying on a project longer than you expected because you’ve become a real expert in it. 

I think it’s helpful to double-down on what you’re uniquely good at and work for people that you can learn from, and then trust that good things will come from it.”

As long as the work is challenging, you’ve figured out what you can uniquely own and the leader is motivating, it’s going to move you forward and help you grow in some way.