The Empowered Woman
Apoorva Halageri
Apoorva Halageri has an educational background in Computer Science and works as a Product Manager at Lightbox which is a commercial real estate data technology company. She was feeling excited, motivated, and receptive to listening to everyone.
A typical day
As a product manager, her job involved developing and overseeing the execution of a product. This entails market strategy, collaborating with cross-functional teams, getting feedback on product designs
Her day starts with coffee, of course. Then her day entails attending meetings with internal and external teams, reviewing product performance, and making sure everyone on the team is on the same page with respect to the product roadmap
Skills needed for this role
Having technical background was a really big advantage for her
Keeping an open mind. You learn a lot on the job, so you have to adapt and evolve.
Look for roles that challenge you but also are familiar enough that will help you grow in your career and personal life.
Karen Ngo
Karen Ngo is a communications manager at Microsoft. Her personal philosophy is to grow 1% every day through inspiration and share it with the world. She is feeling inspired, energized, and curious.
A typical day
Communications managers have different responsibilities. Karen focuses more on the marketing and public relations side. She stays up to date on current trends and businesses.
She attends many meetings with various stakeholders to discuss communication strategy. Karen is responsible for creating customer-facing announcements that are exciting and impactful.
Additionally, Karen oversees social media, which is a passion of hers. She knows how to take a big piece of news and make it more interesting and captivating on different social media platforms. Depending on the custom story, she either writes drafts or edits existing content.
Skills needed for this role
Stakeholder management: This involves working with teams, agencies, customers, reporters, and journalists. To ensure accountability, it is important to stay organized and communicate clearly with follow-ups and next steps.
Adaptability and flexibility: Releases and client requirements are subject to change. The ability to predict what's coming around the corner is also helpful.
Clear and concise communication: With so much news out there, it's essential to know the key points that need to be delivered and ensure that they are effectively communicated. This audience-first focus is very important to deliver a message as a communications manager.
Beatrice Mendez Gandica
Beatrice is from Venezuela and works as a Program Manager at Microsoft. In addition to this, she volunteers at Nuevo Foundation, a non-profit organization where she teaches underrepresented students how to code.
A typical day
In the morning, they check their emails and attend a scrum meeting with the engineers on the team to share blockers and project status. They prioritize their day the day before to ensure all meetings are relevant.
After work, they go to the gym and work on extracurricular responsibilities, such as organizing events for the Nuevo Foundation.
Mariia Novikova
Mariia Novikova is an engineering program manager. She switched her career path after pursuing an education in Economics from Ukraine. She was feeling excited, grateful, and busy.
A typical day
The responsibilities of a Program Manager can vary greatly depending on the project, team, and company. For my team, the role requires a lot of communication and coordination.
Each day is different, but the ultimate goal is to ensure that everyone on the team has everything they need to succeed.
Skills needed for this role
The environment for PgMs is very fast-moving and involves many stakeholders, so flexibility and adaptability are essential skills.
Effective and professional communication is necessary to ensure that everyone is on the same page and to reduce risk.
Organizational skills are crucial for this role. There is a lot of data, projects, stakeholders, and dependencies that need to be consolidated and kept up-to-date.
