Author: Jenny Galluzzo

Featured Member: Diane Serra

Diane Serra knows her worth. A multidisciplinary creative, she has made a point of defining her own goals, her skills, and her value. As this month’s featured member, we love her for her flexibility and strength, her fearlessness and enthusiasm, and her commitment to meeting the needs of her clients without sacrificing her own needs. To us, she is a shining example of what it means to make work work for you. 
 
Tell us your work story : Who are you and what do you do?
I am a designer and content writer.
 
What is your proudest professional accomplishment?
Two highlights from the year so far: 1. Designing an app for a startup; and 2. Creating content for a client that is still the most engaging content for their business to date
 
What is the hardest challenge you’ve faced, work-wise?
Unprofessional and unprepared interviewers!
 
If you could change one thing about how your given field operates, particularly with regards to women, what would it be and why?
I would take away the design test or at least compensate designers for the time they take submitting design tests. Businesses are essentially asking the designer to work for free when they require a design test in an interview.
 
What advice do you have for other women looking to make a career change but who are afraid or lack confidence? How is it on the other side? 
Create a network of support because you’re going to need a place to go to keep you positive and empowered in your search. Then when you reach your goal you’ll have that network to celebrate with.
Do you have any advice on how to craft a winning pitch?
Be honest. But that comes from knowing who you are, what you want, and your work ethic.
What continues to draw you to your chosen field and what do you hope to accomplish in the years ahead?
Every time I sit down to do my work, I am excited and energized. Yet, I still feel challenged. In the years ahead I plan to take on bigger, more long-term clients.
 
What is the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received? 
Be who you are. People will try to put you and your skills into one box but don’t let them. (This is especially true for women like me, who are multidisciplinary creative professionals.)
 
Who has been your biggest cheerleader / supporter / mentor?
My biggest inspiration is Pitch Coach, Beth Susanne. She is on LinkedIn and I am thrilled to give her a shout out
How do you negotiate the balance between life and work when you’re the one setting the boundaries? 
I don’t believe there is a such a thing as balance. I believe there are busy times and less busy times. I know my limits and never take on more than I can handle. I have a commitment to my clients to deliver so I manage my time accordingly.
If you could tell your younger self one thing about what this professional journey would be like, what would you tell her? 
Well done, you found your way.
How do you make work work for you?
I work in an inspiring co-working office. It keeps me motivated. I also appreciate the flexibility I have with creating my own schedule.
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The Juggle: Mita Mallick!

It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.

It’s all about finding the balance.
These are the kind of truisms women are told every day in myriad ways. And while they may be truisms because there is truth in them, the fact remains that for us to find our way, run the race, keep the course, we must all too often do so without the infrastructural support necessary to stay in the game, much less thrive. And, yet, here we are, storming the corridors of power, at home and at work, rewriting the rules, questioning the “facts.” Stride by stride, brick by brick, we are walking new paths, creating new infrastructures. And we are boldly giving voice to our own idiosyncratic, individual, and very personal truths.
We contain multitudes, that’s for sure. And this deserves more than mere recognition. It deserves celebration. Enter The Juggle, a new column from The Second Shift and PureWow, that seeks to explore, understand, illuminate, and elevate the ways in which women navigate the nitty gritty of their daily lives. This isn’t about the major achievements—the corporate promotion, the company launch, the hard-won path to motherhood—but the small successes of keeping all the balls in the air, or just trying to. Here is where we embrace the sweetnesses and struggles, the triumphs and imperfections of the everyday.

Our first feature is Mita Mallick— Head of Diversity and Inclusion and Unilever, mother of 2, wife and our friend. We are thrilled to showcase the many ways she is a total badass. This feature will run weekly and the group of women are a total inspiration!

Excited to share this with you!

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Pitch Perfect: Content Marketing

Short. Sweet. Detailed. To the point. This pitch has a little of everything. As a content marketer the Member has unique ability to use her talent and craft to sell herself. Use her skills to your benefit and #makeworkworkforyou!

 

Hi! I was excited to see your role posted. As an avid user of xxx, I’d love to help your tackle the challenges and opportunities for your evolving business content platform. I use your product for deciphering terms for VC and M&A deals with clients. I’m currently the independent content director for a boutique fintech PR agency.  I work on content projects for online lenders, payments firms, transaction monitors, data marketers, supply chain startups and more. My previous career includes in-house communications roles at payments companies American Express and Mastercard, as well as having a background (and degree) in journalism with five years of financial journalism experience. My content work spans C-suite thought leadership content, website/app copy, press releases, emails, social media campaigns, edcals, content audits, whitepapers, digital publications and more. Would love to discuss your needs in further detail. Sincerely, xxxx

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LinkedIn Tips and Tricks!

 

Our resident LinkedIn guru and Second Shift member Katie Fogarty led a boot camp for a select group of NYC members but lucky for everyone else she is willing to give her tips and tricks to maximize success on LinkedIn!

 

  •  Posting Monday through Friday from 9-10am will win you the most eyeballs.
  • It’s also the best time to send a LinkedIn InMail — and have it be read.
  • Studies show that more LinkedIn members are active on a Tuesday than any other day of the week.

 

Here are three resources that offer guidance and inspiration for crafting powerful LinkedIn Summaries. Each of these resources shares examples.

 

For more tips on leveraging LinkedIn, job hunting and telling a powerful professional story, you can follow Katie on LinkedIn here.

 

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Featured Member: Susan Gilell-Stuy

 

For Susan Gilell-Stuy, success is benevolent; it’s rooted in generosity and character, in serving others and serving a purpose that extends well-beyond the reaches of one’s own immediate needs. So it’s hardly surprising that she would gravitate towards a career in executive coaching; it’s a natural fit for someone with her gifts. But what truly sets her apart is her ability to transform executives into leaders, thereby lifting up the aspirations and accomplishments of everyone on their teams. It’s an inspirational domino effect and it starts with Gilell-Stuy. 
 
Tell us your work story : Who are you and what do you do?
I help executives become dynamic leaders by creating and implementing made-to-measure plans based on their individual strengths and identified weaknesses. With over a decade of executive coaching experience working with Fortune 500 leaders across industries, from technology to financial services, biotech to cosmetics, pharmaceuticals to Internet startups, I’ve developed a process that helps you become the leader your team needs, without sacrificing your personal goals. My approach is built on personal connection and guidance based on real world experience as a high-ranking call center executive and corporate coach. I’m an executive coach for The Wharton School – University of Pennsylvania EMBA and MBA programs; I hold a graduate certificate in Executive and Professional Coaching from the University of Texas Naveen Jindal School of Management, and received a B.A. in Psychology from St. John’s University.
 
What is your proudest professional accomplishment?
Re-creating myself as an executive coach while taking on the day-to-day care of my niece (becoming her second Mom) so that my sister could continue to work full-time following a difficult divorce.
 
What is the hardest challenge you’ve faced, work-wise?
Learning how to be myself as a leader and woman in the business world. I learned that success as a women doesn’t mean I have to be more like my successful male counterparts. Instead, it’s about tapping into my own distinct skills and abilities; my leadership DNA is what brings about success.
If you could change one thing about how your given field operates, particularly with regards to women, what would it be and why?
I wish the business world would better appreciate that becoming an influential leader is a process; it consists of experiences, relationships, and understanding each person’s unique skill set. As in life outside of work, you can’t be everything to everyone. Instead, businesses need to hone in on a person’s individual skills to craft a plan for action that sets women/people up for success and elevates the entire team. Stepping into your role – authentically and naturally – should feel comfortable, not like you’re acting it out. Brilliant leadership is rooted in connection. Forgetting that important factor can cause a fragmented team and disappointing results.
What advice do you have for other women looking to make a career change but who are afraid or lack confidence? How is it on the other side? 
Learn your non-negotiables, and then set boundaries that create space between what you’re asked to do and what you’re willing to do. That way, you can happily say “Yes” to things that enrich your life.
 
Do you have any advice on how to craft a winning pitch?
It might seem a bit simplistic to say this, but be sure that when you’re pitching someone on an idea that you’ve targeted the presentation to the decision maker with the authority to ultimately make the choice.
Learn as much as you possibly can in advance about the person making the decision: what motivates them to make decisions and draw conclusions? How are they motivated to do something or not do something?
What continues to draw you to your chosen field and what do you hope to accomplish in the years ahead?
It’s inspiring to work with people and help them to uncover their inner purpose and become a supporter of their evolution and a contributor to their successes. To continue to do this work and help women close the confidence gap so they feel more confident leading with who they are rather than who others think they should be.
What is the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received? 
A mentor shared this quote with me: “You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” The impact on my thinking was immediate. In one brief moment the power of his words and the resonance they had in my life completely changed my perspective and altered how I would deal with life’s challenges, and what it meant to live a success-filled life. What I realized in that moment was the powerful truth that our thoughts, and how we choose to execute them, define the quality of the life we experience.
Who has been your biggest cheerleader / supporter / mentor?
My fellow entrepreneurs and close friends/colleagues: Ronnie Kurchner-Hawkins, Jen Gerves-Keen, Lisa Mallet,Stefanie Freeman, Monisha Kapur.
How do you negotiate the balance between life and work when you’re the one setting the boundaries? 
I know my non-negotiables, and then set boundaries that create space between what I’m asked to do and what I’m willing to do. This way, I have the space to happily say “Yes” to things that enrich my life personally and professionally. Past experience can make it easy or difficult to set your own non-negotiable boundaries. Use these guideposts to identify and create the flexible boundaries that will let you say “Yes” to the right things in life.
 
If you could tell your younger self one thing about what this professional journey would be like, what would you tell her? 
There is a difference between being happy and being fulfilled. Being famous, having money, being liked, and even good health can all make you happy, but happiness is only part of being fulfilled. Being fulfilled comes from a life well lived, one focused on making the world in which you live, and the people you know, better for your having been present. Devoting your life to making a difference, no matter how minor it might seem, helps you become a better person, and fills your heart and mind with a sense of gratitude and your life with an enduring purpose.
How do you make work work for you?

I’m very thoughtful about what I take on and the people who work with and for me. I make sure that I keep my non-negoitables foremost in my mind when choosing what to say yes to.

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The Secret Lives of Working Parents

A note from Jenny:

 

The idea of normalizing the conversation about parenting in the workplace is very important.  A recent personal story written in The Atlantic highlights the importance of candor about the realities of family in the workplace and the lengths people go, ineffectually, to hide one side from the other:

“Why would people do this? Why pretend kids are of “little importance”? When work and parenting seem at odds—because our culture tells us they’re at odds—mothers and fathers feel forced to demonstrate their commitment to one (the work side) by minimizing their concern for the other (the parenting side). They do not want their bosses to think they are anything other than 100 percent committed. “

Employees cannot feel afraid of what might make someone else uncomfortable– aren’t they told by leadership to “bring your whole-self to work?” I am the boss and just this morning I was fearful about revealing a personal detail at work– I realized too late that I booked a meeting with a (female) investor too close to my son’s birthday party. I thought about pretending it was a different conflict but then decided to bring my “whole-self” to the conversation. I owned up to the mistake and the reason why I had to reschedule–it felt scary but freeing to choose to make be bold and vulnerable. Ultimately, if the investor didn’t get it then I don’t want to do business with them.

At The Second Shift, we try to create a world where we don’t compartmentalize life and work. I don’t want my employees to waste time and energy trying to figure out how to make it to ballet or to a doctor appointment with an ill parent. Better they just do their job efficiently and are responsible– I do this myself and need to trust them to be grown ups and do the same.

“Put simply, mothers and fathers ought to come clean about the nature of their lives. We can’t fix problems that we pretend don’t exist; we can’t improve the lot of parents at work if we pretend we aren’t parents.”

 

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Pitch Perfect: 3 Questions Every Good Pitch Has to Cover!

 

Strong team leader, savvy marketer, and collaborative worker. I’ve run marketing teams big & small, in-house and as an external source. I understand how to get the most from teams and execute successful and clever plans. For example, as Head of Marketing for XXX, I successfully re-launched the brand with a 360 degree campaign which included a pop-up shop, PR campaign, music/celebrity partnership, event, digital campaign and more. At XXX I oversaw new club opening and market entries, as part of the marketing team – successfully doubling the business with guerrilla tactics. Today I run my own marketing consulting business where I craft and execute my client’s marketing strategies. One of my clients is a fertility start-up. I am assisting them with brand definition, pivot, marketing strategies and events – all very relevant to the role at XXX. I am based in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn with my 18 month old. I get it! I am living your target market! Let’s connect.

 

This winning pitch covers the three questions every good pitch should address:

  • Why are you uniquely qualified for the role based on your past experience?
  • What are you going to bring to the client that makes you the perfect person for the role?
  • How do you think about the role/ project and what makes you excited to take it on?

Have questions about your pitches and want guidance? You can always reach out to our customer success team at members@thesecondshift.com

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Featured Member: Leslie Grandy

Time and again, we’ve watched our members parlay a vast and varied array of skills into entirely new careers. Their continued ability to reinvent themselves and seize new opportunities for professional—and personal—growth is nothing short of astonishing, even to us—and this is what we do! Leslie Grandy exemplifies this kind of magic, which is why we chose her for this month’s featured member. Her interview is compelling to us not only because of her accomplishments, which are impressive, indeed, but also for its wise and clear articulation of how to follow in her footsteps, and walking right out of one brilliant career trajectory into another.
Tell us your work story : Who are you and what do you do?
I am a seasoned digital transformation leader with over 15 years experience, and I am especially adept in building high performing global teams that convert physical businesses into savvy digital enterprises. I have over 18 years of executive experience in large public companies like Apple, T-Mobile, Discovery Networks and most recently at Best Buy, where as part of the Renew Blue transformation, I co-founded and grew the company’s first remote technology office to over 125 people and scaled my overall team to 265 people on two continents. While I enjoy working within established enterprises to launch new products or lines of business, I am equally passionate about the opportunity to develop and scale small businesses.
What is the hardest challenge you’ve faced, work-wise?
The hardest challenge I’ve faced was opening up a technology office for a 35 year old Minnesota-based brick-and-mortar retailer in Seattle, the birthplace of Amazon. Attracting qualified talent, building a Seattle-friendly, diverse culture as part of an old school Fortune 100 midwestern business two time zones away challenged all of my leadership skills. I had to understand what rules I could break to make the office competitive and successful, while also having to stay within the corporate lines for operational support. As a woman leader of engineers, designers and product managers, I had to show both empathy and backbone to stand up for what we needed to do our jobs in the world where we were out of sight, and I couldn’t let us fall off the radar. Sometimes it felt as if I had to change everything from the way our internal network needed to enable my remote team to accomplish their work, to how we were perceived as a stodgy old retailer in this high tech community we were sourcing from. And I had to do that while enabling us to achieve – and actually exceed – an aggressive revenue forecast each year.
If you could change one thing about how your given field operates, particularly with regards to women, what would it be and why?
Diversity in hiring takes effort. I believe there are many times where my colleagues do not operate with a growth mindset, but rather tend to operate with confirmation bias about their potential women colleagues. The tendency to do this results in their hiring more of the same, and looking for reasons not to take a flyer on a woman who can do the job but perhaps in a different way, even if it could be just as useful or better than their male counterpart’s performance. The fear and the discomfort of working in a new way can prevent people for being open to what different style or perspective a woman may bring to the situation.
What advice do you have for other women looking to make a career change but who are afraid or lack confidence? How is it on the other side?
I worked for 13 years in the TV/Film industry before switching into technology product management, after pursuing my MBA. I started over from the bottom in tech as an intern, and I was ready to be scrappy, with a strong work ethic and and openness to learn. What I knew about my strengths I leaned heavily into during the internship – showing my problem solving skills, trustworthiness, integrity and commitment. Those became the pillars I built my new career on. What I didn’t know about my job, I set about learning and showed my willingness to take coaching and feedback to fit into the corporate environment that was completely antithetical to my on-set film industry experience. My advice is this: know what your strongest soft skills are, and how they are applicable to your new career. Find out what you don’t yet know about your new career, and make a visible effort to develop yourself in those ways, whether it’s taking a coding class or going to meet-ups. Be willing to start over without ego, and show your potential to learn and grow. (I did a talk at CodeFellows recently on this topic called “Using your Career Strengths to Start Over”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F88cJN15xA4 )
Do you have any advice on how to craft a winning pitch?
To make a pitch resonate with a potential client, I always use specific, measurable examples of what I have done previously to illustrate my understanding of and experience in the domain. I believe data always helps someone make a better decision. I also feel it’s important to tailor a pitch to the business and brand in order to show you’ve done your homework and are clear on why you can add value to their team.
What is the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received? 
Bring solutions, not problems. You own the problem when you identify a solution, and you are more likely to fix it when focused in this way, than you are if you choose to waste time placing blame.
How do you negotiate the balance between life and work when you’re the one setting the boundaries?
It’s always helpful to love your work to make this balance viable. My family knows that when I am happy at work, I am happy at home, and vice versa. So they are a huge part of supporting me in both places. I manage the boundaries fluidly, looking at circumstances discretely to assess the need for unusual working hours, travel and presence. I weigh those requirements against my capacity to succeed with what else my life might demand from me and my family. At different points in time, my reaction to those requirements has been varied. And, I suspect it will continue to be as well.
If you could tell your younger self one thing about what this professional journey would be like, what would you tell her? 
Don’t over plan. Technology – and life – bring new opportunities in unexpected places and it’s important to be open to the possibility that something awaits you that you couldn’t have imagined previously.
How do you make work work for you?
Work works for me best when it is challenging me not merely to use my expertise but to also learn and grow. I think without the chance to learn and grow in my work, it becomes merely a job, and could then be just as well be any job. My life’s work has to include improving and growing myself, and in that process I am better equipped to improve the lives of others, whether they be team members or customers.
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Sallie Says: Just Buy the Latte!

Sallie Krawcheck busting myths about women and money in an article on the ways women are spoken down to when it comes to money and equity. Her message– buy the latte! Don’t let society tell you to save the latte cash and you will be rich or you have to choose if you are a Carrie (buys shoes) or a Miranda (saves money). This is a distraction from focusing on the systemic issues that keep women from gender equity.

 

“….as infuriating as it is to be patronized, that’s not the biggest issue. All this nonsense about lattes and shoes is shifting the attention–and thus the blame–for the underlying systemic money challenges women face, to the women themselves. The pink tax, the wage gap, the debt gap, the funding gap, the domestic work (and emotional labor) gap, and–my personal crusade–the investing gap.”

 

Sallie and her company Ellevest are taking power back into the hands of women with skills building, investment advice and financial tools to level the playing field.  Because, she says, “As Gloria Steinem has said,– We will not solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth. So, ladies, buy the f***ing latte, because I’m going to need you caffeinated when we do this thing.”

 

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Oliver Guide Founders Q and A

Oliver Guide is a crowdsourced travel platform where user share their travel recommendations for the community. It’s founders, Cynthia Pillsbury and Courtney Leary,  are two mothers who love to travel with their families and created a platform to aggregate the information and tips they got from friends. In the spirit of celebrating family and travel and our community they are hosting a sweepstakes for our members to win some of their fave travel accessories.

 

 

What is Oliver Guide?

 

A platform for capturing and sharing travel recommendations.

 

You are both busy mothers with jobs– what inspired you to create this platform?

 

A need. We were both traveling a lot and asking friends for recommendations on where to stay, eat and what to do as friends and friends of friends are the people we trust the most when it comes to travel. At the same time were being asked to share our travel information which meant that we were going back to old emails and doing a lot of time consuming cutting and pasting. Oliver Guide solves that– once you create a guide, you can share it with others forever. And, you can access travel recommendations from friends with ease.

 

Cynthia– as a Second Shift member, do you have advice for any other women thinking about standing up a new business venture but feeling overwhelmed?

 

Remember to have fun with it. If you don’t love it and believe in it, don’t do it. Also, take it one step at a time, remember Rome wasn’t built in a day and often times the best ideas evolve with time, trail and error (yes error!).

 

What are your favorite travel destinations?

 

Courtney: Always love France, Santa Barbara and New York, but someplace new is the best.

 

Cynthia: I have my stand-bys – Vail and Nantucket, but have made a promise to take my children somewhere NEW and different every year. We loved Belize and Laos.  Next on the list is (hopefully) Greece for kids and Japan for adults.

 

Best advice/tip you’ve learned through an Oliver Guide?

 

Courtney: How to do Art Basel, Miami.  It was something overwhelming that turned into absolute fun once I knew what to do!

 

Cynthia: Traveling with children is not for the faint at heart. I love to go go go, but that does not always work for so we do… a little culture, a little beach (chill time), a little culture, and so on. I also download Google maps before I get to a location and have my Oliver Guide accessible via a screen grab (if I am not able to have cellular) so I have a plan of attack on the days’ activities.

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