Sophia has worked in product at tech companies big and small, and always comes back to a passion for teams, collaboration, and process. A conversational extrovert, Sophia loves to spend time in conversation, learning about how others are approaching problems to drive consensus and collaboration.
Sophia’s background is primarily in Product Management, where she’s thrived as the cross-functional hub between internal stakeholders and users. In addition to building exciting products, Sophia is passionate about building motivated teams and crisp process. She believes that effective and compassionate collaboration breeds the strongest products and happiest teams.
“I think so much of what makes a team work is how they work. I really love finding ways to make sure different perspectives are being heard, and goals are visible and shared cross-functionally. We’re all people showing up to work every day, and starting with the human helps us do the best work.”
Sophia loves bringing order to chaos, and driving communication where there were previously siloes. She loves the feeling of a team being engaged in solving the same problem, and seeing them in the groove as they work. To her, no matter what a team is building, building ways to connect with others in a way that feels rewarding to all is what purpose-driven work means.
Async process
“I always feel good when I can find a way for a team to work in a way that meets each individual on their own terms. More often than not, that means allowing collaborators to come back to a discussion or task in an async manner, whether the team is co-located or not!
Some examples of async process wins that I have had: building out feedback systems, where user feedback can be submitted and tracked in one place. I’ve also conducted stand-ups asynchronously so we can all see each others’ progress and blockers without needing to pull out of heads-down work at the same time. I have also built out pre-reads and meeting templates to help everyone get on the same page before synchronous time.”
Team building and operations
“To me, team building and operations go had in hand, because they are elements for a team working seamlessly. I have had success experimenting with ways for teams to feel connected across timezones without feeling like they’re trapped on a Zoom happy hour 😊 I have really loved looking for ways to nurture the voice of my collaborators and help them find their place within the broader team.
On the operations side, I have seen a lot of success by maintaining a continuous feedback loop on how we’re approaching team meetings, documentation, and mechanisms for progress and OKR tracking. There is no one-size-fits-all for operating models, and I have found that the key to success is being open to feedback and change with whatever you are trying with the team.”
She also takes pride in her skills and a product owner. She has specific expertise in the areas of consumer tech, B2B collaborative software, and mobile development. She believes that all tech products should be fun and intuitive to use, no matter what job they’re doing for you.
Product Releases
“As a product manager, smooth and impactful releases are the clearest sign of success for the business that you can show. I have managed features releases that impacted millions of users at a time, and feature releases that impacted an invested set of design partners. I also have experience with mitigating risk with A/B testing, marketing, and soft launches.”
User Research
“I began my career in user research, and really believe there is a science to getting the most out of conversations with users. I pride myself on navigating those conversations so they stay grounded in relevance for the business while still staying open to uncovering unexpected and honest feedback. I have conducted dozens (if not hundreds) of conversations and strive to do the upfront prep for interviews so the synthesis leaves teams with plenty to chew on.”
