Breaking the Tech Ceiling

Michelle Kim, Co-Founder & VP of Marketing & GTM @ Pantastic

I know 5 other Michelle Kims. This particular Michelle Kim is a Co-Founder and VP of Marketing at Pantastic, and this month’s guest on Breaking the Tech Ceiling! One impetus for this podcast was to help me see potential options for my own career journey. I thought it fitting to end season 1 featuring another Michelle Kim, an executive with GTM expertise in the tech industry.  Michelle has had an impressive track record in the SaaS space for over 20 years now holding Director, Head of, and VP roles at a variety of companies including Mashery, Heroku, Okta (where she led global demand gen efforts through IPO!), and Amplitude. She then went on to become a Partner leading the go to market practice at Cloudery before co-founding Pantastic, acting as VP of Marketing and Go To Market. Turns out that we have many shared experiences and a passion for #mentorship. Michelle has been a mentor at First Round Capital, Torch, Women in Revenue, and How Women Lead.  We talk about mentorship; hope for a more diverse and inclusive culture - which is looking positive, especially with Gen Z and Gen Alpha. We talk about how Todd McKinnon, CEO of Okta called her back 3 YEARS after her initial interview.  I’m so glad that we were connected via Women in Revenue and had a chance to meet up live for some boba 🧋If you’re interested in learning about Michelle’s journey, please take a listen! If you have questions or comments, you can email me at Michelle@breakingthetechceiling.com. This will be the last episode of Season 1. You can find all 10 episodes on Spotify, Apple, or at www.breakingthetechceiling.com.  Thanks for listening and remember - Be courageous in your career!

Jacki Leahy, Fractional RevOps Advisor and Founder @ Activate The Magic

I definitely laughed the most with my most recent Breaking the Tech Ceiling guest Jacki Leahy, Fractional RevOps Advisor and Founder of the RevOps consultancy, Activate the Magic.  In this month’s episode, Jacki shares how Pavillion’s Rising Executives program inspired her to make the ask for a VP title, how she went from fired to hired in 7 days, and our shared passion for supporting every woman to be the leading lady of her career. See below for some of the resources Jackimentions in the interview: * Activate the Magic [https://activatethemagic.com/] - RevOps Consultancy * Wizard of Ops [https://wizops.org/] - RevOps Community * Pavilion [https://www.joinpavilion.com/] - Community for Go To Market Executives and Associates * Jacco Van Der Kooij [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaccovanderkooij/] * DISC assessment   If you have questions or comments, you can email me at Michelle@breakingthetechceiling.com [Michelle@breakingthetechceiling.com]. If you’re interested in joining me on my journey,  please follow and download episodes the first Tuesday of every month on Spotify, Apple, or at www.breakingthetechceiling.com [http://www.breakingthetechceiling.com/]. Thanks for listening and remember - Be courageous in your career!

Ejieme Eromosele, General Manager EMEA @ Quiq

Have you ever had a workquake? Ejieme Eromosele [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ejieme/], GM for the EMEA business at Quiq [https://www.linkedin.com/company/quiq-messaging/] and founder of Success in Black [https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-in-black/], shares her experience in this month’s episode of Breaking the Tech Ceiling. The resources below are a testament to our extremely illuminating discussion. I was particularly intrigued by what the then President of @The NY Times @Tom Thomson said to her, what she learned about doing business in #China, and how as an experiment 🧪 she volunteered herself personally to take on a renewals and expansion quota while the CSMs under her purview continued to be measured on delivering value to #customers. By proactively taking on more #revenue responsibility, I can see how her executive team would see Ejieme as someone to trust and promote. In our interview, Ejieme also shares her journey in #angelinvesting and a few organizations to research if you are interested in supporting #diversity in #venturecapital. See below for some of the resources Ejieme mentions in the interview:  * Mark Thomson (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/29/business/cnn-mark-thompson.html) * Lola Bakare [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#], CMO Advisor & Inclusive Marketing Strategist and author of “Responsible Marketing” * Ejieme's Customer Success mentor from Google Dutta Satadip 🚀🤝⚖️ [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#] * Mary Russell [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#] at https://www.stockoptioncounsel.com/  * Ten Percent Happier [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#] podcast with Dan Harris [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#] * Michaela Coel from Chewing Gum (tv series) * TALEA Beer Co. [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#] started by Tara Hankinson [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#] * NYU Stern School of Business [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#] * First Round Capital [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#]'s Angel Track - https://angeltrack.firstround.com/ * Golden Seeds [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#], an investment firm dedicated to pursuing market returns through the empowerment of women entrepreneurs and the people who invest in them * Level, a powerful multiracial community of women tackling the racial wealth gap by investing in Black women (https://www.linkedin.com/company/letslevel/about/) * BLCK VC [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#] empowers and supports Black investors, while increasing diversity in venture capital * Black Venture Institute, an intensive, curriculum-based program, as well as continuing education, to give established Black operators the education, experience, and connections they need to become angel and venture investors (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13914547/) If you have questions or comments, you can email me at Michelle@breakingthetechceiling.com. If you’re interested in joining me on my journey,  please follow and download episodes the first Tuesday of every month on Spotify, Apple, or at www.breakingthetechceiling.com.  Thanks for listening and remember - Be courageous in your career!

Ran Xiao, VP Go-To-Market Strategy & Operations

If you don’t know Ran Xiao, she is a real strat & ops bada** 😎 And she just happens to be this month’s guest on Breaking the Tech Ceiling! Ran has been at several high-growth companies during critical junctures (Salesforce, Slack, Zendesk, Carta). In this episode, she shares the 3 things you need to keep in mind to thrive in pressure cooker environments and how the Easter bunny 🐰 fits into her career story. She is currently taking a career pause break and is now open to connecting about leadership or advisory opportunities.  If you’re searching for someone like Ran to be in your corner, then 🏃🏼, don’t 🚶🏻 Thanks, Ran for being a role model for me at Zendesk and beyond. Thanks for listening and remember - Be courageous in your career!

Hayal Koc, Regional VP of High Tech Sales @ Salesforce

Hayal Koc is this month’s guest on Breaking the Tech Ceiling! She's currently the Regional Vice President of High Tech Sales at Salesforce. Hayal’s background is impressive (ibanking, management consulting, Founder). She shares how to overcome the perception that you’re not ready for a senior leadership role, tactics for internal networking, and what to follow instead of your passion. If you have questions or comments, you can email me at Michelle@breakingthetechceiling.com [Michelle@breakingthetechceiling.com]. If you’re interested in joining me on my journey,  please follow and download episodes the first Tuesday of every month on Spotify, Apple, or at www.breakingthetechceiling.com [http://www.breakingthetechceiling.com/]. Thanks for listening and remember - Be courageous in your career!