#10 Nadine Karaze: How Nadine Found What She Wanted to Become (Enhanced Video)

[0:00] the interview series where i talked to
[0:02] different people and asked them really
[0:04] basic questions such as what they wanted
[0:06] to become when they were in high school
[0:08] their career journey and goal setting
[0:10] methods
[0:12] most of the interview when we talk about
[0:14] these small a very basic topic something
[0:17] will come up like a situation or a
[0:20] person or a thing that help you direct
[0:23] your
[0:24] uh career to where you are
[0:27] meet nadeem karazee
[0:28] who is a ucf graduate joined advent hull
[0:32] six years ago
[0:34] and
[0:35] has been rising career ladder from an
[0:38] analyst to product owner and now a
[0:40] manager
[0:41] when you was in high school and college
[0:44] what you wanted to become nadine
[0:47] so in college you know i started out my
[0:50] undergrad like everybody
[0:52] confused um not sure what i wanted to do
[0:56] it was just all kind of overwhelming at
[0:59] first um
[1:00] i honestly thought i wanted to go into
[1:03] something with radiology um going into
[1:06] ucf i was really
[1:09] proactive in trying to figure out okay
[1:11] what was my four years going to look
[1:12] like at ucf because i wanted to make
[1:15] sure i didn't waste any time
[1:17] i've heard i had heard that you know
[1:19] unless you're very
[1:21] strategic with your career path and in
[1:24] college that you may finish within
[1:26] closer to five years and i was like okay
[1:28] i did not want to do that so i i had in
[1:30] my mind that like i need to finish
[1:32] within four years so i was like how are
[1:33] they gonna do that so i went into the
[1:35] business administration um
[1:37] and i talked to the folks there i i got
[1:40] some guidance um i asked them for some
[1:42] quick tips and tricks on how to manage
[1:45] my time the best way i could to make
[1:47] sure i completed my college career in
[1:49] four years
[1:50] and then with that of course i had a lot
[1:52] of questions about what programs are
[1:53] being offered you know what curriculums
[1:56] do they recommend
[1:57] um and i just kind of took on a bunch of
[1:59] brochures and started sifting through a
[2:02] bunch of catalogs on different things i
[2:04] could graduate with from ucf um so i i
[2:08] pulled a bunch i went to the to the
[2:10] business center and pulled a bunch of
[2:11] catalogs and i said okay let me just sit
[2:14] down and review all these these um
[2:16] options and see where my interests kind
[2:18] of
[2:19] directed me
[2:21] and then over time i was like okay well
[2:23] i think i want to do something in
[2:24] radiology let me see what it takes to
[2:26] pursue that track well then
[2:28] shortly after i made that decision ucf
[2:30] decided to do a budget cut and they
[2:32] removed that four-year program
[2:34] so it forced me to go back to the
[2:36] drawing boards go through the catalogs
[2:39] and see what was the runner-up option
[2:41] and sure enough i saw um something
[2:43] around healthcare it was it still
[2:44] pertained to healthcare but it was more
[2:46] of a tech route so i was like oh this
[2:48] piques my interest it's not very
[2:50] clinical um but it is still in the
[2:53] healthcare domain and i knew i liked
[2:55] something to do with healthcare and tech
[2:58] so i'm like all right let me explore my
[2:59] options so with that um i know i honed
[3:02] in on him and then healthcare
[3:04] informatics and so that's kind of what
[3:07] all led to my journey it was a lot of
[3:11] discovery work it was a lot of patience
[3:13] you kind of have to trust the process
[3:16] um and really just go with your gut and
[3:18] say you know i don't even know if i'm
[3:20] gonna like this but i'm gonna i'm gonna
[3:22] take this on and see what happens and
[3:24] then over time
[3:26] i had learned to just trust the process
[3:29] go ask the right questions talk to
[3:32] different mentors people in the industry
[3:35] took those opportunities to intern at
[3:38] the at the hospital which back in the
[3:40] day it was florida hospital and
[3:43] through that i learned a lot i think
[3:45] getting
[3:46] um getting as close to those real life
[3:48] experiences as possible while you're in
[3:50] the program is super beneficial because
[3:54] then at that point if you want to pivot
[3:56] or you decide you don't like it or
[3:58] you've changed your mind you still have
[4:00] the opportunity to do that right
[4:02] so
[4:03] that's kind of how i kind of started off
[4:05] my journey and i think through that
[4:07] learn i learned a lot i learned okay i
[4:11] actually don't want to be clinical
[4:13] by going and doing these interns because
[4:15] i was working at the hospital while i
[4:17] was going to school full-time
[4:19] and working
[4:20] and i just found myself in a situation
[4:23] where i'm like
[4:24] okay is this what i want to do do i want
[4:26] to be working in the healthcare setting
[4:28] at the hospital and very quickly did i
[4:30] learn that wasn't for me
[4:32] so again i had to pivot so it's just
[4:35] that constant willingness to adapt
[4:38] and keep charging on and because it's
[4:41] not gonna be perfectly cut and clear and
[4:44] smooth sailing it's gonna be
[4:46] okay let's learn about um some options
[4:49] let's dive into that and see what works
[4:52] for me
[4:53] um and so then in a nutshell i found
[4:55] myself
[4:56] um working at the hospital and hating it
[4:58] and so i was like oh gosh i i can't
[5:00] graduate with this degree
[5:02] and and then continue on this path
[5:05] of potentially staying within the
[5:07] healthcare
[5:08] um clinical space so i then again took a
[5:12] step back and i said all right
[5:14] what can i do to pivot but not add as
[5:17] much extra time to my college career so
[5:20] that's kind of where i landed with
[5:21] healthcare informatics it was a great
[5:24] you know middle ground for me it was it
[5:26] allowed me to stay in the healthcare
[5:28] space but it also not be so clinical but
[5:30] then also
[5:32] kind of explore the tech area so then
[5:34] that's kind of how i landed with that
[5:36] and then finally graduated in something
[5:38] that made sense for me and um really
[5:40] kicked off my career uh and making sure
[5:42] that i was going in the right direction
[5:45] but yeah as you can see it wasn't very
[5:47] clear-cut it was a lot of like for
[5:49] anyone who's listening to this as you
[5:51] enter college
[5:52] you know you ca the first thing that you
[5:55] pick might not be the thing you land
[5:56] with and that is perfectly fine you're
[5:58] gonna have to explore it learn if that's
[6:01] even right for you
[6:03] um and then if you have to pivot that is
[6:05] perfectly okay just trust the process
[6:08] stick with it and really explore your
[6:11] options
[6:12] um
[6:13] and and try to be surrounded with people
[6:15] who will help push you
[6:17] and challenge you to get out of your
[6:18] comfort zone a little bit because that's
[6:20] that's okay too
[6:22] and then i think the worst thing to do
[6:23] is to wait for that inspiration or
[6:26] perfect course and subject to
[6:29] to appear
[6:30] and not do anything
[6:32] no
[6:33] definitely not i highly recommend just
[6:35] keep trying new things even if it's not
[6:38] exactly what you're looking for you just
[6:40] never know what will come your way and
[6:42] you'll you'll even surprise yourself
[6:45] so um i learned that worked for me
[6:49] and i'm really glad that i continued
[6:51] going back to the drawing boards
[6:53] exploring my options and then trying
[6:54] something new um you don't know really
[6:56] sometimes um until you try and so i i do
[7:00] believe in that philosophy and um over
[7:03] time it'll it'll work itself out just
[7:05] stick with it
[7:06] this is a great story to tell how many
[7:09] time you change
[7:11] compared to the person who is
[7:13] in high school and trying to think uh
[7:15] should i start my college or not because
[7:17] i don't i'm not clear what i want to do
[7:21] right
[7:22] yeah and you really don't know until you
[7:23] get that hands-on exposure so i highly
[7:26] recommend early on if you think you have
[7:29] an idea of what you're going into
[7:32] see what it see what you can to intern
[7:35] shadow time
[7:37] whatever it is um connect with um
[7:39] professionals in that space get to know
[7:41] people maybe join some meetups some
[7:44] professional network meetups that really
[7:46] gets you that exposure to the world and
[7:48] the reality of it because what you study
[7:50] is completely different when you're
[7:51] actually what you're actually doing on
[7:53] the day-to-day so it's good to get that
[7:54] exposure sooner than later
[7:56] that way you're not wasting your time
[7:58] and graduating with something that
[7:59] you're never gonna use or apply which
[8:01] would be a shame because four years is a
[8:03] long time
[8:05] so how did you get that first job in
[8:07] advent health so i didn't mention this
[8:09] but i did go back to ucf and i went to
[8:13] pursue my master's degree
[8:15] i just knew that if if i was going to be
[8:18] successful in my journey
[8:20] i would have to continue education and
[8:22] get my master's in healthcare
[8:23] informatics and what i did to
[8:27] kind of land the position i'm in now is
[8:29] i i applied all over the place like many
[8:32] you know um soon-to-be graduates and um
[8:36] just kept putting applications out there
[8:38] i was doing a lot of networking with um
[8:41] our um
[8:43] our department within ucf our internal
[8:46] department and then i found myself also
[8:48] kind of reaching out to folks that i've
[8:50] met professionally over the years
[8:53] through various interns et cetera and
[8:56] just kind of reaching out to them
[8:58] directly and seeing if they had any
[8:59] opportunities available
[9:01] um
[9:03] so i you know kind of explored a lot of
[9:05] different options
[9:06] and then one day i applied to avid
[9:09] health and i saw that they had an
[9:10] opening and
[9:12] i went in for an interview they had they
[9:14] called me back and i went in for an
[9:16] interview and of course this was
[9:18] completely a new domain
[9:20] i had no idea what i was getting myself
[9:22] into it was with corporate analytics
[9:24] this was kind of a newer area for me
[9:26] however i was quite familiar with it
[9:28] because we had studied um quite a bit
[9:30] around this area and different business
[9:33] intelligence tools
[9:34] so um we had some exchanges go back and
[9:37] forth and one of my assignments as part
[9:39] of the interview process was to build a
[9:42] dashboard in click view using the
[9:45] business intelligence tool at advent
[9:47] health at the time
[9:49] and they were like we want you to take
[9:51] some data find some sample data and
[9:53] build out a dashboard and i was like
[9:56] okay
[9:56] um i have no expertise in this no skill
[9:59] system skill sets in this and i had to
[10:02] learn it from scratch
[10:03] i also had to find some random raw data
[10:05] to work with to build a dashboard and so
[10:09] that was kind of my assignment and i was
[10:10] like all right well this is this is my
[10:12] opportunity to get introduced into the
[10:14] real world with an amazing opportunity
[10:15] with analytics so i took it on um and
[10:20] fortunately i was able to build
[10:22] something after several weeks they had
[10:23] given me two weeks to put something
[10:25] together very simple but i think they
[10:27] just wanted to see you know
[10:29] am i willing to self-learn
[10:31] take initiative and
[10:33] see what i can do to
[10:36] to collect and kind of transform some
[10:39] data sets and make some meaningful use
[10:41] out of it
[10:43] and then with that followed up with some
[10:45] interviews and back and forth exchanges
[10:47] but i honestly think till this day what
[10:50] really landed me in this opportunity was
[10:53] just being myself and being true to
[10:56] myself and really allowing myself to
[10:59] just
[11:01] take it all in
[11:02] maximize your opportunity and then just
[11:05] be yourself i i say that again because
[11:07] um believing believing yourself is half
[11:11] the battle and just showing up with
[11:12] confidence and a smile on your face goes
[11:14] a long way um i think what they
[11:17] continually expressed with me and i
[11:20] could i kept remembering this they were
[11:22] like listen skill sets are something you
[11:24] can always learn but a personality is
[11:26] something you can't train anybody
[11:28] so with the willingness of obviously
[11:31] learning and my hunger to
[11:34] evolve and adapt
[11:36] and then of course with a hint of the
[11:38] personality aspect i think that that's
[11:40] what really allowed me to stand out
[11:42] against my um competitors
[11:45] and so over time um
[11:48] it was just a lot of just it kind of
[11:50] became clear to me i was like oh okay
[11:51] well you know what sometimes you just
[11:53] have to keep it simple and stick to your
[11:55] foundations and um
[11:57] i truly believe in just um
[12:00] just having someone to believe in you
[12:01] and then believing in yourself really
[12:03] goes a long way
[12:06] i'm gonna touch more
[12:07] on this part it's easy to say um that
[12:11] know yourself believe in yourself but
[12:14] it's really hard to actually do it and
[12:16] and and many times you don't even know
[12:19] how right because knowing yourself is
[12:22] not an easy task you may have to do 10
[12:25] different activities just to
[12:28] understand who you are
[12:31] and it takes time especially early on in
[12:33] your career right you're not as
[12:35] confident you're not really sure what
[12:37] the expectations are you don't know what
[12:39] kind of questions they're gonna ask so
[12:41] you just you're just a little
[12:42] overwhelmed but
[12:44] if you just um believe in yourself and
[12:47] know that you can do it
[12:49] it's nothing that you can't handle you
[12:50] just have to kind of and you won't you
[12:52] won't always have the answers and that's
[12:54] okay and you just have to have a way to
[12:56] handle that and and a good follow-up to
[12:58] say listen i might not know these
[13:00] answers but i'm gonna go home and i'm
[13:02] gonna research this and i'm gonna come
[13:04] back to you with some some answers so
[13:07] i'm just showing that eagerness and
[13:09] hunger
[13:10] and dedication goes a long way
[13:13] so nadine from that job to a product
[13:16] owner job
[13:18] seems like he was enjoying that job so
[13:20] how how did it occur to you to change
[13:22] and and
[13:23] uh the people who don't know
[13:26] it's a two different completely two
[13:27] different domains right um the one that
[13:30] you was into and then as a product owner
[13:32] it was different
[13:35] yeah i mean so i came from building
[13:38] dashboards i was i was
[13:40] hired on as a quickview developer
[13:42] analyst associate level i was building
[13:45] dashboards taking data transforming them
[13:48] in
[13:49] into a dashboard that leadership was
[13:51] looking at to make business decisions or
[13:53] help drive different behaviors
[13:55] and then over time i had built organ um
[13:59] great relationships within the
[14:00] organization and i had realized there
[14:03] was other opportunities in the
[14:04] organization that piqued my interest and
[14:06] i knew i could develop however that that
[14:10] position specifically was a lot more
[14:11] technical it was a lot more um
[14:14] less people involved if you will it was
[14:17] more me working at the computer and
[14:20] working internally with my
[14:22] colleagues which is fine um but i think
[14:24] for my personality type i naturally
[14:28] gravitated working with more people
[14:30] stakeholders i'm i enjoyed that aspect
[14:32] of the job the most so i was trying to
[14:35] figure out how can i still stay in a
[14:37] tech space
[14:39] but pivot in a way that really gets me
[14:41] that exposure and working with teams
[14:44] even leading out a team and working
[14:47] closely with the stakeholders
[14:49] and then i was made aware that the
[14:50] product owner position
[14:52] was
[14:53] that team was was looking to hire
[14:56] and so
[14:57] um naturally that peaked my interest and
[14:58] i went ahead and applied to it and of
[15:00] course went through the interview
[15:02] process and um again stuck to being
[15:05] myself and staying true to myself and
[15:07] believing in myself because i knew again
[15:10] it's completely a new domain but um
[15:13] you know it it's it's it's similar but
[15:16] different because um i'm no longer
[15:19] building a dashboard and just sitting at
[15:20] my desk this this product role um really
[15:23] had me pushing out of my boundaries and
[15:25] my comfort
[15:27] working with software developers
[15:28] something that i didn't know a whole lot
[15:30] of but i knew what development was just
[15:33] not at that that um grand scale of um
[15:38] you know building software from
[15:39] beginning to end right um so it
[15:41] definitely had some areas
[15:44] that didn't make me feel very
[15:45] comfortable at first but but
[15:47] um you know it ended up working out and
[15:50] and through persistence and the
[15:52] eagerness to just apply um like learning
[15:55] and and continuing to push myself out of
[15:57] my comfort zone i find that that's
[16:00] that's kind of how you end up excelling
[16:02] um
[16:03] don't ever stay in a comfortable zone
[16:06] if that makes any sense
[16:10] it definitely does
[16:12] yeah so i feel i find that you grow the
[16:14] most when you're constantly pushing
[16:16] yourself boundaries and taking those
[16:18] risks and seeking opportunity when it
[16:20] comes your way um and so
[16:23] i was like you know what this is a new
[16:24] opportunity let me just try to go and
[16:26] seize it see what happens i have nothing
[16:28] to lose because if it doesn't work out
[16:30] i'm still doing what i love to do
[16:32] but if it works out this is going to be
[16:34] a great growth opportunity for me and
[16:36] um i get to push myself outside of my
[16:39] comfort zone and continue to learn and
[16:41] evolve and see what is the best fit for
[16:43] me i mean i still don't know what i want
[16:45] to be when i grow up it's continuing to
[16:48] evolve
[16:49] as the years pass and that is perfectly
[16:52] fine what you start doing after college
[16:54] is not probably what you're going to end
[16:56] up doing forever so um it's a it's a
[16:58] continuing journey that will probably
[17:00] continue to evolve and change which is
[17:03] perfectly fine
[17:04] that's so true
[17:06] and
[17:07] just like
[17:08] you said before
[17:11] working outside your comfort zone is
[17:13] another
[17:15] um
[17:16] a buzzword but it's really hard to do
[17:19] and for me what that mean
[17:22] is when you are in job number one and
[17:24] you change to job number two in my case
[17:27] uh becoming a manager or becoming a
[17:29] senior manager and my senior manager job
[17:31] was completely different domain um as
[17:34] the previous one
[17:36] the biggest thing that you miss
[17:38] is the gut feeling that you have
[17:40] developed in your job working so many
[17:43] years
[17:44] and then in this new job you wanted to
[17:46] run with the same pace on day one and
[17:48] you can
[17:49] right
[17:50] um
[17:51] if you try to you can act like before
[17:55] and inside in in my previous or first
[17:57] time when i became a manager i was still
[18:01] doing technical heavy activity because
[18:03] that was my comfort zone
[18:05] and giving a review to
[18:07] another team member or there are a bunch
[18:10] of other activities where
[18:12] i was not comfortable
[18:14] but i i kept running
[18:17] and it's basically focusing on those
[18:19] technical activities or production
[18:21] downtime and you name it right because i
[18:23] was excellent at it
[18:25] so
[18:26] um the developing that gut feeling takes
[18:29] time
[18:30] and i think for me that was the big
[18:32] thing with each job you develop that in
[18:35] a few months few years and that's where
[18:37] your actual growth happens
[18:40] absolutely i i truly felt what helped me
[18:42] succeed in my pre in the product owner
[18:45] role
[18:46] was
[18:46] the minute i got comfortable
[18:48] that's kind of when i know that was the
[18:51] ticking bomb for like okay
[18:53] you're getting too comfortable
[18:55] and then you start feeling like you
[18:56] might get complacent which is
[18:59] something that i truly
[19:01] have to be self-aware of right we're
[19:02] human beings we like comfort we like to
[19:04] be comfortable right um and the minute
[19:07] you find yourself sitting there and
[19:09] thinking am i comfortable have i
[19:11] am i getting complacent
[19:13] um that's really when you should be
[19:15] starting to think
[19:17] okay i see this coming i should prevent
[19:19] this from coming because if you continue
[19:21] to stay in that space i think it's a
[19:23] very dangerous space to stay in um you
[19:26] at least for my personal
[19:28] um
[19:29] for me personally when i find when i
[19:31] have hit that space i try my best to get
[19:33] out of it because
[19:34] i get complacent i'm i'm less likely to
[19:38] push my boundaries i'm less likely to
[19:39] look for opportunities i'm less likely
[19:41] to
[19:42] grow
[19:44] and challenge myself and i find when i'm
[19:45] challenging myself that is when growth
[19:48] and success comes shortly after because
[19:50] you're just you have something in front
[19:52] of you you're trying to get better at it
[19:54] and and and you're working towards
[19:57] something new
[19:58] um and sometimes it's not easy you're
[20:00] like okay well i've been in this job for
[20:02] three years
[20:04] that's
[20:05] usually around the thailand usually
[20:06] between two to three years i feel like
[20:07] where i start getting a little
[20:08] comfortable somewhere
[20:10] and at that point i have to start asking
[20:12] myself okay do i want to continue doing
[20:14] this
[20:16] yes maybe not um and if so how am i
[20:19] going to start pushing the boundaries
[20:20] and start challenging myself to either
[20:22] scale or grow or whatever it is that i'm
[20:25] looking for um to push myself back out
[20:28] of my comfort zone and so asking
[20:30] yourself those questions
[20:32] it starts to you know settle in and hit
[20:35] you think and to think okay yeah maybe i
[20:37] am ready for something new and then
[20:39] through that you just never know what
[20:41] kind of can of worms you're going to
[20:43] open
[20:43] um and then and then things kind of
[20:46] follow suit so
[20:47] that's kind of where i found myself in
[20:49] the product owner role i was kind of
[20:51] like all right i've been at it for three
[20:53] three years and i was i loved the work
[20:55] that i was doing um but i was like well
[20:58] do i do i see myself continuing this or
[21:00] do am i ready for something new so
[21:03] sometimes you have to kind of just be
[21:04] real and ask yourself those hard
[21:06] questions
[21:09] and i don't know if you notice this or
[21:10] not but your previous change was three
[21:13] years three months and this three and a
[21:14] half
[21:16] yeah usually three years three and a
[21:17] half years is like my my ticking uh
[21:21] kind of cue for hey um maybe
[21:24] is this still for you are you ready to
[21:26] evolve and change it up and i'm still
[21:28] looking for what i think is going to be
[21:30] the best for me best fit for me
[21:32] um which is why i continually ask myself
[21:35] that question is this do i feel
[21:37] fulfilled is this am i reaching my
[21:39] um best potential and if the answer is
[21:42] no then
[21:44] yeah i keep kind of digging for
[21:46] something else but still relevant and
[21:48] still in the same space because i still
[21:50] love what i do i just need to see
[21:53] what is the best angle for me and i
[21:54] think that's what my journey has led me
[21:56] to
[21:57] of course the moves that i'm making are
[21:58] somewhat strategic right it's not just
[22:01] kind of random and aimless it's it's
[22:04] with some sort of direction so you have
[22:05] to kind of keep that in mind too
[22:07] depending on what your goals are um i
[22:10] think one day i see myself in a more
[22:13] um in a position where maybe i'm
[22:15] managing people or just
[22:17] kind of more on the business strategy
[22:19] side which is kind of where i'm sitting
[22:21] now
[22:21] um and i and i knew that i needed to
[22:24] understand what it took to get there
[22:27] so
[22:28] knowing product ownership product
[22:30] management kind of is the foundation for
[22:33] that knowing data and the analytics side
[22:36] of things is just a key foundation layer
[22:38] for product management so you kind of
[22:40] see how these pieces fit in together and
[22:42] then now i'm more on the strategy and
[22:44] planning side so so i know what it takes
[22:47] to
[22:48] to kind of drive a product i know what
[22:50] it takes to develop a product
[22:53] whether it's failed or succeeded
[22:55] and then now i'm kind of getting the
[22:58] purview of understanding what it takes
[23:00] to strategize and plan
[23:02] for any new technology solution so these
[23:05] pieces are all coming together and now i
[23:07] get to understand okay i know i liked
[23:10] this i like that this role is going to
[23:12] introduce do i like the strategy and
[23:14] planning side and if i do then i'll
[23:16] continue here if i don't i might go back
[23:18] to tech development because i also
[23:20] really enjoyed that space so you don't
[23:22] know like i said until you try but i
[23:24] always say um
[23:26] trust the process it's it's not going to
[23:28] be perfect
[23:30] um stay consistent stay persistent
[23:33] build the right connections um and and
[23:37] you know what's helped me a lot too is
[23:39] is getting close with some great mentors
[23:41] whether it be within the organization or
[23:44] outside of the organization that's
[23:45] helped guide me and helped
[23:48] recommend you know things and advice and
[23:51] times where i'm not always sure on what
[23:53] to do it's it's really good to build um
[23:57] those dynamics to help steer you in the
[23:59] right direction and keep you held
[24:00] accountable and keep you motivated to
[24:02] keep going you know because sometimes we
[24:04] just have those days where we're just
[24:06] like what am i doing i'm not seeing
[24:08] um
[24:09] you know any progress i don't see that
[24:11] i'm making an impact and sometimes it
[24:13] just feels like a broken record so it's
[24:15] really important to have people like
[24:16] that in your life to help
[24:18] cheer you on show that they believe in
[24:21] you so you can continue to believe in
[24:22] yourself and then keep moving forward
[24:25] what a point about the mentor
[24:28] and
[24:29] that's
[24:29] something
[24:31] that has helped me as well
[24:33] in my career journey especially when i
[24:35] feel lost i wanted to come back to your
[24:38] job as a product owner nadine
[24:41] when you you became a product owner for
[24:44] the scheduling provider scheduling we
[24:46] are more responsible to i.t and not to
[24:49] the actual data but
[24:51] for you didn't distinguish between what
[24:54] we are responsible for and what we are
[24:56] not responsible for you took the 100
[24:58] ownership and you have the contractor
[25:01] working for you to do the data fixing
[25:04] you have a
[25:06] new york stakeholder
[25:09] you have the i uh programmers and
[25:11] everywhere and you became the connecting
[25:13] dot and you made it more stable we ever
[25:17] had
[25:18] so how did you do that especially from
[25:20] the mindset perspective nadine that
[25:23] you're taking the whole ownership
[25:25] yeah i mean honestly going into it i
[25:28] didn't think i was gonna have to do that
[25:30] but i think what i realized was that
[25:34] at that time we didn't have a lot of
[25:36] ownership um over different areas like
[25:39] data governance
[25:40] um and we were solely responsible for
[25:42] technology but we solely also relied on
[25:45] the data quality and integrity
[25:48] integration so we were i was kind of
[25:50] found i kind of found myself in a
[25:52] position where no matter what i did on
[25:54] the tech side to improve the
[25:57] consumer experience and experience for
[25:59] our stakeholders it just never seemed to
[26:01] be enough
[26:03] so that's kind of when we realized okay
[26:06] as a team we had to kind of put in a
[26:08] process to support many of their pain
[26:11] points around data
[26:13] and figure out a way to turn it around
[26:15] quickly so that we could relieve a lot
[26:17] of their pain points and frustrations
[26:19] because i think the technology piece was
[26:21] there and it was mostly solid um but it
[26:24] was more around getting the provider
[26:26] data
[26:27] correct and um up to date and then of
[26:30] course you know we we continually wanted
[26:32] to work on improving the user experience
[26:34] from our consumers and then
[26:37] kind of meeting the business in the
[26:38] middle too with meeting their needs so
[26:41] intentionally i intentionally didn't
[26:42] start you know go in with that plan but
[26:45] i think what i had learned after
[26:46] building and
[26:47] the relationships that i built with the
[26:49] business
[26:50] um it was clear to me that they they
[26:53] needed that support and they needed that
[26:55] help and i think the only way we were
[26:57] going to be successful with our product
[26:59] was to um
[27:02] you know take it all on and and make
[27:04] sure that the
[27:05] data was where it needed to be to
[27:08] kind of help highlight how amazing our
[27:10] tool was um and then of course taking
[27:12] into consideration the user experience
[27:14] um so doing that consumer research and
[27:17] and and appropriately designing a flow
[27:20] that made sense for our consumer so at
[27:23] the end of the day as a product owner
[27:25] you're going to be put in situations
[27:26] where you need to make the product
[27:28] successful and if that means it lives
[27:30] outside of the tech and kind of kind of
[27:32] goes into the operational play
[27:35] i felt like it was my duty to make sure
[27:38] i could um
[27:40] help play a role in that to improve the
[27:43] whole journey from beginning to end
[27:46] so yeah i think and i think that helps
[27:48] with with
[27:50] success because you're not just looking
[27:51] at it from a one lens view you're
[27:53] looking at it holistically um and to be
[27:55] a successful product manager and
[27:57] developing a product that people are
[27:59] going to use and want to leverage you
[28:01] have to keep it relevant you have to
[28:02] keep it user friendly you have to keep
[28:04] it
[28:06] meeting the needs of the consumer and
[28:08] the business so
[28:09] i think that's kind of what contributed
[28:11] to the success of the project
[28:14] and was it uh scary in the beginning or
[28:17] at any point that um um
[28:20] you you're taking this ownership
[28:23] uh yes it was it was a lot of work um
[28:27] many long hours it was it was worth the
[28:29] sacrifice though um i truly also loved
[28:32] what i was doing so i think that helps
[28:34] um
[28:36] but it yeah it was it was a little scary
[28:38] and intimidating at first as you know
[28:40] vinnie our some of our stakeholders can
[28:43] be scary and so that's kind of where
[28:46] um the whole belief in yourself stick
[28:48] with it kind of comes into play in those
[28:50] days where you know you don't always
[28:52] have someone to lean on or
[28:54] someone to help give you some
[28:56] inspiration so you're kind of having to
[28:57] lean on yourself and just
[29:00] trust in yourself that it's going to
[29:02] work out and and it's okay
[29:06] so
[29:07] due to the time constraint
[29:08] we will have a second part of this and
[29:11] um i will proceed to this to the last
[29:14] two questions
[29:16] question number one
[29:17] is what's your message to the people who
[29:21] want to become a product owner well if
[29:23] they're just coming out of school and um
[29:26] you know hopefully they've been
[29:28] lucky enough to get some
[29:32] experience while studying i would highly
[29:34] recommend
[29:36] getting as much exposure with folks in
[29:38] our industry and networking
[29:41] i also highly recommend some
[29:43] professional meetups within their local
[29:46] area
[29:47] building the right connections is super
[29:49] insightful
[29:50] i also think you may build amazing
[29:52] relationships to get potentially even a
[29:54] mentor to help guide you in those times
[29:57] that that you need support
[30:00] and also kind of get you connected to
[30:01] other folks in the industry that you
[30:03] never know when you're going to cross
[30:04] paths with again that may really make an
[30:07] impact to you in your career
[30:10] and then stay relevant read some books
[30:12] um
[30:14] and uh really understand the why
[30:17] of what you're doing um
[30:20] and always always try to get as much
[30:22] exposure with your consumers
[30:24] um and and be as hands-on as possible um
[30:27] when you're thinking about a product
[30:31] and i i think in your case you did this
[30:33] uh product owner training after uh
[30:36] coming into this role right not before
[30:38] yep yep that's true and i i think the
[30:41] becoming a certified product um owner is
[30:44] super helpful you learn a lot of great
[30:46] content and then think of ways of how to
[30:48] apply it um definitely helps with with
[30:51] that but i definitely think um
[30:54] networking and getting that real life
[30:56] exposure is going to be your best bet um
[31:00] and
[31:00] yes and i think while you're in if
[31:03] you're in school or
[31:04] just coming out of school um
[31:06] reach out to people in your industry or
[31:08] meetups and stay connected message to
[31:11] the audience and my audience is the
[31:12] people who are in their early career uh
[31:15] two to five years and then also the
[31:17] people in the college uh but uh what you
[31:20] what your message to those
[31:24] my message is stick with it
[31:27] trust the process um stay true to
[31:30] yourself um and just stay persistent
[31:34] it's not going to be easy it might even
[31:36] be a lonely journey for a while
[31:39] but it will pay off and just always
[31:41] remember the why
[31:43] because sometimes you're going to find
[31:44] yourself in situations where you're like
[31:46] i am burnt out i'm stressed i don't know
[31:49] what i'm doing and why i'm doing this
[31:51] but it'll all be worth it at the end um
[31:53] when things start coming into fruition
[31:54] and coming together so it will work out
[31:57] um and just just keep keep an open mind
[32:00] and keep your options open
[32:03] another key thing i would say to the
[32:04] folks listening to this is surround
[32:06] yourself with people who are going to
[32:07] help
[32:08] you know root you on and cheer you on um
[32:11] and
[32:11] really think about your influences
[32:13] around you
[32:14] it's a huge contributor to i think a lot
[32:16] of my successes when i looked around and
[32:19] i have a strong family support
[32:21] foundation friend circle and just
[32:23] professionals around me that inspire me
[32:26] and motivate me it just kind of helps
[32:28] keep you going on those times where just
[32:30] things are getting tough so
[32:32] always always
[32:34] surround yourself with those who
[32:35] influence you to be the best version of
[32:37] yourself
[32:38] whatever that looks like to you
[32:40] when we will meet next time we'll be
[32:42] talking about goal setting time
[32:44] management
[32:46] yes those are key key components to
[32:49] being successful so that sounds great
[32:51] vinny
[32:52] all right thank you so much nadine all
[32:54] right thank you take care