Her Story
About Bria
I started my career right after the 2008 housing crisis when most of my graduating class couldn't find jobs, so I took what I could get in affiliate marketing. That first role opened many doors for me throughout my career. I moved through various positions including leading marketing and event planning for a backpackers youth hostel in downtown Boston, where I helped rebrand a YWCA into a hostel and create guest experiences. In 2013, I moved to Colorado with my boyfriend, now husband, with no job and no friends, just taking a leap of faith. I worked my way through agency roles and eventually landed at Gaia (formerly Gaiam TV) where I led email marketing and a team. Seeking more challenge, I joined Scaled Agile where I transitioned from marketing leadership to owning their most prestigious certification program, the SPC2, which is like an Agile PhD program. I took that program through digital transformation, served as lead product manager, and grew its global reach tremendously. I'm most proud of personally impacting the careers of over a hundred elite professionals who came through that program. After a brief stint in consulting and an unexpected month working as Gisele Bundchen's chief operating officer, I found my way to Humana. They hired me when I was 20 weeks pregnant, and I've been there ever since, first growing the Agile Transformation and coaching practice for CentralWell, then leading portfolio management, and now leading portfolio management transformation on the insurance side. I love the art of facilitation and designing workshops, and I'm passionate about coaching executive leaders on shifting from command and control styles to the leadership mindset required in this new age. Now that I have a young child, I'm happy with a stable, challenging role that offers great work-life balance, though I always keep my eyes open for opportunities to focus more on the culture side of change.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Bria
01What do you attribute your success to?
I mean, part of it is personal perseverance, but I think a much bigger part is my community. I am really lucky to have some really, really smart, brilliant, successful people in my life that have been willing to take me under their wing and kind of teach me the ropes. They brought me through a big career shift from managing an elite consulting program to being an elite consultant. That's probably the single greatest contributor to my success, is the community of friends and individuals that have helped me. I also think that if I feel too comfortable, I get bored, and so there have definitely been many points in my career where I've said yes to something that's slightly terrifying, and it's worked out really well.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I see it as an opportunity. I was marketing myself as an Agile transformation leader for a long time, and I think Agile's shelf life is quickly approaching. A lot of large companies and enterprises now expect Agile to be a native skill at this point. It's been around for two decades, and so they're a lot less willing to pay for agile transformation. They just expect that the professionals they hire are well-versed enough in it. Not saying that's right or wrong, but that's just what I've observed. I think there's a big opportunity for folks that were working in the agile space to rebrand. I'm focusing much more on portfolio management and transformation in general, because the skills are very transferable. But trying to focus a little bit less on the agile side of things, just because I see that there's less of a need for consultants to focus on that.
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