Influential Woman · Tech

Bukky Solaja, MBA

Senior Manager of Product, Cigna Healthcare

Charlotte, NC

Her Story

About Bukky

My career journey began when my sister introduced me to business analysis and product management training. At the time, I was working as a manager for a hospital, handling day-to-day operations. My sister saw potential in me and suggested I explore this field. Rather than paying for expensive training, she encouraged me to self-study using YouTube resources. I took her advice and spent several months studying after my 9-to-5 shifts. When I felt ready, I started interviewing and landed my first role at the senior level by leveraging my healthcare experience as a competitive advantage. I've now been in tech for about 11 years, with the last 2 years as a Senior Manager of Product. I work remotely in the healthcare technology space, where I navigate challenges like ongoing layoffs and wearing multiple hats due to reduced team sizes. Beyond my day job, I'm passionate about coaching others on career transitions, teaching them to leverage their domain expertise and challenge the status quo to stand out in their fields.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Bukky

01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

The best career advice I give to people is to challenge the status quo - that's what makes you different. There's often a tradition of people doing things the way they've always been done, and you don't get to question it. But I do. I always challenge the status quo and do something different, and that's why I'm here today. The other piece of advice I always share is this: no matter the career you choose, make sure you are undeniably good at what you do. Nobody can take that away from you. Even layoffs won't take that away from you. When you get laid off, you're going to get a job right back, just because you're undeniably good at what you do. That has been working for me.

02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

The biggest challenge I'm seeing right now is the massive wave of layoffs happening back-to-back in the tech and healthcare space. Because of how the economy is right now, there are tons of layoffs. I'm losing people, I'm losing my teams, and I end up doing multiple things that just about 4 people can do - I'm just the only one doing it. So I would say the friction I'm seeing right now is that gap due to the layoffs and wearing multiple hats. It's not exactly a challenge in the traditional sense, but it's just a little stressful.

03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

In my work, the most important value is transparency. Just see how it is, just let me know. Nothing like 'let's take this offline' or 'let's circle back' or 'I'm hearing some feedbacks here and there.' Just be transparent, tell me what's going on. And in my personal life as well, I would say it's the same - just be truthful, no matter how hard it is. I just like truth. Just share the truth. No matter how difficult it is, I can take it.

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