Her Story
About Kate
I've spent nearly two decades building my career in the tech industry, starting with MicroStrategy where I did business intelligence software consulting for 10 years. I was the first employee from Poland for MicroStrategy, and despite not having a typical American background or even a technical degree, I taught myself everything - how to code, SQL, all of it. That experience exposed me to the C-suite leadership and gave me an accelerated promotional path, becoming a manager within 3 to 4 years. I lived in multiple countries during that time, and in 2011, I moved to Silicon Valley to work with top tech companies like Facebook, eBay, PayPal, Groupon, and Yahoo as my clients. Meta hired me as a full-time employee in 2016, where I worked on go-to-market strategies for advertising products until I left in April of last year. While working full-time at Meta, I completed my Executive MBA from UCLA Anderson, which was an intense two-year journey. Now I work independently as an industry expert with AlphaSights and GLG, both based in London and New York respectively, advising investment firms on tech industry investments, particularly around Gen AI products and ad space. I just passed my real estate salesperson license and I'm transitioning into real estate investment, with plans to eventually open my own brokerage.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kate
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say gaining accountability and credibility really fast in both companies has been key to my success. I was the very first employee from Poland for MicroStrategy - they didn't even have offices there - and because of that, I was exposed to the CEO and all the VPs, the C-suite leadership, and I was able to prove to them that I have great experience and knowledge to do things. I had a very accelerated promotional path and was a manager within 3 or 4 years just because I was achieving great results and managing teams. You hear me, I have an accent - I wasn't a typical employee working for an American company, coming with American background and experience and education. I was a little bit like an outlier, but I was able to prove myself. When I started working for Meta, I was on a similar path. So getting credibility, accountability, and being recognized very fast, despite being different from the typical profile, that's what I attribute my success to.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I wouldn't achieve what I want sooner without having a board of mentors and people who sponsor you. Identifying people who could represent you when you are not there is extremely critical. So building that board of mentors is essential - and they don't have to be on the leadership level, they don't have to be your VPs. Even peers, co-workers, managers, skip managers - building that board of mentors is critical, and staying in touch and nurturing the relationship is very important.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say, stay focused. No matter what, try to keep going, keep going forward to achieve your goals, and if people try to make it more difficult, just don't be discouraged. I think sometimes we're just spending too much time and energy on something that is beyond our control, and it's just a waste of time. So I would say not being discouraged, and try to remove negative voices, which are either inside or outside, coming from outside, and keep reminding yourself about those short-term goals and long-term goals, every day. Every day, you should have something you want to look at and continue with those smaller steps.
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