Her Story
About Kelly
Kelly Smotrich is a technology professional with over 10 years of experience. She currently leads UX research and discovery and change management for a large technology platform and transformation, while also driving large-scale AI initiatives across the firm. Her educational background includes a bachelor's degree in marketing with minors in Spanish and data analytics from a school in Ohio, where she was part of the honors program and sorority life. Kelly attributes her success to her upbringing, the support around her, and the inspiring leaders she has learned from. She values reliability and putting family and people first. Among the career advice she has received, she highlights that feedback is a gift and encourages young women entering the industry to speak up, remain curious, and stay open to new opportunities.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kelly
01What do you attribute your success to?
I feel like just, like, not only how I was raised, but the support around me, and seeing other inspiring leaders that I can learn from and take after.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The one that always sticks out to me is that feedback is a gift. I think early on, especially as women, we can take feedback sometimes negatively, but I've found that once I've really been in roles, that I have a leader that is willing to give me constructive feedback, that's when I've grown the most. Because without that feedback, you can really only improve in the way that you see fit, and not how others see you.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say just to speak up. You know, you don't have to have it all figured out in order to contribute and have opinions and make yourself heard. And to just be continually curious and open to new opportunities, because you never know where your career might go, or what doors might open when you are staying open to it, and curious and learning.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think just the pace of change with AI, it's making everything move very quickly and change rapidly, and there's always something new. So we have to not only keep up in terms of our work product, but then also just in terms of our personal development, and making sure that we can stay on top of the trends and know how to speak to it.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Reliability, so following through on what you say you're gonna do. And then also, just family and people first. So like, above all things, we're all still human, and we all still have things going on outside in our lives, so I put family first.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.