Megan Bolds

I attribute much of my success to the example my parents set for me long before I understood what my own career would look like. As a first-generation college graduate and the daughter of an immigrant, I grew up understanding that opportunities should never be taken for granted. My father’s service in the U.S. Navy and my mother’s experience building a life in a new country gave me two powerful examples of perseverance, sacrifice, and commitment. Together, my parents taught me the value of hard work, education, resourcefulness, and continuing forward even when there isn’t an obvious roadmap in front of you.

That foundation gave me the confidence to take chances throughout my career. I studied public relations and ultimately found my way into eCommerce, technology, and product management—fields I hadn’t originally imagined for myself. I’ve learned that I don’t need to know everything before taking the next step. I need to be willing to ask questions, work hard, learn from people who know more than I do, and trust myself to figure out what comes next.

I’ve also been incredibly fortunate to have mentors who saw potential in me at formative points in my life. Sandi George-Tracy came into my life through Sigma Kappa and Greek life and became a mentor whose influence has extended far beyond my collegiate experience. She helped me understand leadership, service, and the importance of investing in the people coming behind you.

Doug Gillon was my advertising and marketing manager at AutoZone and gave me opportunities early in my career to take on work that ultimately helped shape the product leader I became. Under his leadership, I launched some of my first major digital initiatives, including AutoZone’s Trustworthy Advice content platform, and was recognized on WayUp’s Top 100 Intern list in 2019. But his mentorship didn’t end when we stopped working together. Over the years, Doug has continued to show up—with recommendation letters, résumé reviews, career advice, and encouragement. When I was laid off earlier this year and navigating an unexpected transition, both Sandi and Doug were among the people who stood behind me and reminded me of what I had built at a time when I needed that perspective.

My success is ultimately the product of both things: the foundation my family gave me and the people who chose to invest in me along the way. Their examples have shaped not only how I approach my own career, but also the kind of leader and community builder I want to be. They taught me that success isn’t only about what you accomplish for yourself; it’s also about being willing to open doors, offer guidance, and believe in someone else when they’re still learning to believe in themselves.

If you’re the smartest person in the room, find a different room.

I’ve carried that advice with me throughout my career because it’s a reminder that growth requires intentionally surrounding yourself with people who know things you don’t. I never want to reach a point where I’m so comfortable with what I know that I stop being challenged by the people around me.

It has also made me much more conscious of how I show up in a room. I pay attention to who is speaking, what I can learn from their perspective, and where someone else’s expertise can challenge the way I’m thinking. Some of the most valuable relationships in my career have been with people who approached a problem completely differently than I would have.

That mindset became especially important as I moved from public relations and communications into eCommerce, technology, and product management. I was constantly entering rooms with engineers, analysts, designers, marketers, operators, and business leaders who knew things I didn’t. Instead of seeing that as a disadvantage, I learned to see it as an opportunity. I didn’t need to be the expert on everything in the room; I needed to be curious enough to learn from the experts who were there.

I think there’s also a second part to that advice that becomes more important as your career progresses. If you do reach a point where you are no longer being challenged, it may be a sign that it’s time to seek out a new room—a harder problem, a different perspective, a new responsibility, or an opportunity that requires you to grow again.

I never want to stop being a student of the people around me. The moment I stop learning is probably the moment I need to start looking for my next challenge.

Ask the question, take the opportunity before you feel completely ready, and don’t underestimate the value of what you already know.

I entered technology from a communications background, and there were plenty of rooms early in that transition where other people knew terminology, systems, or technical concepts that I didn’t. It would have been easy to interpret that as evidence that I didn’t belong there. Instead, I learned that pretending to understand something is far less valuable than being willing to say, “Can you explain why we do it that way?”

You do not have to know everything before you take the next step. Being qualified isn’t about already having every answer. It’s about knowing how to learn, asking thoughtful questions, finding people who can teach you, and recognizing how the skills you already have can apply in a new context.

I would also tell young women not to underestimate the work they’re doing simply because it doesn’t feel significant yet. Early in my career, I didn’t think writing DIY automotive articles or helping digitize sales promotions would become particularly important parts of my professional story. At the time, I was simply trying to make something more useful for the customer. Those experiences ultimately taught me lessons about content, commerce, customer behavior, and conversion that I later carried into product strategies responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

Careers make much more sense in hindsight than they do while you’re building them. You won’t always know which project, relationship, question, or uncomfortable opportunity is preparing you for what comes next. Be curious enough to learn from it anyway.

One of the biggest opportunities in digital product and eCommerce is our growing ability to create genuinely personalized customer experiences. AI, behavioral data, experimentation, and increasingly connected customer systems allow us to understand intent and respond to individual customer needs at a scale that wasn’t possible even a few years ago.

I also think that’s one of our biggest challenges. Just because we can personalize or automate something doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve made the experience better.

There is tremendous pressure for companies to implement AI and new technologies quickly. I don’t think the companies that create the most lasting value will necessarily be the ones that implement the most technology. They’ll be the ones that remain disciplined about identifying the customer problem they’re trying to solve and use technology where it meaningfully improves that experience.

eCommerce is also becoming much more interconnected. Customers don’t experience marketing, a website, checkout, fulfillment, customer service, and post-purchase communication as separate departments—they experience one company. That creates a major opportunity for product leaders who can think beyond individual screens and understand the entire customer journey, including the operational systems required to deliver what the digital experience promises.

The tools will continue to change, but the question I come back to is much simpler: Where is the customer uncertain, frustrated, or doing unnecessary work, and how can we make that experience clearer? To me, solving the right problem will always matter more than using the newest technology.

Faith and family are at the center of my life. As a Catholic, my faith shapes how I try to treat people, serve others, and keep perspective on what success really means. I also deeply value community, curiosity, and giving back. I’ve been fortunate to have people invest in me throughout my life, and I try to do the same for others—whether through mentorship, Memphis Girls Book Club, Sigma Kappa, or service in my community. At the end of the day, I want to be proud not only of the career I’ve built, but of the kind of wife, mother, friend, leader, and community member I’ve been along the way.