Her Story
About Zareena
Zareena Anwar serves as a Senior Product Manager at Adobe, focusing on Adobe Express where she leads the drawing features and the mobile app. She holds an MS in Counseling from Sacramento State University and spent nearly 10 years in Sacramento's non-profit sector working with transitional housing before transitioning to tech 15 years ago. Her early tech roles included technical recruiting at Palantir and customer success at the startup Update, which was later acquired by SanDisk, before moving into product management over 10 years ago. Zareena values direct customer input, speaking with users weekly, and leverages her counseling background to facilitate collaboration and resolve conflicts among teams. She is an active member of Silicon Valley's Pakistani network and runs a WhatsApp job network called Jobs by Zerena. In her spare time, she mentors students through mock interviews and speaks at events like those at UC Berkeley, while supporting the Human Development Foundation and NISA for domestic violence support.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Zareena
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the Nike slogan of just do it. Just get it done and apologize later. I also believe 10% of your job should be something not related to your job, and just get it done.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice is the Nike slogan of just do it. Just get it done and apologize later. I really followed that throughout my career.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Your job is what you make of it. Take something even if it's not what you thought you were going to do and just run with it. Always have the learning hat on and never think you know everything there is to know.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is defining priorities and what to focus on now. We have good leadership that allows us to explore possibilities.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Always value what the customer says and speak with customers or users weekly. Collaboration is key as a product manager who brings teams together like a moderator. My counseling background helps with recognizing and resolving conflict.
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