Is your business working for you?

As BuzzFeed looked to transition from a late stage startup to a mature, industry-leading media organization, I joined and ultimately led the internal Business Operations team. Our sole focus was to build structure and ensure the necessary people, systems, and tools were in place for the team to work effectively and efficiently.

Through a multifaceted two year position, we partnered with leaders across the organization to define, manage, and lead key strategic initiatives that drove the business forward. In addition to building a centralized product marketing catalog to equip the team with the tools needed to sell our ad partnerships, my team developed processes and workflows to seamlessly hand off for all campaigns and deliver stellar execution. Eventually, as the org grew in complexity and size, I concepted and launched an internal project management office focused on managing priorities across the business team spanning sales, account management, creative, distribution, and tech teams.

Together with team leads across the organization, we built a custom tool for consolidated data management to ensure everyone on the global business team had real-time, accurate and actionable information for decision making. The last phase of my engagement focused on partnering with the PR team to define and implement a holistic international communication strategy and internal model for ongoing comms, as well as conducting an exhaustive external analysis to inform the business team’s strategic positioning and expansion priorities. During my time building foundational structure for long-term growth, the organization grew 5x and cemented its status as a pillar in the social and digital media spaces.

Man Repeller began in 2010 as a fashion blog focused on personal expression and evolved into a niche media publication with a thriving community of women brought together by a shared appreciation for the brand’s ethos. After joining the company to help usher in a new phase of growth, my work over four years at the organization focused on core operations, management, and business development.

From defining and driving the employee lifecycle (recruitment, hiring, onboarding, you name it) to envisioning and building a new office space focused on employee engagement, I served as the central operational leader for the organization through several senior leadership changes. With a defined philosophy focused on collaboration and collective building, I developed the tools, processes, and structures that enabled daily operations at the organization.

I partnered closely with the founder to continually evaluate, define, and action her strategic vision. Bringing a pragmatic lens to this hyper-creative environment, I worked to develop prioritization frameworks and operational roadmaps that spanned long-term exit strategies to multi-year hiring plans. Serving as a central leader internally, I oversaw the team as we cultivated relationships and developed rapport with strategic partners and built a robust network that contributed to the organization’s ongoing success.

As the primary business development lead, I balanced visionary aspirations with daily realities in order to bring new business concepts to life. From owning and operating the P&L for all experimental business programs, to concepting and prioritizing based on impact and strategic value, I led our expansion efforts across product, events, and community development. This work included building the experiential business unit, which generated a significant portion of our overall partnership revenue, and managing a team responsible for developing a private-label accessories line and creating a DTC retail e-commerce extension.

Four years as a strategic operator came with no shortage of successes and failures that spanned employee relations to commercial partnerships and all the entrepreneurial challenges in between, and with them, an endless number of experiences that have informed my perspective as a business builder and people leader.

When Atlas Obscura, a travel media site dedicated to celebrating Earth’s wonder and awe, partnered with Nissan to develop and launch a five-part drive-in concert series during a global pandemic, they needed an operational partner to help make the program a reality. 

As the central project owner, I developed and owned the integrated program plan across all workstreams and touch points, oversaw budget allocation and reconciliation on the program and served as the main client liaison.  

Consisting of content creation across events, live streams, premium video, a physical guide book, digital campaign hub and influencer promotion, the multifaceted campaign represented a new era of program size and complexity at Atlas Obscura. Using the campaign as a pilot, we built a framework for productizing premium level campaigns and created a scalable foundation for future program execution.

Over the course of the final six months of the engagement, Little Business supported the recruitment and onboarding of five key senior hires, setting the stage for the next chapter of growth at the organization. 

KnowMe is a video editing and creation tool built to democratize the process of creating professional grade videos from your phone’s camera roll.

During a 10-month engagement, I built the company roadmap and managed priorities and delivery across the development and marketing teams, including user research, beta testing and App Store launch. Partnering with the COO to oversee daily operations and strategic development of the app, I oversaw company-wide P&L, allocating over $3 million in funds and conducting regular variance analysis and burn rate forecasting.

Owning back of house functioning including legal, HR, and all things office-related, I acted as the connective tissue of the organization and worked closely with the Founder and COO to define and realize the company’s strategic vision.

My work ensured the team was primed for success and drove the organization through launch and multiple App Store releases, ultimately resulting in an acquisition of the app.