What is your role today and can you share your journey at DoorDash?
I started at DoorDash in the fall of 2021 as a Senior Manager on our Outside Account Management team.
I was super excited about the opportunity to work with our platform's largest SMB restaurants as they navigated headwinds that were very unusual and particularly challenging for the industry. Given the strategic nature of our team, I continue to be motivated to find ways to boost their profitability, increase our merchant and customer satisfaction rates, and find avenues to continue improving our products so that they fit the evolving needs of our restaurant partners. That's the really exciting work that we still have to do over the next couple of years. I think the journey to date has been really rewarding because of the ‘one team, one fight’ nature of the business.
No matter how great the challenge we're trying to solve, it's just been really refreshing to work alongside a super curious team of people who are all really marching toward the same common goals. I really believe that's the reason why we will go further together in the long term.
What career mobility and growth opportunities have you experienced here?
Prior to coming to DoorDash, I spent over 10 years working in sales and Business Development in the CPG space. I had absolutely no experience when it came to third-party delivery. When I first started at DoorDash, my top goal was to become as educated as possible in the restaurant industry, and that in itself has been a tremendous growth journey for me.
I was really fortunate to have all the hard skills to lead an Account Management team, but I'm endlessly thankful to DoorDash for being willing to invest in my growth journey by hiring candidates and people that have unique and diverse backgrounds.
I really have complete confidence that this people growth mindset that DoorDash has will continue to up-level our workforce over the next couple of years. In addition to that, I have meaningfully been able to expand my analytical skills through a number of high-impact work streams, which will be foundational for any role that I want to take in the future.
While I'm not searching for my next role yet, I have a ton of confidence that the amazing relationships I've developed with cross-functional teams and just the opportunity that DoorDash has given me from a learning perspective will lead to some really exciting opportunities in the future.
How have you seen DoorDash embrace and celebrate diverse ideas in people?
I believe that DoorDash is committed to developing a truly inclusive environment and place to work. I think that comes to fruition through making room at the table for not only diverse people but diverse perspectives and diverse thoughts, which leads to meaningful collaboration and outcomes in our merchant work.
In my team's weekly business review not only do we prioritize understanding where we're at on our current business objectives, but we also make space to discuss high-impact news cycles that may impact merchant sentiment.
We also deep dive into blockers and solutions we know will be better off solving together. As a leader in a fast-paced and goal-oriented environment like DoorDash, we need to continue encouraging our teams to develop their individual skill sets through constantly being curious, being agile, and being vulnerable enough to fail forward together. This has had tangible benefits on our merchant partnerships and merchant relationships in addition to really bringing the team together in that one team, one fight mentality.
What are ways in which you've experienced this culture of inclusivity and belonging within the organization?
In addition to focusing on developing a super-inclusive team, I’ve also been fortunate enough to be part of the Black@ Employee Resource Group. Those opportunities that have been presented to me are a very large differentiator compared to any other company that I've ever worked at prior. I've hosted panels during Black History Month where we’ve approached topics like resistance in the workplace. ERGs are creating the space to have these honest conversations that are impacting our people's well-being beyond the work we execute for DoorDash.
This has made me personally feel like not only do I belong at DoorDash because I am contributing really meaningful work, but it's also an environment that’s really encouraging me to show up as my full, authentic self. And that's truly led to me having a much more fulfilled and meaningful career here.
What do you love most about working at DoorDash and what do you think is most important for potential candidates to know?
I am excited to work for DoorDash because we're so connected to our mission every day through our work. We're empowering local economies to thrive. I think about our team's work on a daily basis and the thousands of business owners that we are responsible for ensuring that they have opportunities that didn't exist 10 years before.
So this work that we're doing is truly changing the environment for restaurants. Being that pulse in the heart of that work is super meaningful and I think that we as a company execute on really smart and logical strategy.
I've grown immensely as a people leader because of this, and I'm thankful to be able to work alongside an incredible team of people who care for one another. I think all three of those things are really what is keeping me at DoorDash and what keeps me excited about DoorDash in the future.
