Let’s start with the business stuff: I have over a decade of experience in project management, leading cross-functional teams, and delivering high-impact global initiatives. I’ve spent the bulk of my career with Sama, a unique organization at the intersection of technology and social impact.

As Robert Ingersoll wrote, “We rise by lifting others,” and I’ve held strong to that value in my career to date. While Trust (GRC and InfoSec) is my specialty, at heart I am a facilitator, community-builder, mediator, and campaigner (truly– I’m an ENFP!). I’m happy to wear many hats, and if they’re not provided– I’ll find them! I’m seeking a senior role in project or program management in an organization whose work I feel good about. I value open-ended, flexible working environments that encourage creativity and collaboration. 

On the practical side, I’m currently located in Montreal, QC, Canada, and I’m a dual US-Canadian citizen. I have strong ties to New England and New York, and would be open to relocation for the right role.

If you want to hear the whole tale, continue reading below. Otherwise, get in touch and let’s talk about what I have to offer your team!

The Whole Story

2012-2015: Nonprofit management & project analysis

I started as an intern at Sama when it was still a nonprofit, helmed by late visionary leader Leila Janah in an airy (read: poorly insulated) office overlooking the intersection of 16th and Mission in San Francisco (iykyk). I had two years of nonprofit administration experience at the time, including a year in the Americorps leadership program Public Allies. I was eager to work with an NGO focused on international development.

I’m a New Englander with the grit to match, so the scrappy start-up vibe suited me excellently. I began by working up to 80 hours a week performing manual QA on object-tracking videos to train Microsoft’s Kinect camera. I soon transitioned from an intern to a project analyst and later manager, working directly with all kinds of clients on all kinds of data training projects. I supported RFPs, managed outsourced teams, onboarded customers onto the Sama platform, conceptualized and built custom instances on said platform to solve customer problems, conducted meetings and led reporting on all of my projects (up to 10 at a time!) both internally and externally. But wait, there’s more! I also reconfigured Sama’s invoicing process, at the time an Excel spreadsheet, into a templatized, cloud-based format, which eliminated a ton of errors and time from the process– an evolved version of my work is still being used. This was key as during this time, Sama went from around $300k in monthly revenue to over $2m!

2015-2020: Project Management

In 2017, I had the privilege of helping Sama transition to their first owned-and-operated Delivery Center in Nairobi, Kenya. I spent a month on the ground, liaising with and solidifying relationships with our existing partners, smoothing the move, supporting and reassuring customers, and more. This experience was also a vital time in building strong connections with Sama’s East Africa team, which proved exceptionally handy in 2019 when we decided to transition all delivery project management to the delivery centers. I trained and mentored our most promising team leads in Kenya and Uganda, helping to build their confidence and skills. By early 2020, all delivery project management was being led by co-located project managers, many of whom I’d helped grow. 

2020-2024: Programs, Projects, Trust, & Compliance

The hiccup there was that I’d put myself out of a job, and now needed to carve out another role! I partnered with VP of Operations to begin building out a Project Management Office (PMO) function at Sama, intending to introduce some sanity into how projects were planned, executed, and learned from within the organization. At the same time, I took the lead on the build-out of Sama’s Montreal office, a $500k build-out of a concrete shell, massively delayed and hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic! I led everything from construction vendor selection, contracting, budgeting, CapEx / board reporting, and landlord negotiations. I even moonlit as the office manager up until late 2021. 

Whew, that was a lot! While the PMO buildout was underway, a topic that came up again and again was Sama’s security posture. Sales Account and Customer Success Managers were frequently reaching out to me for help running information security-focused customer audits (including that one time I swapped to night shift to run an audit in Nairobi for Meta), answering security questionnaires sometimes hundreds of questions long and requiring input from across the organization, reviewing SOWs / contracts to ensure customer GRC expectations were being met (and that we weren’t overcommitting). I stepped into this gap, becoming the Trust & Risk expert at Sama. I learned the ins and outs of many legal and compliance frameworks (SOC-2, ISO9001, ISO27001, HIPAA, TISAX, CCPA, GDPR, to name a few!), as well as becoming an internal consultant to customers (iRobot, TomTom, BMW, and Google, among others) on security topics.

I built and led the Global Security Council, bringing together Engineering, IT, R&D, Product, and Finance to coordinate efforts and ensure a strong and consistent security posture across the organization. I led the charge to address risks and vulnerabilities, lay the groundwork for SOC-2 attestation, and eliminate friction in audit processes (by automating and templatizing). I created and successfully championed the business case for bringing on a Director of Information Security, who became my thought partner and mentor. We built a proprietary global risk assessment process, allowing us to quantitatively demonstrate our GRC needs to senior leaders. 

And once again, I managed to put myself out of a job! Heading into Series C funding, Sama’s board and investors demanded a longer cash runway, which led to the lay-off of nearly all support staff in early 2024. A generous severance meant that I could take some time to rest, reflect, and recharge. Now here I am, batting my eyelashes at you.