As A-LIGN celebrates Women’s History Month, we are highlighting Customer Success Operations Manager, Nicole Jones, as this month’s Featured CLIMBER. Read below to learn what Women’s History Month means to Nicole, advice she would give young women trying to enter the industry, and more! Thank you, Nicole, for your hard work and dedication to our company and thank you to all the women at A-LIGN for playing a critical role in our organization’s continual success.
Where are you from, and how did you begin your career at A-LIGN?
I’m from Tampa, Florida and attended the University of South Florida where I earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology. My career at A-LIGN started about a year ago—Anastasia Oganessiants, Executive Assistant at A-LIGN, whom I had previously worked with, reached out to me to tell me about the Customer Success department that they were creating. She told me they needed some help getting the department on the ground running, and she thought it might be a good fit for me. So, after a conversation between myself and Patrick Sullivan, A-LIGN’s VP of Customer Success, where we discussed our goals, our values, and what we were hoping to create, I realized I wanted to be a part of this, and I joined the A-LIGN team!
Tell me about your role as Customer Success Operations Manager at A-LIGN.
My role is a bit complex so it’s hard to put it into words, but my main purpose as the Customer Success Operations Manager is to provide support to the Customer Success team and make sure they’re doing what they can to support our customers in the best way possible. I help cultivate our employees and ultimately ensure they’re reaching their goals. I’ve learned that when an employee is taken care of and supported in the right ways, then our customers and the rest of the organization benefit as a result. Along with this, I also help with reporting to ensure our team is meeting their metrics. I do a little bit of everything, so I like to say I’m a Jill-of-all-trades!
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
This might sound corny, but the most rewarding part of my job is watching the people that we work with grow beyond what they ever saw themselves being, whether it be progressing in their role or moving on to whatever their next step might be.
I also find it really rewarding to be able to find solutions to any problem that comes our way, because Customer Success is so different than most other departments at A-LIGN. We do a little bit of everything from service delivery, to PMO, to sales. We take problems and look at them from different perspectives and find solutions that work for our customers, which I find really rewarding.
What is a work-related accomplishment you’re proud of?
I take a lot of pride in the fact that last year, we were able to take over a team and rebuild the structure altogether, and that development helped us cultivate a more succinct process to establish our own team and really support the other team to reach higher achievements as a whole. It’s crazy to think that less than a year ago, we had just started discussing hiring Customer Success Managers (CSMs), and only had a team of three in August 2021, and today we’ve grown to a team of twelve. We’re a fast-growing team and we’re still hiring, so it’s been really great to see the team’s growth and I’m really proud of them!
How would you describe A-LIGN in one word?
Unique.
I feel so empowered by the support we receive on any ideas we present, which is unique compared to many of the other companies that are out there. I think A-LIGN’s core values—be all in, commit to quality, innovate constantly, and do the right thing always—truly describe our company and the culture we’ve built. I’m really thankful to work for such a great company.
What does Women’s History Month mean to you?
Women’s History Month means a lot to me as a woman. My background in sociology has given me a good perspective on many of the struggles that people go through, and I think it’s important to never judge a book by its cover. It’s an honor to be the Featured CLIMBER during Women’s History Month, and it’s really neat to reflect on all the things that we’ve accomplished as women, from the Suffrage Movement to seeing where women are today in the industry. Growing up, I always wanted to be in a leadership role like I am now, where I can truly see the impact of my contributions, so sometimes it blows my mind reflecting on all the challenges I’ve faced and overcome to get to where I’m at. It’s a really great feeling, and it means a lot to me and for all the women out there!
What advice would you give aspiring young women trying to enter the industry?
Be open to all the opportunities that come your way, and even when it’s not easy, always do what you know is right. I think it’s really important to make sure that you find a company that has values that align with yours. Getting to where I am today took a lot of hard work, challenges, and even failures, but that’s how you learn! We have to make mistakes and embrace those mistakes to get where we want to go.
What is your motto/personal mantra?
Work for what you want.
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