Behind the lens — My year in review
My achievements so far in my career, for the year 2021.
It’s the end of yet another awesome year, I’m getting all the feels right now. A lot has happened this year so to begin, I just want to say that I’m extremely grateful to be alive, healthy and in good shape. Sometimes we take so much for granted; we beat ourselves up for not achieving the goals we set, and we forget to pause, relax and smell the flowers. So a little exercise; if you’re reading this, stop, breathe and think of one thing you’re grateful for. Felt good didn’t it?
The year 2021 started like any other year for me, with major goals and things I wanted to achieve. I’m naturally an optimistic person so no matter how terrible the past year was, I’ll be wide-eyed and ready to conquer the new year. One thing I was passionate about was pivoting back to Product Management. I started my career as a Business Analyst, working in the product team of a tech company. It was so tasking especially because I was fresh out of school, but it also felt good to be part of a team building a product that solves problems for its users.
After moving to Marketing and Design two years ago, I later realised that building tech products was something I found extremely rewarding. I had the opportunity to work on a few PM projects this year, and I also took a couple of product courses to sharpen my knowledge and build confidence as a Product Manager. A great deal has changed in the tech space so I had to relearn a lot of things, which was quite exciting. Here’s a couple of PM work I did this year:
- Helped build and manage the website of a real estate company
- Engaged in user research and product testing for a mental health and wellness company
- Used the design thinking process to build 2 dummy MVPs
- Now leading Product at a major food tech company (ongoing).
Although I was making a few strides in the PM world, my career in Marketing wasn’t put on hold. I believe everyone should know marketing, no matter your career path. Think of it as seeing life in a whole new and exciting way; you learn more about people, also how to communicate with them so well, they believe in you and whatever you have to offer.
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” ~ Peter F. Drucker
I was doing more of marketing strategy and design for an agency, but I wanted my work to be more focused. I wanted to put all my effort into a particular company, preferably growing a tech product. I soon became a Product Marketing Specialist at a fin-tech company in Lagos. Here I am reviewing the product based on user research, learning about the target audience and communicating effectively to meet their needs. It’s been extremely rewarding and I can’t wait to see it grow to its full potential. A couple of things I’ve done so far as a Product Marketer in tech:
- Product reviews and iteration processes
- Overall review and edit of internal communications
- Aided in the company’s growth on social media
- Feature on top tech blogs
- Boosted email community
- Revamp of website and web app copies.
The plan is to pivot into Product Management within my current company. I believe that understanding business and marketing makes a better PM, so I am determined to put my best foot forward and build awesome problem-solving products that people love.
In 2022, one thing I’m really looking forward to achieving is imparting knowledge to people going into product/marketing, and sharing all that I’ve learned (also all I am still learning) in the few years of my career. I haven’t started this earlier because of my fear of public speaking, which I am constantly working on. I want to meet with like-minded people in the tech space who know how to teach/mentor, encourage me and boost my confidence as I begin this journey. If this sounds like you, please be sure to reach out to me.
2021 was amazing, we go again in 2022. Happy New Year! 🥂
