Another month has come and gone, and on the Maven Wave blog that can only mean one thing: it’s time to feature another one of our amazing leaders here at Maven Wave. This month, we spoke with Yelena Krasner, Senior Principal on Maven Wave’s App Development team, about her work and home life — from raising a full house to leading an incredible team of rockstars — and learned there’s nothing she can’t do.
Tell us about yourself.
I’m a Senior Principal that leads our Engagement Leadership team for App Dev. I was born in Uzbekistan and immigrated to the United States as a nine-year-old. My grandparents were Ukrainian Jewish refugees during both WW1 and WW2.
After coming to America, the only thing I knew was to work hard to achieve what my parents brought me here for: experiencing the American Dream and standing on my own two feet. I haven’t slowed down since! Now my seven-year-old wants to go to MIT and build a time machine so that Mommy can experience a real childhood.
Tell us about your role at Maven Wave.
Over my ten and a half years at Maven Wave, I have — in some way or another — touched and impacted most parts of the organization, including Sales, Account Management, Account Delivery, Project Delivery, Staffing, and Resourcing. I even spent a year inside the Google Cloud Professional Services Organization’s program learning the ins and outs of how a hyperscaler approaches and delivers cloud services.
I am an engineer by trade, with a deep knowledge of our offerings at the technical level. Currently, I lead the Engagement Leadership team inside our App Dev horizontal, and I get to bring together all of my previous experiences in this role. It’s amazing getting to help our folks become the future leaders of our organization!
What are the top highlights of your career so far?
Getting the chance to work inside Google Cloud’s Professional Services Organization, and learning from Google directly on how to sell and implement cloud services. Some accounts I worked on gave me a healthy dose of humility. There is nothing like working on a product that will directly impact a patient’s experience during their treatment. Passion drives hard work and innovation.
What is your favorite part of working at Maven Wave?
You get to make your own path here! As our founder partner always said, “Leadership is taken and not given.” I have lived by that rule for a long time. If you see a gap, you have every opportunity to fill it and improve the company as well as advocate for your own career and growth.
Which of the 7 C’s is most meaningful to you and why?
Culture! The biggest reason I have been here for over a decade is our culture. We started off as a little work family and expanded into a full family tree, spanning states, countries and even continents. The collaboration, happy hours, brainstorms, and innovation is what our company culture was built on, and keeping that aspect of Maven Wave is critical for the future vision of our company and our people!
What makes the work Maven Wave does meaningful?
Everyone here really cares about the work they do. We strive for excellence wherever we can, and there is nothing like watching and being a part of a team that comes together to deliver an industry-changing solution.
What goals do you have for your team in 2023? What are your long-term goals?
Engagement leads are the future leaders of our company. They are the motivators, the ones that keep the ship afloat, and are tasked to be the daily cheerleader for their teams. I want to see my team take more leadership opportunities wherever they see growth potential and run with it. Ask for forgiveness and not permission!
What is something about you that always surprises people?
I have five kids — all in different grades and schools.
How do you like to spend your time outside of work?
Mostly raising my children, ranging from first, second, fifth, sixth, and eigth grade, and going to all of their awesome band and choir recitals. When I am not raising my children, I have become an avid golfer and love spending nice days out on the course. Alongside golf, I love cycling and boxing to stay active. I also call myself an amateur chef and foodie, I try recreating my favorite dishes after going to restaurants! In the evening, podcasts, movies, and mediating take up most of my time.
Rapid Question Round
- Brand new or vintage? Brand new…except when it comes to wine!
- City or countryside? Countryside
- Introvert or extrovert? Extrovert, but that might be changing as I mature.
- Music or podcasts? Music
- Karaoke: Singing or spectating? Singing (Preferably with a partner!)
- Comedy or drama? Comedy
- Art, science, or history? Science
- Early bird or night owl? Night owl
- Fiction or nonfiction? Fiction
- Planning it or winging it? Planning
- Favorite vacation spot: St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands
- Favorite season: Fall
- What you’re currently listening to: Harry Styles – As It Was
- Recommend one movie, TV show, book, or podcast: The Expanse
About the Author
EXPERIENCE DESIGN
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Rockwell Collins is a Fortune 500 company with employees located across the globe, who needed to leverage technology to collaborate better and to work more efficiently. Google Apps is moving Rockwell Collins into the next era of user-centric computing by allowing employees to use technology at work the same way they do at home.
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