Rosa Parks, Mother Theresa, Anne Frank, and Michelle Obama – all names you’re probably familiar with – all women who have changed the world. You may have even seen these faces pop up more recently in honor of Women’s History Month.
In this two-part blog series, we’re compiling our own list of women at Recharge who are inspiring, and who’ve all made positive impacts in the industry.
Lindy Crea, Director of Strategic Alliances
After college, Lindy found herself traveling the world working in various roles, from Europe to Africa, until starting a family brought her back to her roots in the US. She serendipitously landed a role at Klarna when she ran into a former boss at the London Heathrow Airport, who hired her on to support their go-to-market efforts. After becoming familiar with the eCommerce space, Lindy joined Recharge last year and has been focused on managing relationships with Channel Partners.
I asked Lindy which women leaders most inspire her. Here are few which were top of mind for her:
“Christina Stembel, the founder of Farmgirl Flowers – I saw her speak at a Women in Ecommerce event about 18 months ago and was so impressed with the story of how she grew Farmgirl Flowers to a $65M+ business; and she did it completely bootstrapped. Her determination and working hours leave me empathetically exhausted. I admire how she adhered to her vision, but was also so authentically honest with her customers when she had to change how she sourced her flowers.
My childhood girlfriends who are always a group text away. They have followed various career paths, are mothers of young families, dedicated daughters, and reliable friends. They provide me with so much support, perspective, and unconditional love. But most importantly, they provide me with the escape on an annual, family-free girls vacation. We managed to sneak off to Miami, just before the pandemic last February.
The many women I work with daily at Recharge, who inspire me with their energy, focus, and determination to support their colleagues and Recharge’s partners and merchants.”
Lindy admits that it’s hard to achieve perfect balance as a woman:
“There aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything I want or feel like I should accomplish. A few approaches help me from becoming overwhelmed (though it does happen!) and ensure the most important things are addressed. First, I strive to not multi-task, and instead be in the moment and focus on the task or person at hand.
Second, I find time for my family every day. Most days, this is sitting down to dinner and putting my kids to bed with a book or 2. This only amounts to a couple hours, but provides a lot of harmony for me and them. Last, I prioritize sleep and downtime. I grapple with guilt for not being productive all hours, but I am embracing slow weekends, lounging in pjs, reading books, listening to podcasts, cooking new recipes, and trekking in the outdoors.”
Lindy says one of her other biggest challenges as a woman is:
“Feeling intimidated when I am the only woman in the room, which happens more often than it should. Instead of focusing on being the only woman, I try to focus on finding commonalities with other people and foster individual connection.
In the cases where I have been dismissed or disrespected, particularly in a room full of people, I struggle to assert my right to be heard. I will continually work on finding my voice in these intimidating situations, but have noted that the world is changing and I have experienced more allies in these situations and am noting a concerted effort by more assertive personalities to make space.”
Here’s how Lindy hopes to make an impact at Recharge throughout the next year:
“Building on the great work of the partner team and continuing to grow a larger and more engaged channel partner ecosystem. The partner team will be growing, so I hope to hire team members who are inspired and fired up to join a great team and join us on an incredible journey.”
Viviane Ghaderi, Sr. Manager of Software Development
With a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering/NeuroEngineering, Viviane found herself in various roles working on everything from BMW’s, to the Alexa product, to developing spinal cord stimulators and retinal implants before landing her role at Recharge.
Viviane said this about her motivation for joining Recharge:
“We’re at a really exciting stage right now and that’s exactly the phase of a startup I was hoping to join when I started my search: rapid growth on all fronts, great trajectory, and there’s still so much to build and improve.
I’m also really excited about my role and the new product and team we’re building. Lastly, I really like the company’s core values. My favorite one is ‘humility’ – approach every task with humility and open-mindedness by learning with your peers, collaborating effectively, and leaving your ego at the door.”
Viviane says she is able to balance work/life effectively due to Recharge being a remote company.
“Being able to work remotely at Recharge allows me to create my own schedule and I don’t have to spend time commuting or getting ready unless I want to. I can also literally work from anywhere and don’t have to make sacrifices to live in a certain place just because of a job (which I have had to do in the past and I was pretty miserable because of it).”
In the next year, she hopes to get back into competitive running and would like to PR a half marathon or Olympic distance triathlon. As far as her professional goals go, she wants to help build a great team and product at Recharge.
She says one of the biggest challenges she faces in the workplace is having too few women in tech.
“I’ve been in engineering for over 15 years now. I remember so many occasions – whether it was going to a new class or stepping into a meeting room with new people at work – where the first thing I had to do is explain that I am in the right place. I had to prove that I’m an engineer or technical manager whereas my male peers didn’t have to go through the same exercise.”
One of the biggest life lessons Viviane has learned is staying focused on her trajectory:
“The path to getting where you want to be is not always straightforward. Sometimes you have to take a couple of steps back to move ahead later on.
For example, you might have to take on a role that might not be the best fit, but it can help you get your foot in the door and allows you to prove yourself. Once you realize the trajectory is not there, you can adjust and make changes.”
By the same token, she says her biggest piece of advice for future women leaders is “…to understand that setbacks are part of life and learn how to handle them effectively.”
I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are very lucky to call Lindy and Viviane leaders here at Recharge. We’re excited to see where they will take the team in 2021!
