Becoming a parent is a huge life transition for many. Layer on top of that being the leader of a small team at a fast scaling startup in the midst of fundraising, and you've got a perfect collision of personal and professional life.
In Episode 3 of Plus 1, Eugene and I bring in special guest Patricia DuChene, SVP of Revenue at Postal, which is a leading offline marketing automation platform. Patty shares a 360 view of what it's like to be a new parent and leader supporting new parents at a fast scaling startup.
Key Lessons:
There's no such thing as the right time to start your journey into parenthood, but companies that have a supportive leadership team and good family benefits can make life a bit easier for you.
You can only control what you can control. Prepare for your leave by anticipating what your team might need while you're out, set expectations for when you want to be contacted during your leave, and most importantly - get comfortable with delegating and trusting your team to run with things.
Being a parent is part of who you are and leaning into it can help to humanize your work relationships.
These lessons have helped Patty find her stride integrating parenthood with a thriving career at a fast scaling startup.
Patricia DuChene (also known as Pat, Patti, Patty, Tricia, and PD) is the Senior Vice President of Revenue at Postal, a leading Offline Marketing Automation Platform and marketplace that helps personalize, automate, and scale direct mail, internal and external events, branded company swag, and personalized gifts to drive better engagement with prospects, customers, partners, and employees. Prior to joining Postal, Patricia was the Vice President of Int'l Sales & Managing Director for a work management software company called Wrike, where she built out client facing teams in Dublin IRE, Melbourne AU, Tokyo JP, and Kyiv UA. A native of the 805, she was thrilled to join the Postal team with the promise of delivering an authentic, scalable offline marketing platform based in San Luis Obispo. She is a passionate advocate for women in technology and takes an active approach when encouraging women to consider careers in technology. When she isn't in the office, Patricia can be found hiking with her husband, daughter and diva pug.