Mission
Product Team Spirit’s mission is to create a more equitable world by empowering diverse teams and collaborative product leaders.
A note from Gillian
Building teams and bringing empathy, collaboration, and care to all of my relationships has been my foundation. I hold space for individuals and organizations who are ready to do the work, for their business and for the world, but don’t know how. I ask for vulnerability from others but also offer it myself: I’ve made mistakes, I’ve “been there,” I’m always learning, and I’m determined to challenge the status quo with you and within. See more about me and my services on the homepage and review my resume below.
My background and portfolio of work
I have been a tech and media reporter, marketing director, product leader, independent consultant, peer coach, restaurant waitress, nanny, New York Times published writer, volunteer at Girls Write Now and iMentor, and much more in my past.
Experience
General Manager and Product Lead of Lede by Alley
Alley
Aug 2020 – April 2021
Overseeing new product and program for independent, entrepreneurial, membership and community-driven media companies at Alley. Everyperson for: sales, marketing, product, partnerships, onboarding, workshops, community management, and more.
● Drove the product vision, roadmap and strategy for the new business unit
● Led a cross-functional, collaborative scrum team to design, build and launch the platform
● Launch partner, Defector, garnered $2M in annualized revenue within the first two months of their launch and 38K subscribers within four months.
● Crafted and facilitated the product development programming and remote workshops for 6 properties within first 6 months of the product’s debut.
Director of Digital Strategy | Product Owner
Alley
Sep 2019 – April 2021
● Served as a product owner, strategic consultant and account executive for a portfolio of projects and clients including the Committee to Protect Journalists, Nexstar, Consensus, WRAL, The Times-Picayune and more. NPS score among clients during product ownership: 100 (9/10s)
● Created and implemented the company’s first “product coaching” consultancy framework and contract agreement to steer legacy publications toward modernization, data-driven goal-setting, and innovation.
● Created and evangelized product management frameworks, design thinking processes, and remote workshop templates for digital strategists and other leaders to use across the company in all client relationships.
● Served as a coach to four team members and company peers.
Digital Strategist | Product Owner
Alley
Jul 2018 – Sep 2019
● Worked collaboratively with clients and team members to solve problems with high-quality product and process solutions.
● Assisted with account executive duties including making strategic pitches to new clients, writing contracts and ensuring client happiness. ● Wrote user stories and managed a backlog of up to 6 complex digital products at the same time, including product work for the Kaiser Family Foundation, Kaiser Health Network, the Brookings Institution, New York Post, and more.
● Served as a coach to team members and peers.
Project Manager Scrum Master
Alley
May 2017 – Jul 2018
● Served as a Certified Scrum Master on a remote team
● Increased velocity by working collaboratively to remove impediments.
● Coached team members and leadership on Agile principles and practices.
Managing Editor, States & Media | Product Owner
POLITICO
Aug 2015 – Mar 2017
● Managed editorial and technical projects for POLITICO’s States division, which grew from a 7-person operation in 2013 to more than 50 staff members, with bureaus in New York, Florida and New Jersey and additional reporters in California, Massachusetts and Illinois.
● Worked with tech, editorial, production, marketing, business teams on product launches and improvements to States and Media’s audience-driven offerings and paid POLITICO Pro platform and subscription news service, including real-time news alerts, 29 daily and weekly email newsletters and legislative data tools. POLITICO States’ Pro division served more than a 1,000 organizations and companies totaling tens of thousands of individuals across the division.
● Served as product owner on a Scrum team to define and develop the product roadmap and features, including a redesign and migration from a Drupal to Brightspot CMS.
● Developed data-driven solutions using Omniture, Salesforce, Chartbeat and Domo.
Founding member, Director of Marketing and Special Projects
POLITICO New York / Capital New York
May 2010 – Aug 2015
● Founding member of Capital New York, a digital media site about local politics, culture and media for influential New Yorkers, which was acquired by POLITICO in 2013 and rebranded POLITICO New York in 2015.
● Served as a product owner to build a paywall and news service after POLITICO acquisition.
● Developed user experience, marketing strategy, and mission of Capital New York.
● Implemented SEO best practices and product enhancements.
● Designed editorial workflow; managed social media initiatives; organized live events; edited, produced and marketed e-books; launched and edited newsletters; curated site and wrote feature articles on New York City culture, media and politics.
Digital Media Consultant
Apr 2010 – Sep 2013
● Produced, edited, and designed web pages and features for News Corp HR site.
● Wrote and edited articles, internal communications and presentations for executives.
● Consulted on user experience for websites and apps
Freelance Reporter
May 2010 – Aug 2013
Wrote feature stories for the New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek and PBS’ WNET/Thirteen.
Media Editor
Business Insider
Jan 2010 – May 2010
Launched the media section of the business news website that covers Wall Street, tech, media, and entertainment. Wrote up to 10 posts a day covering TV, newspaper, and digital media news. Hired and managed an additional reporter for the vertical.
Tech, media and culture Reporter
New York Observer
Jan 2006 – Dec 2009
Wrote long-form print articles and daily blog posts on culture, media and technology. Was previously a fact-checker for the weekly newspaper.
Education
- New York University Masters, Magazine Journalism
- Suffolk University B.S., Communications
- General Assembly Product Management Bootcamp
- General Assembly Front-end Web Development, HTML, CSS, JS
Licenses & certifications
- Certified Scrum Master – Scrum Alliance
- Certified Scrum Product Owner – Scrum Alliance