My fancy new title

March 2, 2022 by The Sonia Show 3 Comments

Yeah, so, your girl got promoted!

You’re looking at a Content Design Manager. I know … I’m so fancy.

I’m so proud of the work I do. I thought a lot about whether to move into a manager role. With everything that’s been going on in my life, I debated staying on the individual contributor track. It’s nice to only be responsible for yourself, to only have to think about what you’re working on.

I always find a reason to hold myself back. For more than 10 years I stayed at a job that wasn’t fulfilling emotionally or financially. I stayed because it was easy and flexible. I had some good reasons for staying. I was dealing with two cancer diagnoses in 5 years. I had Calvin, and then Calvin was diagnosed as autistic. I focused my attention on his appointments and getting him services like speech therapy and occupational therapy. And after that was all set up, I just stayed because looking for a new job was hard. And, truthfully, I was more focused on my then-husband. I wanted to support him and help him grow in his career. He made a little bit more money than me, and it would benefit the entire family if he did well.

So, yeah, like a lot of women I undervalued my contribution and underestimated what I could do. But I finally got to the point where I wanted more. I wanted a job I actually cared about. I wanted to feel good about going to work.

At my old gig, Nina introduced me to content strategy, which led me to a content design job at Zendesk. Chelsea took a chance on someone who didn’t have a ton of content design experience but is super passionate about using plain, human language in interactions.

And now Nina works at Zendesk, too! I’m super grateful to Nina and Chelsea. They’re amazing managers, and I’ve been so inspired by them. They’ve created a supportive, connected team across timezones.

I thought long and hard about making this move. Is it what I really wanted? Would I be any good at it? And I kept coming back to this: We need more leaders that lead with their hearts and empathy. I always do that. It comes to me naturally. I instinctively want to help people. I want to build relationships and clear the path for people to do good work.

I know I have a lot to learn, but I’m up to the challenge.