Can you tell us a little about your background and journey to HubSpot?    

I joined HubSpot after about 15 years in roles as Director of Marketing and Sales, as well as a decade of professional photography. During those years I was fortunate to have come across HubSpot when they were a start-up and began to use them on and off in various roles. In my last role as a Director of Marketing, I was the HubSpot champion. I spent every day, all day, in HubSpot’s tools. I built a system that I was proud to roll out to the company (that they still use today). When it was time to move on, I talked with my Customer Success Manager and asked if there might be an opportunity for me at HubSpot and she was gracious enough to make a referral for me that got me started on the interview track!

Describe a typical day in your role/life.

Since becoming disabled in 2020 due to long-Covid, sleep is extremely important to me. I struggle with chronic pain and migraines. I try my best to sleep as late as possible, so I wake up about 6:45-7 am, depending on my schedule. Being an early bird is great because I generally get off earlier, and since I work on Mountain Time, I can still accommodate my customers.

As a Senior Inbound Consultant, my schedule is generally pretty busy with calls helping customers with their strategy goals. I can have a day with anywhere from 4-10 calls a day. There are some things that are important to me, as someone with a disability: I do my very best to step away from my computer for my lunch break. This allows my brain to rest and prevents any migraine activity from taking place. I don’t have email on my phone. I work close enough to my computer that I don’t need the added stress of being connected to my work all the time (another trigger for pain and migraines).

I communicate with my supervisors about any challenges I’m having and in the rare event I need to reschedule calls, they are very supportive.

Tell us about a challenge you're working to solve right now.     

One challenge I am working on is helping my team position our services to more customers. We know that customers that use Professional Services lean into the tools and use them more and better than customers that don’t. Which would make sense, right? If you had someone coaching you on something new to your business, it would make all the difference to your success. By providing this support to the team, we can help our customers Grow Better.

What makes working at HubSpot unique?

The sense of community and support is second to none. From the day I got here, I have felt like I belong to a culture that is bigger than just me. I have people I can lean on to learn about my job, I have a team I can go to so I can grow as a professional, and I have a community I can belong to as someone with a disability. Plus, I haven’t reached my peak. There is so much more ahead. 

The flexibility I have in my role makes it easy to make adjustments so I can perform my best. Whether that is standing up, leaving the camera off on calls, moving to work in a more comfortable environment, or even flexing my workday to be able to rest if I have symptoms flaring is critical. HubSpot provides all of that for me.

How did joining HubSpot's Disability Alliance impact you?

Becoming disabled turned my world upside down. Not only did it give me a whole new perspective, but I went through a grieving process that I didn’t really anticipate or know how to handle. The Disability Alliance was key in the peer-to-peer support I needed to ask questions (like asking for mobility aids in public spaces), find a community of people that felt right for me, and encourage me to get the help I needed to find a therapist to work through the things that only a professional could help me with. I’m extremely thankful for them.

Outside of HubSpot, what do you like to do in your free time?

My two dogs are my constant companions when I’m working from home. So I enjoy any time I get to spend with them. I love traveling with my husband and my family. I am a professional photographer, so I take full advantage of any travel opportunities, whether that’s locally in the state of Colorado or anywhere in the country! I especially love any travel that gets me near the water - an ocean or a lake or a river. I love it all!

What does Disability Pride mean to you?

Disability Pride is an opportunity to embrace a key part of who I am and share disabled joy as I navigate the world around me. For many years I looked at my body through the lens of vanity and with filters of shame. When it stopped working properly, I gained an entirely new perspective. I treat my body with much more kindness, respect, and compassion than I ever did before. That is part of what Disability Pride means to me.

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