At HoneyBook, we know that there is no one singular path for career development. There are many ways to grow, including learning new skills, working on a new project, growing within your current role, managing people for the first time, or taking on a new role.

When it comes to career development, HoneyBook provides both resources and development programs to employees and their managers in an effort to support employees’ developmental goals. However, it’s our employees who sit in the driver’s seat of their career path. We encourage them to Own It (one of our core values) and work with their managers to ensure they’re on a path that aligns with their professional goals.

One program we offer in support of career development is our Internal Mentor Program. Now in its 6th year, this program runs for three months at a time and pairs internal experts with employees who are looking to gain a new skill. Whether it’s a technical skill, like learning how to use a new tool or writing code, or a soft skill, like communication skills or project management, the Internal Mentor Program enables HoneyBookers to share knowledge, invest in each other, and even form new connections.

Our most recent cohort was our largest yet, with 22% of our total workforce participating as either a mentee or mentor. While survey results following the program revealed an overwhelming majority of participants thoroughly enjoyed participating, (95%, in fact), we hope they also gained tremendous value from it.

In the spirit of Keeping It Real (another core value), we thought we’d share the experiences of just some of the employees who participated in this most recent cohort.

Liel Malihi — Front End Engineer — Mentee:

Liel was mentored in backend development.

“I learned backend development and can now investigate bugs myself and move faster without being dependent on another full-stack developer. My advice to anyone who wants to participate in this program is to take this opportunity! Be proactive and dedicate time to this program.”

Cyntia Haro — Sr. Talent Partner — Mentor:

Cyntia mentored in strategic planning and big-picture thinking.

“I learned that people find tremendous value in skills that I take for granted and don’t give much thought to. It really encouraged me to participate again.”

Adam Sutton — Support Trainer — Mentee:

Adam was mentored by Jesse Evans, our Director of Education, who helped Adam sharpen his training skills and learn more about our newly launched Learning Management System (LMS).

“My mentorship directly impacted not only my growth in our new LMS, but also helped me in my day-to-day role as a Support Trainer. He was able to impart wisdom and inspired me to reassess certain styles of training/education that I had not thought about changing previously. Overall this reaffirmed my passion for education, taught me new ways to teach & learn, and gave me new ways to approach my role.”

Amit Lin — Staff DevOps Engineer — Mentor

Amit mentored in backend infrastructure. As a mentor, Amit said he “learned how to organize my thoughts and how to better put it down on paper. It also helped me get into the shoes of a novice and understand how to best approach an area I’m already versed in. I love teaching and I wanted the opportunity to improve my speaking in front of an audience.”

As demonstrated above, what we’ve seen time and time again from this program is that not only do mentees gain new skills, but mentors also stand to grow from it. They walk away from the experience with their skills sharpened, with a new perspective, or in some cases, with an appetite for doing it again.

This program is truly a win-win for career development, and just one example of how we invest in our biggest asset: our people. We can’t wait to see what the next cohort brings, and look forward to sharing those learnings and perspectives with you!

Internal Mentor Program at HoneyBook was originally published in We Are HoneyBook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

HoneyBook employs some pretty amazing people. They are some of the most talented, driven, and just genuinely kind human beings you’ll ever encounter in tech, and if you ever get the chance to meet any of them, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

We recently sat down with a HoneyBooker that is a mentor to some, and a superwoman to the rest of us. Her name is Carmel Arad, and she’s a Staff Product Manager based out of our Tel Aviv office. Read on to learn more about the work she does at HoneyBook, how she stays connected to the broader product management community, and what her advice is for any product manager out there considering a career at HoneyBook

Tell us about your role at HoneyBook. What does it mean to be a Staff PM here, and as a member of the T2A (trial to activation) team, what type of projects do you get to work on?

At HoneyBook, being a Staff Product Manager is an incredibly strategic and impactful role. My main responsibility is to identify user pain points, product issues, and opportunities to drive significant impact across our key performance indicators. As a member of the T2A team, my focus is on optimizing our funnel from trial to activation, improving conversion rates, and increasing the number of active users.

This role involves extensive collaboration, both with other product teams as well as with cross-functional teams like marketing, support, and education. Since a user’s journey to activation touches many parts of our product, I frequently collaborate with other PMs to find opportunities that can impact both my goals and theirs. This collaboration fosters new learnings and faster execution. I particularly enjoy the broader perspective this role brings, allowing me to utilize tools to work with other cross functional teams, such as marketing and lifecycle or education, to enhance funnel optimization.

What are you working on at HoneyBook presently that you’re most excited about, and why?

One project I’m particularly excited about is a process mapping tool we are currently testing. Traditionally, growth teams focus on the onboarding funnel, but we identified that new users often struggle to understand how HoneyBook fits into their business. This difficulty arises because they aren’t fully aware of their entire client booking process.

To address this, we created a quiz that helps users list out all the steps they take to get a client to book their services. We use their responses to generate a visual map of this process and show them how HoneyBook supports each step. This feature exemplifies my perspective on growth, where aligning user needs with funnel optimization drives meaningful growth. Understanding and addressing the specific needs of users entering the funnel is key to optimizing it.

Thinking beyond HoneyBook, what are some ways in which you stay connected to the PM community in Tel Aviv? Why is this important to you?

I stay connected to the PM community in Tel Aviv by attending various meetups and being part of a PM guild that meets periodically to share professional content on topics like AI, strategy, and more. This connection is crucial because learning from other PMs and their experiences brings new ideas and perspectives. The blend of insights from different companies and my knowledge of our unique challenges often sparks innovative solutions.

You recently gave a talk at a product meetup hosted by Tel Aviv based tech company, Intango. Tell us about it, and how you became involved.

The recent talk at Intango’s Product Meetup was a follow-up to the Product X conference I spoke at in February, which focused on the intersection of product management and data analysis. This meetup provided a deeper dive into some of the topics discussed at the conference.

I learned about the meetup through connections made at the previous conference and was invited to participate because of the positive feedback from my initial presentation. I chose to participate because I believe in the power of community and sharing knowledge. Engaging with other PMs and discussing our challenges and successes helps us all grow and improve.

For those of us who weren’t able to attend, what did your presentation focus on, and what’s one main takeaway or piece of wisdom you hoped to impart on your audience?

In my presentation, I focused on the critical role of user intent in shaping product strategy. I shared practical strategies for adjusting products to align with user intents, guiding users from their initial interaction through to full product adoption. Key themes included the importance of tailoring the onboarding process to meet users’ initial needs, making continuous adjustments throughout the product to reflect user intent, and leveraging user behavior data to personalize experiences. The main takeaway was that understanding and leveraging user’s initial intent when exploring your product, can significantly improve activation rates and user engagement. By aligning our product with what users truly need and want, we create a more compelling and effective user experience, ultimately driving higher retention and promoting comprehensive product adoption.

Were there any insights you walked away with having listened to some of the other speakers on the panel?

All of the talks at the meetup were incredibly insightful and gave me ideas I want to try out. One talk by Benji Azaria particularly caught my attention. He discussed how we can use the data we have and make it visible to our users as a way to increase user’s perceived value of your product. He categorized data insights shared with users into three types:

• Value confirmation — Data that shows your product performed properly and what value it brought the user.
• Actionable data — Data you have on users and can help them understand what their next step should be.
• Overall performance stats- benchmarks on how segments of users behave, so users can understand where they stand compared to their peers.

This distinction is valuable as we look to revamp some of the data dashboards in our system, providing users with a deeper understanding of their business operations and the value we offer.

It sounds like it was a great opportunity to exchange knowledge! Do you have any other talks/presentations lined up elsewhere where PMs might be able to connect with you?

Not currently, but I am always open to opportunities to share knowledge and connect with the PM community.

To wrap up, what might you say to someone who is reading this article and is considering a PM career at HoneyBook but isn’t sure if this is the right place for them?

Joining HoneyBook was one of the best decisions I made in my career. Product managers at HoneyBook play a crucial role and have the freedom to identify and pursue strategic opportunities. We are an impact-driven company, which means we actively work to create an environment that encourages fast execution and openness to new ideas. HoneyBook has a strong growth mindset, providing numerous personal development opportunities for employees. Every challenge I face helps me grow as a PM and as a person, and I always receive the tools, support, and mentorship needed to succeed. If you are passionate about making a meaningful impact and growing in your career, HoneyBook is the right place for you.

We hoped you enjoyed learning about Carmel and that you were inspired by her passion for both sharing and seeking knowledge. She’s just one of the many amazing people, and PMs, you’ll encounter at HoneyBook. If you ever catch her at a meetup, be sure to say hi.

Lastly, if you’re a PM looking for your next move, or simply want to explore what type of opportunities we have available on our product teams, we encourage you to check out our careers page. We’re hiring!

Humans of HoneyBook — Meet Carmel Arad was originally published in We Are HoneyBook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

As an organization where one of our values is “people come first”, the health and wellness of our employees is something we are committed to supporting. From robust benefit and leave offerings, to investing in programs that support their mental well-being, we’re regularly thinking about the different ways we can show up for our employees.

We recently sat down with Ashley Daigneault, People Business Partner, to learn about just some of the specific benefits and programming available to our US-based HoneyBookers. Read on to gain some insight into how we approach wellbeing at HoneyBook.

What are some of the key ways we invest in the well-being of HoneyBookers?

Ashley: Health benefits immediately come to mind. If our employees aren’t feeling their best, they can’t do their best, which is why we cover almost all their monthly premium expenses for health, dental, and vision coverage, with generous coverage amounts for dependents. Another healthcare benefit we’ve offered for some time now is access to quality primary care through One Medical.

When it comes to mental health, one of the most meaningful perks you can offer employees is access to time off. Our approach to time off is as flexible as it gets, and is designed to encourage employees to take the breaks they deserve. We have an “Open PTO” policy, and we keep an eye on who isn’t using their PTO in order to proactively support those who may need a gentle reminder to prioritize self-care; ensuring everyone feels empowered to recharge.

Let’s not forget leave options, where we set the bar high. So high in fact that we were recently included in a running list BuiltIn keeps of the Tech Companies with the Best Maternity and Parental Leave Policies. From comprehensive parental leave to compassionate support for family care and medical needs, we stand by our employees during life’s pivotal moments. For parental leave, primary caregivers get 16 weeks fully paid and 26 weeks of job-protected leave. Secondary caregivers get 8 weeks fully paid with 12 weeks of job protection. For medical leave, we offer 100% coverage for up to 12 weeks and then our long term disability plan will cover 60% of an employee’s salary. Last but not least, we offer 6 weeks fully paid for family care leave.

For us, benefits are just one part of the equation. It’s equally important to continually foster a work environment that prioritizes our employees’ well-being. We regularly invite external speakers to share their expertise on a variety of topics from “Conquering Digital Distractions” to “[Building] Courageous Connections”, providing employees helpful tools and frameworks they can use to build relationships, work toward balance, and achieve a greater sense of well-being overall.

It’s also worth noting that investing in our employees’ well-being also involves enlisting the support of our managers. We provide our managers with ongoing training and access to resources to empower them to show up for their teams with empathy, to support their teams in balancing workloads, and to provide their teams with meaningful feedback that is timely and empowers them to do better.

Last, but certainly not least, we have a dog-friendly office. Furry friends create opportunities for connection, they bring levity to the office, and are a welcome distraction from our day to day.

A healthy, happy team is the cornerstone of success. We prioritize well-being, because when our employees thrive, so does our entire organization.

The last few years have been especially taxing on people’s physical and mental health. How have we adapted or expanded our benefits offerings to support employees’ needs and meet them where they are?

Ashley: In times as challenging as these, flexibility is not just a perk — it’s a necessity.

We’re proud to say that in recent years, we’ve expanded our benefits offering to include paid memberships to Calm for guided meditations covering various aspects of well-being, Carrot memberships for access to family planning resources, and Spring Health memberships for access to three free therapy sessions, as well as three free coaching calls annually for all employees.

A few years ago, we also introduced a wellness stipend available to all employees, and we’re proud to say it’s still going strong today. Recognizing that wellness means something unique to each individual, we intentionally left the use cases for this stipend wide open. Whether it’s AirPod Pros for the avid runner or a trip to the nail salon for a pedicure, the stipend is there to support our employees’ diverse wellness needs.

Lastly, we adopted a hybrid approach to work that promotes balance. Employees come in 2x a week on set days, with flexibility. We understand that life comes up and there may be some weeks that employees can’t make it into the office on our designated days. Regardless, we aren’t checking badge swipes to see who is or is not coming into the office. We trust our employees.

Unexpected challenges will always arise and we are committed to creating a workplace that adapts to the needs of our employees.

We hope you enjoyed learning about some of the different ways in which we support our employees’ health and well being. If this sounds like the kind of place you’d like to work, we encourage you to visit our careers page for a list of current openings.

To keep up with the latest and greatest when it comes to people and culture at HoneyBook, we invite you to subscribe to this blog.

Wellness at HoneyBook was originally published in We Are HoneyBook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In this edition of Meet the Hiring Manager, we share a little bit about Colleen Stauffer, who joined us recently as Chief Marketing Officer and is already making waves. Read on to learn a little bit about her journey to HoneyBook, what she looks for in a marketer, and some of her endearing quirks.

Tell us a little bit about your rise to CMO. Is this something you’ve always aspired to, and was your path always clear?

My career aspiration was always to become a CMO but my path was not a straight line. I’ve had many successes and many more disappointments in my journey. But my work-ethic (thanks, dad!), dedication and drive led me to this wonderful company — it was all worth it.

During my sophomore year of college I landed an internship at ABC in Washington, DC, and my boss there taught me how to be a thoughtfully direct leader. After college, I interned at several advertising agencies in Chicago. I was lucky to work at Cramer-Krasselt which has an incredible culture and I was able to make an impact even as an intern. While there I discovered my passion for innovation and building, and my proudest accomplishment was founding the social media team. It was the beginning of the digital media revolution and I helped the company expand into this emerging space.

Seven years later, I moved to San Francisco to work at Clorox, which became another formative moment in my career. This was my first in-house role where I learned how a business operates end-to-end, launched award-winning TV spots, designed packaging, and unlocked new social media channels. Learning how to sell routine everyday items was a great lesson in creative marketing — let’s just say I know a lot about garbage bags!

From there I had the opportunity to join the Pinterest team and fell in love with the company. It was pre-IPO, high growth, and in the middle of a reinvention — my favorite combination. As an avid Pinterest user, I felt connected to the brand and could see the potential to evolve the product. I launched and scaled the Creator Marketing team from one to 70 people globally and led the most complex marketing campaign in the company’s history where we established a new Pinterest audience and debuted a renewed platform for creators and consumers.

That brings me to today and my new role as CMO at HoneyBook, the leading business management platform for independent professionals. I can’t wait to be a part of the journey and bring this amazing brand to a broader market.

At HoneyBook, we love what we do. What about your role do you love, or are you most excited about right now?

I LOVE learning deep insights about our target audience and coaching my team to produce first-class work. I truly love my job and don’t take for granted the responsibility I have for both our internal team and our members (customers).

What drew you to join the team at HoneyBook? How did you know this was the right place for you at this point in your career?

There were three big drivers for me. First, the team. Everyone at HoneyBook is kind, driven and collaborative. It’s a truly special place, and it’s reflected in our incredible retention. Take for example, our CFO, Yen Yen. She’s been at the company for seven years, which is unique and not typical in tech.

Second, the audience really resonated with me. Independents, solopreneurs, consultants — no matter what name they go by, are the most inspiring, hardworking and fearless people, and we get to be just a little part of their journey. Helping them legitimize, streamline and centralize their business operations gives them time back to focus on their passion and take time off!

Lastly, it came down to the opportunity. While HoneyBook has been around for 11 years, there is so much opportunity ahead of us to serve the millions of independents out there, and enable them to live their best lives.

What is the one trait that you look for in all marketers and why?

I have to pick two because they go hand in hand — curiosity and resourcefulness. With these two qualities you’ll be successful in marketing no matter what.

Tell us something quirky about yourself.

I carry my own pink Himalayan sea salt everywhere I go. Also, I LOVE doing laundry.

What’s the one business/professional development book you always find yourself recommending, and why?

Hidden Potential by Adam Grant. In it, he talks about finding superpowers on your team and knowing how to grow them.

We hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about Colleen, just one of the many amazing people at HoneyBook. If she sounds like someone you’d love to work with, we invite you to visit out careers site to see what types of opportunities we have available on the marketing team and beyond.

Lastly, if you like what you read, we invite you to subscribe to this blog to keep up with the people and culture at HoneyBook.

#MeetTheHiringManager - Colleen Stauffer was originally published in We Are HoneyBook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This week we sit down with Miguel Perez (he/him), who joined us late last year as our Fraud & Disputes Manager. Read on to learn what he’s been up to since joining us, what it’s like to work on his team, and about both his culinary and cinematic predilections.

As the Fraud & Disputes Manager at HoneyBook, what does your role entail?

Our main goal as the fraud and disputes team is to create a seamless and secure experience for our members and their clients. Fraud and disputes can be ambiguous at times and our ability to make logical decisions is very important. So my role at HoneyBook is to provide an environment where my team is empowered to make these decisions with their daily work. Beyond the day to day, I try to create continuous opportunities where our team can engage in non-work related functions. Whether it be our Bussin’ Thursday meetings or team outings, it’s important to me that we all have opportunities to share the “you” outside of just talking shop.

Bussin’ Thursdays? What’s that about?

Bussin’ Thursday is a non-work related meeting I have set up every two weeks with my team. Everyone takes a turn owning it, and planning an activity for all of us to participate in. Since half of my team is remote, I hold these with the goal of replacing the casual “coffee chats” we’d otherwise have if we were all in the office.

At HoneyBook, we love what we do. What about your role do you love?

I love that we serve independent business owners over a wide range of industries and how this has challenged me to recalibrate my risk tolerance. My role here at HoneyBook is unique because we are not just looking out for the business but also for our members and their clients. This creates a very interesting challenge because we have to balance all three variables with whatever fraud or dispute policies we decide to implement.

What drew you to join the team at HoneyBook? How did you know this was the right place for you at this point in your career?

My decision to join HoneyBook came down to two things; the people and the opportunity to build. Every person I met with during the interview process was just so genuine and you could really tell that they not only enjoyed working here but also cared about building something special. HoneyBook has only scratched the surface of its potential and I really do believe we are positioned well to serve a wider range of independents and also provide additional services to them within the tool itself.

What would you like anyone considering joining the Fraud team to know about it?

This role is not for someone that needs a desktop procedure for every scenario. We are a young team (about 2 yrs old) that’s very much in build mode and still fine tuning our fraud policies as we learn and expand. So if you have a passion for fraud prevention, a drive to make an impact with a great group of people, and the curiosity to take on new challenges as we expand into new features; then this role might be right for you.

What’s the one snack you can’t live without?

Pistachio ice cream. I’m compelled to say yes as if the Bene Gesserits voice has ordered me to.

We hope you enjoyed getting to know Miguel, and we invite you to visit his LinkedIn profile to learn about what he was up to before joining HoneyBook. Until next time, we thank you for reading and invite you to follow us if you’d like to keep up with people-of-HoneyBook related content.

#MeetTheHiring Manager - Miguel Perez was originally published in We Are HoneyBook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Who runs the world? Who, indeed? If you were to ask Beyoncé, she’d no doubt say “girls”, who else? If you were to ask a HoneyBooker, chances are they’d probably agree. You see, HoneyBook is quite literally run (mostly) by women*. The edge may be slight, but our C-Suite is made up predominantly of women (4 out of 7 members). Just over 50% of our senior leaders (Director, Sr Director, Head of) are women, and the same can be said for the rest of our managers.

What’s more is that in a world in which women in tech more often than not find themselves in marketing, HR, or administrative roles, we have women leading engineering and product teams, women conducting critical member research and analysis, and women leaders informing our financial decisions. The reason we continue to grow and thrive as a company despite broader macro economic trends is due in large part to some very remarkable women, who, while not featured in this piece, are worthy of recognition. So, here’s to you, Honey-ladies. Your presence is felt, your work is seen, and we couldn’t do it without you.

In anticipation of International Women’s Day, there is one woman we want to tell you about: Ann Shepherd. Ann is a HoneyBook board member, and COO/co-founder of Him for Her, a social impact venture that seeks to accelerate diversity on corporate boards. She has created and published the only annual study on board diversity among private companies, with the fifth annual report set to be published in a few weeks’ time.

We recently hosted a fireside chat with Ann, during which time she regaled us with stories detailing how it was that her relationship with HoneyBook came to be eight years ago, about her journey to the board room by way of Apple and later OpenTable (where she spent 10 years, both pre and post IPO), and about the work she’s doing today to help open the door to the women who follow. An excerpt from the interview, which has been edited for length and clarity, follows.

HoneyBook: As you were progressing through your career, what were some of the challenges you faced as a woman in leadership specifically?

Ann: I was a member of the OpenTable management team for a good bit of time, and for about four years of that time I was the only woman in the room. That came with some challenges. I think one, and by the way here I’m using “women” as a proxy for anyone who finds themselves as a minority, be that racial, ethnic, a person with disabilities, LGBTQ, class, age, any of those. One of the challenges when you will find yourself in the minority is that you lack role models. There are few people you can look to, and it’s hard to be “it” if you can’t see “it”. I’ve been really encouraged lately though. It feels like over the last eight years the media, at least here in the US, has done a better job of really shining a light on people who, you know, come from different backgrounds, women who’ve accomplished things. So, I know that’s changing.

I think the second challenge is being an “only”. There’s a tendency, I think, to want to assimilate, which maybe kind of goes into the whole impostor syndrome thing, which I think we all grapple with to some extent. And when you focus on assimilating, what happens is you’re not bringing your best self and all of your capabilities because you’re really focused on belonging.

After some number of years as the only woman, our management team expanded and we grew to I think it was four or five other women. It was incredible. It was like somebody opened a window and all this air came in. I loved the guys I was working with, but there was just a level of candor from that point on. It wasn’t that the women all thought the same thing; we didn’t by any means, but there was I think a livelier, richer discourse.

Can you share more about what led you to found Him for Her, and more about what the organization does?

First I want to give props to my OpenTable colleague Jocelyn Mangan, who actually came up with the idea of Him for Her. She was completing a fellowship and really thinking about the lack of gender diversity, as well as diversity more broadly in boardrooms. You know, there’s been a lot of progress, not as quick as maybe we’d all like, but in diversity throughout the business world. Boardrooms in particular are kind of the last bastion for lots of different reasons.

So, Jocelyn developed a prototype to try to address this problem, and along with another co-founder, Fiona Tang, the three of us set out five years ago to try to accelerate gender diversity on for-profit boards, both public and private. Today, we do that by bridging the gap between the opportunities that are out there for board service, and that tend to be very opaque. You know, there’s not a job listing board for board members, so these opportunities are locked away from all of the incredible people who are ready in their career to bring their expertise to board service.

The other thing I thought about as we started was how we were going to measure our progress. There are lots of reports that talk about, measure, and track gender diversity and other forms of diversity on public company boards, but I couldn’t find anything on private company boards which I think is really important because private companies are designing the future that we and our children are going to inhabit.

So anyway, we started an annual project with Crunchbase, where we actually measure and report on gender diversity on the boards of the most heavily funded private companies. In terms of measuring progress, when we started five years ago, seven percent of the directors of private company boards, and these are companies that have raised at least $100MM, were women. That’s up to 17% today. What’s even more astounding is that when we got started, 60% of these company boards didn’t have a single woman on the board, and that’s down to about 30% today.

That’s amazing. Another question that I think resonates with a lot of people is, how do you navigate or overcome imposter syndrome or self-doubt, not only in your leadership role, but in life?

I wish we could have a workshop on that! You know, I think the common coping mechanism has really been focusing on preparation. It’s been about building confidence through kind of knowing that you’ve got everything down and you’re going into a situation with the right knowledge and the right context, trying to anticipate some of the things that come up. So, being prepared has helped me.

I think the other thing that’s easy to get trapped in when you’re in those moments is asking yourself if you’re the best person, and the answer is, you’re never the best person. It’s a big world out there. It’s an unhelpful way to think. What you want to do is bring your best, and think about all that you do have to offer. I know there are people much wiser and with more experience than I who could talk to you today about gender inclusion, but hopefully the experience I have is particularly relevant and somebody will walk away today thinking, “OK, that was interesting”. So really it’s about not focusing on being the best; you can’t win that, but rather doing and bringing your best.

I really love that advice. So what I’m hearing is, it’s about really honoring who you are and what you bring to the table and not comparing yourself to anyone else, right?

Yeah, I think that’s absolutely right, and to not think one dimensionally as well. We’re all enormous Venn diagrams of our expertise, our experience, all the people we know, our personalities, and our ways of interacting. All of that is part of the package and it’s growing, and making you more and more unique every single day. So, don’t get trapped in one-dimensional thinking.

What are your thoughts on the importance of mentorship and sponsorship for women in leadership positions, in board positions, and how have these relationships impacted your career?

I love the distinction between mentorship and sponsorship, which I wasn’t aware of in my younger days. So this notion of mentorship is somebody who helps you develop your skills, and provides a sounding board, while sponsorship is being the person who is thinking of you in the room you’re not in and is saying, “What about her? She’d be great.” Or, “I want to introduce so and so to this other person.” Both are critically important, and perhaps to varying degrees at different parts of your career. I met an incredible mentor thirty years ago through a mutual friend, and I worked for her at three different companies. She’s actually the person who pulled me into OpenTable. So, that access opportunity, that training, and that sounding board was critical.

What I’m realizing, especially through my work at Him for Her, is that we all know talent is evenly distributed in the world, but access is the fundamental problem. People don’t have equal access, and at the end of the day things look the way they do because access is unequal. It’s up to all of us to be bridge builders, but when I think of sponsors, I think of allies who are saying, “What about her? What about him?”

The other part I’ll just mention about networks is that it’s one thing to be connected to someone, it’s another to actually have them top of mind. We might think that our networks are, you know, more diverse, but if we’re not interacting with that person with a great deal of frequency, then we may not think of them at the right moment, and that’s has been a problem with diversity in a lot of rooms. Even though there might be connections, they’re loose, they’re infrequent. I can’t tell you the number of times that we’ve suggested someone for a board through our work at Him for Her, and have heard, “Oh yeah, I know her! She’d be fantastic, and I didn’t even think of her.”

So, it’s safe to say that sponsorship plays a big role in what you do at Him for Her, right? How does that show up for people in the program?

The way the model works is it’s basically a two-sided marketplace where we have built a network of over seven or eight thousand women who are ready for board service. We made it our goal that at least a third of those needed to be women of color, and we held ourselves accountable to that. We partner with about 100 private equity and venture capital firms, where as I mentioned earlier, the board seats are really opaque. The way we can tap into those, especially among the privately owned companies, is to work with the investors who put money into those portfolio companies. Most of them are serving on boards and they know where the opportunities lie, and so once we find those opportunities, we’re in a position to really help the company go through the process of thinking about, and evaluating candidates.

The interesting thing that we discovered is that when you’re in a boardroom at a privately held company ready to add that new board member, the first thing that the folks around that table tend to do is ask, “Who do we know? Who do we know that would be good for this?” As soon as you ask that question, you’re increasing the likelihood of coming up with people who look like the people in that room. That’s significant for all the aforementioned reasons. So, our advice at Him for Her has been to not start with that. Instead ask, “What do we need?” We encourage them to do the analysis, to look at the next three to five year horizon, their strategic plan, and the people around the table today, and instead ask, “What skills do we have, and what are we missing?” Once they’ve completed that gap analysis, they kind of have a shopping list and an abstract idea of what they’re looking for. Then they have to look outside their networks to find the people who can bring that. What we found time and again is that we’ll present candidates and the CEO or board chair, and they’ll be wowed because they didn’t even realize that a person like that existed. In the early days of Him for Her I remember speaking to an investor who told me that what we were doing was great, and that he agreed that having more women and people of color on boards would be great, but that at the end of the day his fiduciary responsibility was to have the best person in the room. My response to him: “I agree 100%, that is your responsibility, but how do you know you’re getting the best person if you can’t see half of them because they’re outside of your peripheral vision?” Bringing that awareness is what Him for Her exists to do; to bridge that gap.

We applaud Ann, and the team at Him for Her for their work, and are lucky to count on her perspective within our own board. Whether you’re a woman, an ally, or just someone who approached this piece with curiosity, we hope you found some wisdom and inspiration in Ann’s words. We certainly did.

If you enjoyed this post and would like to keep up with the goings on at HoneyBook, we invite you to follow us. Thank you for reading.

*For the purpose of brevity, from this point on any time the words “woman” or “female” are used, they denote a female-identifying person.

International Women’s Day at HoneyBook: A Fireside Chat with Ann Shepherd at Him for Her was originally published in We Are HoneyBook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

So what do we mean when we talk about this idea of “People Love”? What did that actually look like? Quite simply, it meant that although we want HoneyBookers to feel appreciated and loved throughout the year, we decided that February was a moment in time in which we were going to double down on that feeling. That meant announcing new perks, creating opportunities for people to come together, and enabling a culture of appreciation for one another.

It began with announcing a new benefit for our US-based employees: a company sponsored DashPass for all those nights when the only viable answer to the question: “should I cook or order takeout?” is, “order takeout”. People come first at HoneyBook, but let’s face it, food comes before everything.

That announcement was followed days later by an event designed to show our remote employee community some love: a virtual candle making class. Over the course of an hour, our remote employees learned about the history of candle making, shared laughs over melting wax, and walked away with not one, but two keepsake candles. More importantly, they formed new connections with one another and were reminded that one can still have fun on Zoom, even in 2024, and that being a remote employee doesn’t have to mean feeling like you’re on an island.

Mid month, we launched HoneyGrams, a take on the valentines many of us exchanged at school as kids. We replaced the romance with our values, and encouraged employees to share words of appreciation with one another. The program ran for a full week, overlapping with Valentine’s Day, and whether handed in person, or delivered digitally, the valentines were a great way to recognize the everyday efforts and impact we make in each other’s work lives and on the company overall.

The People Love didn’t stop there! As Valentine’s Day drew to an end, we hosted a People Love Month Happy Hour. This provided an opportunity for our hybrid (i.e. San Francisco Bay Area), team to come together and bond over mocktails, adult drinks, and appetizers. Complete with “speed dating” (think: get to know a fellow HoneyBooker), and mocktail mixology course, this event provided an opportunity for us to socialize with intention. We learned together, sipped (responsibly) together, formed new connections, and strengthened old ones.

Finally, and to culminate this month of People Love, we revealed yet another perk for our US team: a Togetherness Budget available to our remote employees who are co-located (i.e., they work out of the same geographic area, but work from home 100% of the time). This budget will enable our co-located remote HoneyBookers to explore ways of connecting with each other in person, even when they can’t be in the office. Whether they spend a day working together out of a co-working space, or decide to take a pottery course together, our hope is that these funds continue to foster connections and strengthen the relationship capital that makes HoneyBook, HoneyBook.

We hope you enjoyed learning about some of the initiatives we rolled out this month to show our people some love. How does your organization show you love? Let us know in the comments!

People Love Month was originally published in We Are HoneyBook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Meet Emma (she/her), our Head of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships. You can learn about her career trajectory here, but read on to learn a little bit more about what you can expect when joining her team, and where you can be sure to find her when snack time strikes.

What is the one thing we wouldn’t know about you by looking at your LinkedIn profile alone?

After college, I had plans to work at the Whitney Museum of Art in NYC in their education department before walking into a friend’s startup, feeling the energy, and doing a 180 by taking a sales job

What’s it like being a part of the business development team?

It’s a small but mighty, fast paced, creative, highly cross functional, and member-centric team tasked with lots of problem solving and the development of new business ideas while remaining execution focused.

What has been your favorite memory with your team?

Being a part of the Partner Summit, spending time with our members, and hearing the stories about how HoneyBook has helped them run their business.

When did you know HoneyBook was the right choice for you?

After spending time with the team during the interview process. It validated to me that HoneyBook is truly a people first, values driven, and member-centric company.

We save the most important question for last: what’s your go-to snack?

I like to raid the peanut butter pretzels at the office at about 3pm and add a few slices of dried mango on the side.

We hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about Emma. To learn about openings on her team, or any team at HoneyBook for that matter, check out our careers site.

#MeetTheHiringManager - Emma Radin was originally published in We Are HoneyBook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Meet Sigal (she/her), who joined us earlier this year as our Head of People in the US. You can learn more about what she was up to before HoneyBook here, but read on to learn a little bit about her role today, life at HoneyBook, and what it’s like to work on her team.

As the US Head of People at HoneyBook, what does your role entail?
Our People mission is to empower HoneyBookers to grow and flourish, doing what they love. I have the privilege of leading the US People team who bring this mission to life. Our team includes talent acquisition, office & employee experience and DEI, HRBP, and People Operations. We own the entire employee flow from interviewing, to onboarding, through growth and development, to offboarding. As the cultivators of HoneyBook’s culture, we embody the five core values of HoneyBook, and mainly People Come First, in everything we do.

At HoneyBook, we love what we do. What about your role do you love?
Gosh, there are so many things I love about my role.

• I LOVE the people that I work for and with. When you think about it, we spend most of our awake time at work so the fact that I can spend it with people that I enjoy is critical for me.
• I LOVE being a thought partner to HoneyBook’s leadership team by being involved in strategic conversations that impact our business.
• I LOVE having an impact on our employees’ experience, making sure we create the best work environment where they can have a career built on passion and purpose.
• I LOVE having conversations with my team, learning from them as well as coaching and empowering them to achieve their full potential.
• I LOVE partnering with our counterparts in Tel-Aviv on driving cross site initiatives, despite having an ocean between us. For example we foster our culture by celebrating Pride, Halloween, and Wellness Week in both locations. We believe in building long lasting relationships with our co-workers and therefore invest in bringing all HoneyBook employees together for a company event we call ‘one-office-week’.

What drew you to join the team at HoneyBook? How did you know this was the right place for you at this point in your career?
My entire career had been spent at large corporate companies (Intel, AWS, Twitch, Meta). When I decided to leave Meta I knew I wanted to have a completely different experience which led me to explore joining a start-up. Once I heard about the opportunity at HoneyBook, I asked around my network about the company. Everyone I asked said ‘oh, HoneyBook has a unique, people oriented culture’. That got me intrigued — what’s their secret sauce? Once I met with the leadership and the People team in TLV and the US, I immediately knew HoneyBook was the right place for me. I appreciated the honest conversations we had during my interview process — we truly kept it real. But most importantly, I could sense that People Come First was not just a slogan but a value that was ingrained in HoneyBook’s DNA. I knew I had to be part of this culture, which is the secret sauce of our success.

What would you like anyone considering joining the People team to know about it?
This is the BEST People team to join! Each person brings their unique super power and expertise that together creates the magic of HoneyBook. We truly care about each other and are eager to help and support our peers when needed. Everyone loves what they do and we aim to raise the bar with every initiative and program we roll out. We have open and honest conversations, we laugh together, and even cry together. All-in-all, we are “the honey” that binds our employee community together, whether hybrid or remote.

What’s the one snack you can’t live without?

That’s easy. That will be chocolate. I also love coffee — is that considered a snack?

Thanks for reading along! Follow us to be among the first to read our next edition of #MeetTheHiringManager, as well as other great content about life at HoneyBook.

#MeetTheHiringManager — Sigal Laufer was originally published in We Are HoneyBook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Today, we’re going to talk about company values. You may refer to them as core values or corporate values, but at the end of the day they all boil down to the same thing: they’re the philosophies, beliefs, and principles that unite a group of people in pursuit of a common business goal. Company values shape company culture and impact business strategy. How? Having a core set of guiding principles makes it easier for a company to make decisions, to foster teamwork, and to facilitate collaboration. Without them, an organization may flounder in the absence of team cohesion, purpose, and commitment. Furthermore, when an organization doesn’t take the time to define their values, they tend to evolve on their own, often to the detriment of the organization.

At HoneyBook, one of the first tasks our leadership team undertook when founding the company 10 years ago was to define our values as a company. It was an endeavor they took seriously, for they understood that what they were defining in that moment would impact the organization for years to come. Their diligence paid off. Today, HoneyBook continues on a path of healthy growth, fosters an award-winning culture, and continues to stretch the limits of what is possible when it comes to enabling independents to spend more time doing what they love and less time running their business. This could not have been possible without the guardrails a core set of values provides. It’s worth mentioning that our values haven’t changed all that much over the years, highlighting the fact that when approached with thoughtfulness, company values have the capacity to provide consistent guidance in a company’s formative years, when so much is changing constantly.

All that being said, there came a time when the HoneyBook we saw in the mirror was no longer the young, inexperienced child of a company we’d started off as. No, the face looking back at us had lived, had learned, and was committed to applying those lessons toward accelerating growth. So, to commemorate 10 years at HoneyBook we took a good, hard look at the values that had gotten us this far and asked ourselves: “Will these same values get us through the next 10?”

In some cases, the answer was a resounding yes. In others, there was a bit of a metamorphosis that took place. (I can’t help but conjure the image of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, because the process really was analogous.) There were fragments of certain core values that we wanted to maintain, but it was clear that in their present state they no longer served us. That meant dissecting, thinking thoughtfully, and soliciting viewpoints from across the organization so that the values that more closely aligned with the HoneyBook we had become, while at the same time giving us something to aspire to, could emerge. We actually built a task force made up of employees across teams and levels of the organization to this end. Believe me, it is not something we took lightly.

What emerged was a hybrid of old and new: the best of what had helped get us this far, coupled with a fresh set of principles that would guide us for years to come. In no particular order, I give you HoneyBook’s values for 2023 and beyond:

People come first.

As we work through challenges and opportunities, people are the priority in our decisions.

This means that…

As a company, we’ll face pressure from factors both in and out of our control. Ultimately, our members’ success is our success. Through thick and thin, the best thing for our employees and members is the best thing for the company.

As individuals, we’re empathetic and compassionate toward our members and each other.

As a team, we embrace diversity, inclusion, and belonging. We work to help individual employees achieve their goals through professional development and mentorship to put them on the best path to success — even if that path leads them to a different role or team.

We care deeply about our members’ business, working life, and well-being. We aim to build a community of support and resources that help our members thrive.

Keep it real.

At HoneyBook, authenticity, respect, and transparency run in the family. Innovation and growth come when we welcome diverse ideas, perspectives, and backgrounds.

This means that…

As a company, we value open communication, respectful disagreement, and actively share thoughts and feedback. We move together as one in an inclusive and safe environment.

As individuals, we stay true to ourselves while respecting others. We’re humble, open-minded, collaborative, and altruistic.

As a team, we show up for each other. We set clear expectations and make stronger connections knowing we’re safe to freely express ourselves.

We work to understand our members’ reality so they know we’re not living in a tech company fairytale.

Raise the bar.

We perpetually push for greatness — for ourselves, each other, and our members. Our ambition is contagious. We deliver the extraordinary, knowing that progress precedes perfection.

This means that…

As a company, we strive for progress, improvement, and excellence in all we do, from our culture to our product.

As individuals, we have a growth mindset. We push ourselves to learn, grow, and do our best work knowing failure is part of the process.

As a team, we lean on each other’s strengths and expertise to deliver what we could never achieve alone.

Our members’ businesses are always evolving. So, we work to anticipate their needs and deliver innovative solutions that surprise, delight, and exceed their expectations.

Own it.

Our culture of trust and ownership empower us to move fast with alignment, make decisions with confidence, and work toward our goals without fear of setbacks or failure.

This means that…

As a company, we empower ourselves to move forward with clear objectives and strategies. We support individuals and teams with the resources they need to succeed, remove barriers when they arise, and trust their judgment.

As individuals, we’re empowered to take responsibility for our domain, tackle problems head-on, and work to make a difference in things large and small. We all have the opportunity to make an impact. No matter what our job title might be, we’re all leaders and nothing is someone else’s problem.

As a team, we’re empowered to own our successes and learn from failures. We openly communicate without over-communicating. We’re accountable to our commitments and execute together without tipping a delegation domino.

We empower our members to own their future. The life they want is powered by the business they build, and that business runs on HoneyBook.

We love what we do.

We energize each other with enthusiasm for our work — and we smile proudly at the positive impact it has on the world. We take time to enjoy this journey we’re on — through all the ups and downs.

This means that…

As a company, we love what we create for our members.

As individuals, we’re passionate about our role and can honestly tell our grandparents, “I love what I do,” even if they’ll never fully understand what we do for a living.

As a team, we’re inspired by the talent and passion that’s all around us. And we’re even more excited to call each other our friends.

We love empowering our members to find joy and purpose in their own working life.

Sound like the kind of place you’d love to work? Check out our current openings.

What We Value at HoneyBook was originally published in We Are HoneyBook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.