Rose continued her interviews this month by sitting down with one of Brightspot's original employees, Kate Condon. Over the past decade, Kate has been engaged in some of Brightspot's most impactful partnerships including Scripps Network, Politico, AARP, and Johnson & Johnson. During their conversation, Rose and Kate discuss some of these projects and much more.
After co-founders David Gang and Lisa Beaudoin, I believe you are the longest tenured employee at Brightspot! When you reflect back on your 12+ years here, are there any particular moments that stand out as most memorable?
Definitely! One of the most memorable moments was when we transitioned from being a product strategy organization to actually launching our own CMS to better meet our customers' needs. That transition was certainly the most memorable during my time at Brightspot.
How has your life changed since you started at Brightspot?
On a personal level, since starting at Brightspot, I have gotten married and had a daughter, Lila, who is now three years old. Those have been two wonderful shakeups in my world!
What is the most challenging project you have worked on at Brightspot and what did you learn from that experience?
The most challenging project for me personally was the first site that we built for Politico. At that point, it was the most hands-on I had been using Brightspot. Learning the platform and truly becoming an expert on its capabilities was an incredible challenge. Additionally, the scope of the engagement was huge and critically important to the functioning of Politico's newsroom. I had a great partnership with Sandeep, who was my counterpart at Politico and who actually now works with us at Brightspot. The challenge and partnership ultimately made this an incredibly rewarding project.
What traits are most important to making you successful at your job?
One of the traits that makes me successful at my job is the ability to multitask. There are unexpected challenges every day and being able to address those while still delivering on other needs for my team and customers is critical. It's also important to have fun when you can. I prioritize having relationships with both customers and co-workers.
How do you think the Brightspot CMS best benefits our customers?
Brightspot offers so many capabilities out of the box that customers and delivery teams are able to focus primarily on custom features for their specific use cases. With so much taken care of from the start, we can spend more time diving into these complexities and ensuring we meet their needs. The core functionality accelerates projects and lets us dig in and focus our energy where it's needed.
What's the best piece of career or life advice that you've received?
When I was in college, I was strongly encouraged to do an internship within my career field. Those two internships helped me determine what I was and was not interested in and helped launch my career in this industry. When I graduated, I had a better understanding of what I wanted to do and had already made valuable contacts. I have seen so many similar stories with our interns at Brightspot, who get their start with internships and eventually join full time. Internships give you the opportunity to learn and showcase your abilities.
Besides the people, what is your favorite part about working at Brightspot?
As a company, we constantly adapt to meet our customers' needs. This goes back to my first answer of how we pivoted from a product strategy organization to building our own content management platform when we realized the current market was lacking. We are always thinking of what we can provide to meet their needs.
What are your favorite activities or hobbies to do outside of the office?
I love to see live music. I am a huge fan of The National and I never miss a show when they're in town. I also love going on hikes with my daughter. I have been reading more during the pandemic. I recently read a book called Long Bright River which was written by my best friend's sister-in-law!
What is something you are most looking forward to doing once the pandemic is behind us?
I can't wait to hug my family and friends.
Is there a television show or movie that you have watched recently that you would recommend?
Moustafa Alsaadi, a colleague here at Brightspot, suggested to me. It is great! It's one of the most enjoyable shows I've watched in several years and I would highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.
