Hello! I'm Vanella, a Product Manager based in New York. It's nice to meet you!

Inspired by a lifelong curiosity to understand the “why” behind human intent and fascination by the intersection between usability and aesthetics, I am passionate about building user-centered, data-informed products and challenge myself to understand the larger context in which a user engages with a product.

What excites me most is the opportunity to work on products whose mission is rooted in building innovative solutions to real problems.

Passions

Championing the user experience

Fostering cross-functional collaboration

Aligning through storytelling

Clarifying complex problems

Skills

Competitive analysis

Designing user flows

Creating PRDs

Writing user stories

Goals

Build trust though transparency

Lead by example and respect

Advocate for empathy

Adapt to ambiguity

Tech2Live is a volunteer-lead nonprofit organization, whose mission is to empower survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and their advocates with technology by building products and services to meet their utmost needs - such as safety, finance, and housing.

Our product, FlexSupport, solves the complexities of managing flexible funding by providing domestic violence organizations with the tools to manage their funding, ensure transparency and compliance with funding requirements, and get funds directly into the hands of their survivors.

As co-founding Product Manager my responsibilities include:

• Developing FlexSupport’s product discovery strategy, adapting our research approach to the delicate nature of the problem space we are solving for
  

• Coordinating and leading remote user interviews, synthesizing learnings in close collaboration with the UI/UX team to create user personas and user flows
  

• Synthesize FlexSupport’s discovery research findings into POC, MVP, V1, and V2 requirements, working in close collaboration with UI/UX team to develop pilot prototype
  

• Leading weekly team meetings and managing our Trello board, bringing clarity to technical and non-technical tasks, ensuring we meet key deliverables
  

• Creating our internal organization structure and processes, successfully on-boarding new volunteers and maintaining alignment and transparency across our global, remote team
  

Diem, a Techstars NYC 2020 cohort, is building a social search engine dedicated to creating a place for people to search, collect, discover and share information with each other, inspired by the way women have been passing knowledge to each other for centuries.

As Product Manager my role included:

• Partnering with the co-founder to build the product roadmap and define short and long-term OKRs based on North Star Framework and user needs
  

• Owning the SDLC process for concurrent feature initiatives for both mobile and web app, working closely with co-founders, UI/UX designer, dev team and stakeholders to drive alignment and meet deliverables
  

• Conducting qualitative and quantitative research, synthesizing findings into actionable design and feature recommendations, presenting to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
  

• Optimizing the QA and bug tracking process in close partnership with dev team driving unity and consistency by defining clear user stories with measurable acceptance criteria
  

• Managing the active backlog, continuously adapting backlog to changing priorities for future work
  

About Me

When I decided to pivot into product management I didn’t know how my experience as a menswear designer and operations manager would translate into the skills I needed to succeed as a PM. But in fact, my non-traditional path to product is exactly what makes me a strong PM.

I understand what it takes to build and ship a successful, high-quality product because it takes the same discipline and tenacity to design and deliver a successful collection; thorough competitive analysis, clear product requirements, strong communication, agile thinking, and teamwork… with a generous sprinkle of creative problem solving.

Analytical and detail-oriented, with demonstrated design thinking, I am able to build scalable products by zooming out of the product strategy to build product roadmaps, prioritize features, and define OKRs in an agile environment and zoom in to dive deep into the details of the user experience and internal processes. Empathy is as essential to creating joyful user experiences as it is to building successful teams and I apply the same principles when communicating and collaborating with teams to better support them to do their best work.

Away from my screens I like to volunteer at my local urban farm, go for long runs, and catch up on my favorite British game shows. When not on land you can find me surfing out at Rockaway or wherever there is a wave to be surfed.