Customer Success Manager at Bandwidth, Inc.
Years as a Camper: 2000-2007
Years as a Staff Member: 2008-2013
Did you hold any positions?
Camper, CILT, Cabin Counselor, Archery Chief, Ranger Unit Leader, Social Media Coordinator
Current Profession:
I have been a Customer Success Manager at Bandwidth, Inc. in Raleigh for almost three years.
Can you provide a brief overview of your job responsibilities?
As a Customer Success Manager, I serve as an ambassador, advocate and subject matter expert for Bandwidth's customers. My goal is to deliver exceptional customer support, resolve issues and act as "the voice of the customer" within our organization, building brand loyalty and customer satisfaction with every interaction. Effectively, I facilitate operational success for my portfolio of customers, working across multiple teams and multiple departments (billing, sales, engineering, product, and beyond).
In plainer English: I work with 8-10 of Bandwidth's highly strategic customers and teach them best practices for using Bandwidth's products. If they have an issue or a question that I can't figure out myself, I help gather the correct resources to make sure my customers get to where they need to be.
Do you have any career advice for members of our Camp community?
I credit Camp Kanata for being the place that I learned how to do - as Ben Folds Five calls it - the "Best Imitation of Myself." Camp taught me to be more outgoing, to be more confident, to be a stronger leader, to care deeply for others, to get along with everybody, to always make the most generous possible assumption about others, to work hard, to be brave enough to be my authentic (often quirky) self. My advice to others is to find the place in your world where you can do the best imitation of yourself (whether that's Camp or elsewhere) and be intentional about expanding that version of yourself to all aspects of your life. It's not always easy, because not every place or every person instills in you the same feelings of safety and belonging that I always felt at Camp Kanata, but it's something I strive to do anyway. And if I find that I'm somewhere that doesn't allow me to do the best imitation of myself, then it's probably time for me to politely remove myself from that situation.
Is that career advice? I'm not sure. But that's what I've got.
What do you believe have been some of your greatest personal and professional accomplishments? Is there a goal toward which you are currently working toward?
After my time at Camp Kanata, I enjoyed nearly a decade of working full-time in a variety of roles at the YMCA of the Triangle. On a professional level, I am incredibly proud of the work I did at the Y, from energizing youth sports at the Durham YMCA, to strengthening marketing and communications efforts at the A.E. Finley and Kerr Family YMCAs, to advising the media program at the YMCA Youth & Government Conference, to working to makeing the Y Guides program more inclusive. I did work that mattered and that I was passionate about.
On a personal level, I'm proud of recognizing when I was burned out and choosing to transition to a new career that would allow me to focus more time and energy on my relationships and personal goals.
What is a lesson or skill that you have taken from Camp and used in your personal or professional life?
I'm pretty sure that "osmosis" is something I was supposed to have learned in freshman biology, but I think I actually learned about it at Camp. Every hour, day, week, or summer at Camp is a journey in itself. On the one hand, your ultimate goal is just to get to the end. But on the other hand, I've found that by the time I finished each of those many mini journeys, there had been so many acts of intentionality that had permeated the experience that I would come out of the experience having learned new habits or new skills that made me better.
Oh, you thought this archery activity would just teach you how to shoot a bow and arrow? Sure, but you're also going to learn patience, and meet new people, and discover that you can't handle the spice level of a fireball candy, and meet the camp dog, and find out where to fill up your water bottle, and discover the secret to the "Green Glass Door." Oh, you thought your first week at Camp would just be a week at a place your parents sent you to keep you entertained during summer break? Sure, but you're also going to become a better singer and dancer, and learn how to interact with new people, and learn how to make your bed, and get really good at passing a pitcher of bug juice without any spillage, and discover that being caring, respectful, honest and responsible aren't just boring character traits, but actually principles that will help you lead a more fulfilling life. Oh, you thought you were taking a summer job to make a little money between semesters in college? Sure, but you're also going to learn to believe in magic again, and you're going to make best friends who will be by your side for the rest of your life.
Camp is so simple, yet every moment is packed with so much to learn and so much to make you better. Just by experiencing the simple journey(s) of camp, through osmosis, you're gaining so much more.
There have been bonafide doctors and scientists who have been featured as alumni spotlights on this very webpage who will likely read this and say, "Yeah... that's NOT what osmosis is." And I'm okay with that.
How do the values or skills you learned at Camp show up in your everyday work/ and or personal life?
Above all else, Camp taught me to spin multiple plates at once. As camp staff during any given camp day, you have plans and contingency plans for all kinds of different scenarios. You need to have a lesson plan for the Field Games activity you're leading, while also remembering camp's emergency protocols, while also knowing that Camper Johnny needs to go to the nurse after lunch to get his meds, while also planning out this week's closing campfire skit, while also keeping a couple of time-killer games in your back pocket, while also preparing for your co-counselor's night off on Thursday so you'll need to lean on your CIT a little harder that night, while also making sure that your shy camper has a swim buddy, and oh no... our cabin is leading Chapel tomorrow!
In my role as a Customer Success Manager, I have to facilitate and manage multiple projects for multiple customers across multiple internal teams using multiple systems and processes. Camp prepared me well to prioritize my daily schedule in an organized and efficient manner.
Is there a person or situation that had a huge influence on you while you were at Camp? How and why did they/it impact you?
There are MANY people that influenced me in life-changing ways. Nick Dishler was my first-ever cabin counselor in Cabin 12 and made me feel welcome immediately with an incredibly small gesture. He noticed I was wearing a UNC shirt and he pointed out his UNC bedspread. That's all it took for nine-year-old Max to feel like he belonged. A few years later, Teddy Clancy gave me the tough-love lesson of a lifetime when I was not being very respectful to some of my fellow campers in Lower Lake. His brash, but caring lecture was something I needed and it re-shaped my perspective of what Camp was all about and the impact (positive vs. negative) I'm capable of making on others. Alex Pherribo, Kara Smith, Rachel Whaley, Kelsey Akins and I became friends as campers and it was an incredibly cool experience to get to work with each of them on staff later on. When I was a CILT, Alex Corey, Dave Bell and Ryan Eves helped instill confidence in me that I could break out of my shell enough to be a great camp counselor. Marcus Fields was an incredible mentor to me during my first year on staff and remains a great friend. Forrest Perry trusted me to be Camp Kanata's first-ever Social Media Coordinator and elevated the role to an Ad-Staff position for me. Meredith Stewart did an unbelievable job of making me feel important and helping me see value in myself inside AND outside the gates of camp. Those folks are just the tip of the iceberg. Many of my closest friends today are those that I worked with at Camp.
What advice would you give your younger self?
There's a fine line between being productively funny and distractingly flippant. It's a good idea to learn when to toe that line, when to go over the line, and when to stay far far away from that line.
What three words best describe you?
Caring, Funny, Intentional
What is your favorite camp memory?
The moments I look back upon most fondly are the ones as a Cabin 12 counselor, just hanging out on the cabin porch or on the picnic table in front of the cabin. It's a simple memory, but gathering in front of Cabin 12 always signified the start of something great. I'm still drawn to the Cabin 12 porch every time I visit Camp.
