Melissa Garcia, Changing the Face of Leadership - One Membership at a Time
December 27th, 2022
Melissa Garcia is the Director of Renewal Operations at Chief, where she is in charge of retention and spearheads the operational journey of renewal for their members. With a background in fashion, editorial writing, and account management, Melissa has pivoted a few times in her career and speaks to the power of a great network.
In this feature, Melissa shares her key learnings from her first role, the importance of saying yes to things that scare you, and how she's changing the face of leadership - one membership at a time. Read along to soak up her incredible career advice for ambitious women, such as yourself.
Early Career
You started your career as a Writer at both CocoKouture and Glitter Group Media after graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology. What key learnings did you take from your first writing roles?
These early roles taught me how to stick to a deadline and keep myself organized and accountable for the work I needed to accomplish. Even though the roles were creative in nature, they allowed me to really flex my operational skills and develop an operational mindset early on. This has served me throughout my career and prepared me for the work I do now. The roles also taught me a lot about communication, relationships, and in a way, taught me how to be a seller. When you are a writer and you need to pitch your ideas to your editor, you are essentially selling yourself and your work. I didn’t know it at the time, but this prepared me for my pivot into sales and account management later on.
You joined Social Sunday as an Account Executive and continued to grow there for more than five years. Then you joined ClassPass in Account Management. How did you make the pivot from editorial writing to account management?
This pivot speaks to the power of a great network. I knew I wanted to explore the fashion space more since I received my degree in fashion merchandising. I had been modeling for a friend's store, Grit N Glory, and they carried a newly launched t-shirt line, Social Sunday. I met Sam, the owner of the company (and now a great friend!) through that connection. The brand was looking to hire their first employee to build their wholesale business. I had worked retail jobs in the past, so that coupled with my degree convinced them to take a chance and hire me as a part time account executive, eventually leading to a full time role. Given the start-up nature of Social Sunday, I wore a lot of hats, one of which allowed me to build long lasting relationships with our wholesale partners. It was through this experience that I learned that relationship management was the work I enjoyed doing the most. When I decided to take a dive into true account management, this led me to ClassPass, where I was able to make account management my primary focus. This experience taught me how important it is to say yes to things that scare you and to take chances. In my career whenever I have embraced and leaned into what might be intimidating or scary, it has always rewarded me most significantly.
You went on to hold Customer Success Manager and Director of Customer Success roles at Trendalytics, Head of Partner Success at Wagmo, Inc. and now Director of Renewal Operations at Chief. What skills and strengths did you realize were key to succeeding in Customer Success and Renewal Operations?
So many things! I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have had wonderful managers and mentors throughout my career that helped me hone the skills I needed in these roles and to constantly evolve, learn, and grow. Shoutout to Carolyn Lai Moore, she was my first manager at ClassPass and now helps BIPOC women gain professional clarity through her career coaching business, Wildlight. What Carolyn and many others taught me was the importance of communication, process, problem solving, and the power of data and insights to name a few. Particularly in customer success, the ability to solve your customers’ problems and deliver value is what keeps your customers renewing year after year. From an operations perspective, solving challenges by being solution-oriented and focused on not only a short term fix, but a long term solution that keeps in mind the company as a whole is how you can prove your value to your company and your team. I also am deeply passionate about leadership and team culture. Being able to create a healthy, uplifting, and considerate working environment is a skillset that I believe to be vital for great leaders.
Chief
You’re currently the Director of Renewal Operations at Chief. What exactly does your role entail and what is your day-to-day?
In short, my team is in charge of retention at Chief. We own the renewal process for our members and my job is to spearhead the operational journey of renewal for Chief members. A huge part of my role is also people and team management. It is a privilege to lead my team and my priority is ensuring I am creating opportunities for the people on my team that help foster their growth and development.
What excites you most about the future of Chief and your role as Director of Renewal Operations?
Truly everything! I feel so lucky to be part of a company working to change the face of leadership. I believe deeply in the work that we do and I am lucky enough to work with incredible people who share this passion. I am most excited to continue to work alongside these incredible humans with our shared goal of connecting and supporting women executive leaders. Additionally, I love solving the operational puzzles that my job requires in order to create the best possible renewal outcomes for our members.
Career Advice
What do you wish you knew when you were first starting your career?
The path is not linear and you don’t have to follow anyone else’s journey but your own. I did not have a traditional start to my professional life or even have access to an understanding of what the possibilities were. Believe in yourself, trust your instincts, work hard, and don’t be afraid to celebrate your achievements. There is no need to be bashful about your professional accomplishments, if you don’t make others notice what you’re capable of, chances are others won’t just notice on their own.
Who is one woman you aspire to be like?
This is tough because there are so many incredible women in the world! I always say I want to be Debi Mazer when I grow up. I am inspired by tenacious, fearless women who pave their own way and she’s also a New Yorker so points for that!
