Career path of a Client Success Manager at Watermark Insights
Daniel's career path began with "volunteering and tutoring," which led to Teach for America, providing valuable leadership experience and insight into post-secondary education. This experience, coupled with their work as an academic advisor at UT Austin implementing "text messaging and Tableau dashboards," transitioned into a project management role and then a Client Success Manager position at Watermark Insights, leveraging technology within higher education.
Higher Education, Student Success, Technology Implementation, Project Management, Client Success
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Daniel Zarazua
Client Success Manager
Watermark Insights
The University of Texas at Austin, 2012
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas - Masters in Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Legal & Policy, Anthropology, Sociology
Education
Sales and Client Management
Honors Student
Video Highlights
1. Daniel's volunteer and tutoring experiences in college led to a Teach for America opportunity, enhancing his leadership skills and exposing him to the challenges of student access in K-12 education.
2. His work as an academic advisor at UT Austin involved implementing technology solutions, such as text messaging and Tableau dashboards, to improve student advising and data analysis.
3. His experience with project management and implementation at Watermark Insights transitioned into a Client Success Manager role, focusing on building strategic relationships with clients and ensuring effective system utilization.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path? Please start with your experiences in college. Did you have any internships or jobs before your current role?
I went to the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in government, political science, and sociology. Throughout college, I was deeply interested in volunteering and tutoring.
I volunteered with a student organization, going to a Title I school weekly to tutor and mentor students. This experience led me to Teach for America.
After college, I taught for a few years. Teach for America is great because you don't necessarily need a teaching license. They focus on leadership experience and teaching you how to lead, rather than just teaching itself.
That experience gave me a different perspective on student access post K through 12. I began to wonder where my students would go after their time with me. This sparked my interest in higher education administration, specifically focusing on first-generation student success.
I returned to UT Austin and worked as an academic advisor for a few years. A particularly interesting project involved focusing on technology-based best practices in advising. I implemented text messaging and created Tableau dashboards for advisors to view student analytic data.
This experience at UT Austin led to my interest in implementing technology within the higher education tech space. That's what brought me to my current company, Watermark. They reached out to me because of my work in implementation technology.
I initially worked as a project manager, helping with onboarding and implementation. Now, I'm in client success, focusing on strategic relationships. I help clients use the system effectively after implementation and ensure they are successful.