Favorite Parts of Being a Senior Manager SMB Growth at TikTok
Kelly's favorite aspects of their Senior Manager role at TikTok are the incredibly intelligent colleagues—"everybody at TikTok is really really smart"—and the highly cross-functional nature of the work, collaborating daily with "product marketing managers, product managers, engineers, data scientists," allowing for continuous learning and diverse perspectives.
Cross-functional Teamwork, Strategic Thinking, Collaboration, Mentorship, Learning from Diverse Teams
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Kelly Mellenthin
Senior Manager, SMB Growth
TikTok
University of Southern California (USC), 2013
UCLA Anderson School of Management, Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Marketing
Technology
Sales and Client Management
Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. Working with incredibly smart and diverse people at TikTok.
2. The role's cross-functionality allows for collaboration with various teams (product, marketing, engineering, data science).
3. Continuous learning from individuals with different expertise and backgrounds.
Transcript
What do you enjoy most about being in your current role?
Two things. The first is that everyone at TikTok is really, really smart. I love working with people who are that smart.
My mom told me in high school that if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. That has always stuck with me. There's so much to learn from people who are different from you and for people who are smarter than you. TikTok attracts really intelligent people.
I love that element of my role, and it's not just about strategy. That crosses every function.
This leads to my second favorite part: this role is truly cross-functional in a way that I don't think many other roles are. The strategy team, while we are a team, works with basically everyone, but each other, for the most part. I work with product marketing managers, product managers, engineers, and data scientists every day.
That's really cool because their jobs are so wildly different from mine. I get to learn a lot from them, and they learn from me as well. So, those are definitely my two favorite parts of the job.