Stephanie, Group Manager, Product Marketing at Cisco: Advize Career Interview

A fascinating career journey from paralegal internships and a PlayStation role to a Group Manager of Product Marketing at Cisco is detailed in this interview.

The interviewee's path highlights the value of "the best advice," emphasizing a pivot into the tech boom and subsequent roles at companies like Glassdoor, Credit Karma, Slack, and Airtable.

Responsibilities include developing go-to-market plans for wireless, Meraki, and IoT products, encompassing launch strategies and ongoing customer adoption.

The work requires extensive internal coordination, acting as a bridge between product management, engineering, and various marketing teams.

Success hinges on storytelling abilities, strong relationship-building, and project management skills. The most rewarding aspect is bringing new products to life for customers, while the biggest challenge is aligning disparate team goals.

The interviewee's success in the mission-critical networking technology industry is attributed to passion, product expertise, and collaboration skills.

Advice for undergraduates includes pursuing any entry-level marketing role to build a foundation and adopting a strong yet flexible perspective.

Experiences as a woman of color highlight the importance of finding one's voice and confidence in navigating career challenges. The interview offers a compelling narrative for students considering a career in tech.

Advizer Information

Name

Job Title

Company

Undergrad

Grad Programs

Majors

Industries

Job Functions

Traits

Stephanie Sosa

Group Manager, Product Marketing

Cisco

UCLA

N/A

Anthropology, Sociology

Technology

Communication and Marketing

Greek Life Member

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Career Path of a Group Manager Product Marketing at Cisco

Stephanie's career path took an interesting turn from paralegal internships and a post-college role at Sony PlayStation to a pivotal moment where "the best advice" steered her into the tech boom. This led to roles in business development at Glassdoor, followed by a transition into marketing and product marketing at companies like Credit Karma, Slack, and Airtable, culminating in Stephanie's current position as a Group Manager, Product Marketing at Cisco.

Career Path of a Group Manager Product Marketing at Cisco

Main responsibilities of a Group Manager, Product Marketing at Cisco

Stephanie's main responsibility as a Group Manager of Product Marketing at Cisco involves developing "go-to-market plans" for new wireless, Meraki, and IoT products and software, encompassing launch strategy, messaging, and ongoing customer adoption. This includes creating "a launch day plan" with initiatives like videos, events, webinars, and blogs to maximize market impact.

Main responsibilities of a Group Manager, Product Marketing at Cisco

A Day In The Life Of A Group Manager Product Marketing At Cisco

A day for Stephanie, a Group Manager of Product Marketing at Cisco, involves extensive internal coordination, acting as "the glue" between product management, engineering, various marketing teams (email, social, web, etc.), and sales. This role centers on aligning messaging, ensuring teams have necessary information, and gathering field feedback to inform product launches and ongoing campaigns, highlighting the critical relationship-building aspect of the position.

A Day In The Life Of A Group Manager Product Marketing At Cisco

Most Important Skills for a Group Manager Product Marketing at Cisco

Stephanie, a Group Manager of Product Marketing at Cisco, emphasizes three crucial skills for success: "being a core storyteller" and simplifying complex information, strong relationship-building and influencing skills to collaborate effectively across departments, and robust project management capabilities to quarterback product launches and marketing initiatives. This reflects the multifaceted nature of product marketing, requiring a blend of communication, interpersonal, and organizational expertise.

Most Important Skills for a Group Manager Product Marketing at Cisco

Favorite Parts Of Being A Group Manager Product Marketing At Cisco

Stephanie, a Group Manager of Product Marketing at Cisco, finds the most rewarding aspect of her role "bringing all of the incredible things that our product and engineering teams build...to life with our customers," highlighting the years-long process of development and the ultimate satisfaction of seeing customer adoption and success after navigating "customer research, customer feedback...bugs, [and] development delays."

Favorite Parts Of Being A Group Manager Product Marketing At Cisco

Biggest Challenges Faced By A Group Manager Product Marketing At Cisco

Stephanie's biggest challenge as a Group Manager of Product Marketing at Cisco is aligning the disparate goals of product engineering, marketing, and sales teams; the difficulty lies in bridging the gap between these teams, who have "very different goals that don't necessarily work together," to achieve a shared objective and avoid a fragmented approach to product launches.

Biggest Challenges Faced By A Group Manager Product Marketing At Cisco

Favorite Parts of Working in Tech as a Group Manager Product Marketing

Stephanie, a Group Manager of Product Marketing at Cisco, finds the mission-critical nature of networking technology most rewarding; seeing how their work on products impacting "wireless technology," "security," and overall "networking infrastructure" directly benefits organizations makes the job incredibly fulfilling.

Favorite Parts of Working in Tech as a Group Manager Product Marketing

What Type Of Person Thrives In The Tech And Networking Industry, Per A Group Manager Product Marketing At Cisco

Stephanie, a Group Manager of Product Marketing at Cisco, identifies two key traits for success in the tech industry: a "genuine passion for the industry" coupled with strong product expertise, ideally including "technical acumen," and the ability to collaborate effectively with diverse teams across numerous functions on "cross-functional projects." This necessitates enjoying "working with a bunch of different people," a crucial aspect of a product marketing manager's role.

What Type Of Person Thrives In The Tech And Networking Industry, Per A Group Manager Product Marketing At Cisco

Entry-level Positions For Aspiring Product Marketers

Direct entry-level product marketing roles are rare; Stephanie, a Group Manager of Product Marketing at Cisco, advises undergraduates to seek any entry-level marketing role or internship to build a foundation in marketing channels and strategy, stating that "if you understand generally a marketing channel...you'll be able to be successful in product marketing."

Entry-level Positions For Aspiring Product Marketers

Significant Career Lesson From a Group Manager Product Marketing at Cisco

Stephanie, a Group Manager of Product Marketing at Cisco, credits a leader's advice—"have a strong perspective, but loosely held"—as pivotal to career success. This approach, which involves confidently presenting a point of view while remaining open to constructive criticism and alternative ideas, is key to progressing in a career, according to Stephanie.

Significant Career Lesson From a Group Manager Product Marketing at Cisco

College Experiences That Helped A Group Manager Product Marketing At Cisco Succeed

Stephanie's undergraduate experience included "internships as well as part-time jobs," providing invaluable experience in corporate environments and honing "managing up" skills—a crucial aspect of any career, regardless of seniority. This early exposure significantly eased the transition to a full-time corporate role.

College Experiences That Helped A Group Manager Product Marketing At Cisco Succeed

How Identity Has Influenced A Group Manager, Product Marketing's Career At Cisco

Stephanie's experience as a woman of color has shown the challenges of being in a minority, where one's ideas may be overlooked, and the societal pressure to be submissive. To reach leadership, however, Stephanie learned the importance of flipping that script, finding "your voice, your confidence," and accepting that "it's okay if not everybody likes you," prioritizing effective teamwork over universal likability.

How Identity Has Influenced A Group Manager, Product Marketing's Career At Cisco

Advizer Personal Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniesosa/