Meg Eunson on Belonging, Belief, and Breaking Barriers | Women of HubSpot Podcast

Welcome to the Women of HubSpot podcast, the show that celebrates the voices shaping marketing technology and the ever evolving HubSpot ecosystem. Hosted by George B. Thomas from Sidekick Strategies, each episode brings you the stories, strategies and superpowers of the women driving this industry forward. It's their time. It's their mic. This is Women of HubSpot.

All right, we're back with another episode of Women of HubSpot. I'm super excited to be here. Now, if this is the first episode that you're watching or listening to, listen, here's what went down. It was super bowl and the Philadelphia Eagles were playing another team. Depends when you're actually listening to this what team that would be. But here's the point. My daughter, we were having a conversation and she said that how cool it was that the quarterback of the Eagles had an all woman team behind him. And I thought that that was intriguing. It led us into this conversation and I started to think to myself, being in the HubSpot ecosystem for over 12 years and I did a LinkedIn post and I was like, hey, if you know a woman of HubSpot, somebody who is crushing it, just put their name in the comment, let's shine some light on them. There was no strategy. I was not trying to like achieve anything other than I saw my daughter. I liked the impact and I wanted to kind of do the in our space and well, that post went crazy. So when that led us to like my daughters and I talking, we're like, let's do some content around Women of HubSpot, just women in general and have some great conversations. And today I'm excited because, Megan, you're here. Megan Younsen is here today. Megan, how the heck are you doing?

It's Friday. I am super excited to be here. I love being a part of anything that lifts women up and was just so inspired by your post and really just having the opportunity to shine the light on some of the amazing people that I work with, especially women, it was just an opportunity I couldn't resist.

Yeah. And we have had a lot of these conversations and for me, these have been some of the most amazing conversations. A window into these different worlds and like some of the things that people have said about themselves and about others. I just sit back and I go, wow. So let's go ahead and start this journey for those who are watching and listening. Megan, if we could go back in time and meet young Megan Yunson just starting out, one, what would we see? And two, what would she be most surprised about? Where you are now, I think if.

We rolled back the time a little bit. When I started out my career, I graduated with a degree in healthcare administration. Had every desire that I was going to work in hospitals and health centers and really excel in that type of environment. But reality soon set in and I found myself in a position where it's like, look, I just got to get a job and I decided, okay, what am I really good at? Admin. And that's what my degree was in. And so I started just looking for basic administration jobs. I'm here in Houston. It's the energy capital. We do a lot of things around energy. So interestingly enough, my career started at Enron and that is okay for the folks who are a little unfamiliar with us. If you've done any sort of research or studying in college and university, Enron was kind of an interesting case. So I started at Enron, worked there for five years, three years post bankruptcy and the complete collapse of the company, which was really fascinating to really live through that experience and then come out on the other side grateful that I still had a job and then just learned a little bit about myself, about what I wanted to do and what I wanted, where I wanted to go with my career. And I think where I would be now if I could look back and things that would surprise me about that is that I managed to learn from those situations, take information and experiences from those situations and really apply them to the world that I live in and I work in today. I think younger Megan would be amazed at the places that I've gone and the people that I've interacted with and the customers that I've met with over my career and really just be impressed that what started out as something a little small and sort of an entry level job has grown into really a career and something that I genuinely love doing.

I love this so much, the fact that you leaned into the places and people, because for me it's all about the humans and that side of it. But what's funny is as you were talking, you were like hospitals and healthcare and Houston and now you're in HubSpot. And I'm like, Megan has something with H's, like, what is going on here? Yeah, clearly it does paint a great journey that you've been on. And I love this idea of like using the experiences that you've had to do the things that you have to do now. Speaking of this journey and experiences, Megan, who are some of your biggest inspirations or mentors along the way?

Well, I mean, I've had quite a few and I think interestingly enough over my career, the people that I have gravitated to the most in everything that I've done has been, have been women. So Linda Hunkin, Tessie Phillips, people who I grew up with in the oil and gas industry, Jennifer Petty. Those folks who have really showed me what it was like to be a woman in oil and gas and how to excel and, and having a trusted group of advisors and mentors to be able to go back to when I made the change to HubSpot a few years back. You know, Alana Love at Griffin is amazing. She hired me at HubSpot. I'm ever eternally grateful for her. Just so many, it's too many to name here. I could go down a very long list. But just grateful for all these folks who have taken me under their wing and, and really helped me find my own voice and my own way to fly within the organization.

I love that so much. And I will say you are like everyone else when you say there's a long laundry list of internal love to the folks inside of HubSpot and helping people get to the places that they're trying to get. Okay, let's kick it back to the journey. And I'm still trying to get past that Enron thing. I think I'm the guy in the room, so I get it.

But clearly I am too George. So but, and there are still people that I have that conversation. I'm like, oh, I've never heard of that company and like go look us up.

Yeah, yeah. And you feel good and bad all at the same time. Because I like I'll literally be in conversations, be like, I just aged myself, didn't I?

That's it, that's it.

Okay, so along the way, talk me through Megan, like have there been any hurdles or biases that you had to overcome in your career and if so or when. So how did you actually navigate those?

You know, I think in HubSpot particularly, I think that we have a lot of smart, amazing people that work at HubSpot and those self limiting beliefs are always at the forefront of everything that we do. Do I belong here? Am I smart enough? Am I capable enough? And really I think how I've overcome them during the course of my career is really just understanding their, that I'm here for a reason. HubSpot hired me. I'm going to do the best that I possibly can and then just continue to learn. Like you have to be passionate about learning because it's the only way that you get better. It's the only way that you progress. It's the only way that you become valuable not only to your team, but to the organization and honestly, just to yourself.

So good. I love this idea that you're painting for the people who are listening or watching this of like, I'm here for a reason and understanding that. And when you talk about education, I love to talk about how do I just get 1% better each and every day to truly fill the seat that I'm actually trying to fill. But I, I want to kind of even dive into this idea that just this ability to get past self limiting beliefs. And when you mentioned that, I was transported back to a book that I read by Gay Hendricks and he talks about getting past the limiting beliefs. So if you're watching this or listening to this and you're like, Megan, you're like me, where you battle that, that may be a great resource for you to find in the future. All right, let's keep driving down. But I, I'm telling you, by the way, we'll get out of the valley with some questions. We'll get to the mountaintop as we move forward. But let's go ahead and dive into this one next. And, and it's. Have you ever faced a moment where you felt underestimated, maybe overlooked or even just kind of simply out of place in the industry? And again, how did you kind of handle that? What did you learn? Talk us through that a little bit.

Yeah, I mean, when I started out at HubSpot, I started out as a channel consultant. So essentially customer success, but for our partners and our partner organization. And I loved it. I loved working with partners, I loved learning about their businesses and how to position HubSpot and how to help them be more successful with what they worked with at that time. After two or so years of being a channel consultant, the role changed. I got thrown a curveball in there and was decided or was not able to make it to the PDM role and was told, okay, we're going to move you to customer success. We need you there. That's what we're going to do. So I really had to readjust myself and readjust my mindset felt so uncomfortable. I'm like, yes, I know how to do customer success. I've been doing it. But doing it at HubSpot was a little bit different than I had experienced. As you know, the product is vast and we are always learning new things and always changing our product and updating it that I felt like a fish out of water for probably the first year. And I felt like I was. Honestly, I was looked over. I was real disappointed. And it took a hard minute for me to feel comfortable at, like, okay, but coming back to the. You're here for a reason. Okay, so this is your reason. This is what you're doing. So let's just do it to the very best of our ability. I can remember in the first couple of conversations with my new manager, I'm like, I'm not at the top of the list now, but I will be. Just wait. And he's like. He's like, all right, walk it. And I was like, I will. So watch. And over that year, this past year, I have. I've exceeded my own expectations, and I feel more confident in what I do than I have probably in the last three years. And knowing that, okay, this is where I'm supposed to be, and I'm super excited. I get to work with amazing customers every single day. I get to learn about their businesses and how they're using our product, and it just brings me joy. Genuinely.

I. I love that so much for you. And the fact that you kind of landed on joy and happiness when the beginning of the journey was a fish out of water, understanding that life is gonna throw you those curveballs that you talk about. And one of the things that I try to lean into is, like, becoming a pivot or a transition specialist. Like, okay, let's just do this in such a good. I'm sure anybody listening or watching this has been there or is in those trenches right now. And to be able to see through your story that just light at the end of the tunnel, that you can keep going, and that you even kind of put a stake in the ground and said, not on the top of the list, but just wait. I'm coming for it. Absolutely amazing. Sometimes I feel dumb asking this question because I all. I know all humans could answer yes to this question, but I'm still going to ask it. Have you ever. And this could be HubSpot, not HubSpot life, whatever, but have you ever experienced a significant failure or setback? And out of that, what was the life lesson that you learned?

It's hard to say that it was a setback at this point in time. A year into customer success, I did feel that making the transition from partner world into customer success, that felt like a setback to me at the time. It felt disheartening. It made me question whether or not I should be where I am was real disappointed, transparently. Yeah. And so it was a big setback. And I thought at the time, I've set back in my career. Like, I had plans of what I was going to do in that role. I had plans of where I wanted to go and what I wanted to accomplish and what letters were behind my name and all those things. And so, and I felt at the time that the rug got pulled out, but I think now, looking back on it, it was a. And I'm trying to come back to your original question, George. Forgive me, but like, I think now I'm glad that it happened. Yeah, it just, it just took me a year to figure that out.

Yeah, it, it's interesting because it's almost like there's a couple lessons that I hear that you're saying there. One, you can have the best laid plans possible, doesn't mean that's what's going to happen. But when something happens, you can make new plans and head in the direction that you can then see from there.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

And being, and you know, to your point earlier, pivot. Being a pivot master, like, okay, this is where we are. What do we do now? How do we make it best?

Now we're going to get out of what I like to call the valley of understanding, like how what has happened in your journey, how lessons you've learned from there. And let's just go with this. What is empowerment mean to you and how do you pass that on to others in the field or in HubSpot or in your life?

To me, empowerment means taking ownership of what you do on a daily basis, being open to feedback, being open to criticism, being open to suggestions and changes, and then taking that feedback and building your own path. For me, it's sharing those best lessons. It's sharing those, hey, I did it this way. It was really successful. Hey, I did it this way. It sucked. Don't do that. And really just finding ways to share that knowledge. I mean, I'm grateful that I've had a exciting career and I've learned a lot of things about a lot of people, different personalities, different folks that you work with and how to manage those personalities effectively. And I feel like empowerment to me means being able to share those lessons with others and still be true to yourself and be aware of who you are as a person and just being able to share those lessons. I think you can't be empowered unless you pass it off to somebody else as well.

Oh, I love that. Passing it on to others. But also this idea of being self aware that you leaned into is super amazing. Okay. So with that understanding of what you consider empowerment, can you maybe share a moment in your career pre HubSpot, during HubSpot, whatever, where you felt especially empowered or proud of something that you achieved?

Looking past HubSpot, because there's a lot of things at HubSpot that I'm super proud to have achieved. I've recently got named team lead. I'm super excited about that. That was something that it was on that when we talked about that path that we were on, that kind of got thrown off that was on the path. So super excited about that. But even before that, I think there was a time when I was working in oil and gas where my role technically was customer operations. I was working with a major company creating quotes, invoices, really learning about how they were using our product with the software side of oil and gas, and really being able to understand what they did. And over time, I had a wonderful manager named Paul Wallace who said, you know, what you're doing really is customer success. He's like, we don't have a name for that here, but that's what you're doing. And I took that to heart and I said, you know what? That's exactly what I'm doing. And even though we didn't have a role at that, I essentially started introducing myself as a customer success manager because that's what I was doing. Got my business card, so excited about myself. And I was super proud because I had a conversation with my manager, Paul, at the time, and I. And he's like, you're telling everybody you're a csm. And I'm like, yeah, because that's what I am. And he's like, I love it. Cool. Super proud of that. Like, I stood in that space, acknowledged what I was and what I was doing and the value that I brought and said, I'm going to do it, and this is what I am. And yes, there's not an official title to it, but that's what I'm doing and I have been doing for 10 years. So it was just nice to see that recognition. So super proud of that moment.

Yeah, that's amazing. Like, standing in your space and owning your own value. Those words are going to ring through my head probably this entire rest of the weekend. So. Okay. So, Megan, if you could change. I always love the answer to this one, by the way. But if you could change one thing about how women are supported in this industry, what would it be?

I think what I would change is really is just the realization. And I think, Honestly, I think HubSpot does a really great job of it because we have so many women in leadership positions. But I think there are so many other organizations within the tech industry that could benefit from the fact that women bring such a unique perspective to the table. You know, we're partners, we're mothers, we're, you know, ally allies to so many people and we bring such a unique voice with our experiences just by being women that I think if more companies were aware of lifting us up instead of automatically looking us over, I think we would. That so many other organizations could benefit from the talent that they have already at their disposal. They're just not looking at it in the right way.

Super powerful. By the way, that might be a rewind spot. If you're listening or watching this, go ahead and listen to that part again and think of your own organization and what you could do or what leadership could do in that organization. Okay. This is called Megan Women of HubSpot. So I have to ask a HubSpot related question or else it would just be weird. Are there any particular tools, strategies or trends in HubSpot that you're like excited about right now?

Oh my gosh. It's on the top of every mind. AI. How are we using it? How is it making our world's best better? How is it making us more effective? I touch the tools that, that I have at my disposal through AI, through HubSpot, every single day, for every single call, for every single customer. I think it is, it's exciting to be at sort of this beginning of what it's really going to do. And I myself am embracing it because, you know, as someone said, we had a regional connect last week and someone said the person next to you who may be an AI expert is only two weeks ahead of you. And I thought about that and I was like, huh? Okay. That means the person next to me is now two weeks behind me. So what do I do to help close that gap? And I think AI can be so powerful, but it gives us the tools, but it doesn't give us or doesn't hinder the human connection that we, we need as, as businesses as customer success. I can find an answer using AI. Absolutely. But I still feel that the world is better when that, that decision, that expertise is delivered by a human because it's that connection that everybody still craves. Like, do we all like to text? Absolutely. Do we rather use the chat than actually talk to a live human? Sure. But there is a beauty in speaking person to person. There's a beauty in Having that connection with each other that the tool I don't think replaces, it just enhances. So I'm excited about it.

I will tell you that AI has been the most popular answer to that question, but in different directions. I love the direction that you took it and I agree there is a beauty of still being able to be human and talk to other humans, even though we love our tech because I am a hashtag nerd. I am a hashtag nerd. Okay, so let's talk about networking for a second and just unpack your brain on how important is networking, maybe in general, but also just like networking with other females to you. And are there any particular strategies that you use to maybe build connections along the way?

When I left Enron, it was networking that got me my next job. When I left that job, it was networking that got me the following job. When I left that one, it got me HubSpot. Building up that community is such an important way for us to stay connected in a number of different ways. You know, I have, I have colleagues who reached out, who reach across LinkedIn, who reached across, you know, text messages. Hey, I have this person I want you to meet. You have something similar in common and I think it's so important to continue to build that group because you never know who knows who everybody is connected, it feels at some point in time. So I think it's super important for you to build out that community of folks. I think for me my biggest strategy is never saying no to a call, never saying no to attacks, never saying like, I don't know you, but I'd like to know you. You know, you may bring a perspective, connection, a idea that I'm not aware of. And if you can be open to those types of conversations, I think it just, it better rounds you out to, to opportunities everywhere.

So good, so many things going through my brain of like just the open mindedness of that, the finding genius anywhere in the room. So many good pieces. Okay, so I want you to, I want you to take a moment and think about this one when I ask it and where it transports you. But what has been the most rewarding aspect of your career to date?

Honestly, it's the people that I work with, the relationships that I've made at, you know, at Enron. Do I still, I still talk to people that I worked with there. You know, I worked in oil and gas, I still talk to those, the three women that I mentioned earlier, I meet with every month for a meeting of the minds where we just get together and talk about things. And I think those relationships, we spend a lot of time at our desks, we spend a lot of time on zoom calls, we spend a lot of time in front of a computer. But those relationships, those people, make it all worth it. And if you're exposed to different people, different cultures, different upbringings, different experiences, there's no downside to any of that, in my opinion.

I am loving your answers, loving this conversation that we're having. All right, let's go into mentor mode for a hot second. What advice would you give Megan to other women who might want to choose this career path?

Be your own advocate. Nobody else is responsible for your career except you. The decisions you make, the times you raise your hand, the times you don't raise your hand are just as impactful to your, to your career and to your decisions as anything else. And just being aware of no one is going to pull you along that journey. You have to be the one to lift yourself up and, and find the opportunities for yourself. And it may not always be in the traditional places, but if you look, if you use that network, if you talk to the people who you're inspired by, you'll find it.

Okay, so as we land the plane, got three more questions. We're going to kind of turn these questions a little bit on you. And let's just start with this one. Think about Megan. What are your long term goals from here? Where are you headed?

For me, I want to spend the next year really learning what I want to do with the next five. I want to. I'm finding myself in a unique position in my career where I am taking on new challenges, taking on new responsibilities, and I want to spend the next year finding what I want to do next with that. And it's living in the moment that I have, but also taking the time to say, you know what, that really interests me or you know what? Not so much interested in that. I really want to be the best individual contributor I can be. Maybe I want to be a people manager. Maybe I. That's not really for me. Maybe I want to move over to the product side because I'm inspired by that. And really spending the next year I'm a little outside of the traditional young person at a tech company, but I want to spend the next five years doing what I love. This is what I love. And I want to do it to the best of my ability and then just be open to if the wind blows me a different direction. That's okay. Adjust your sales.

So good. Okay, definitely rewind that section Definitely. My gosh, there's so many good notes that you, as the listener, viewer, could jot down there. Okay, Megan, what's a surprising or little known fact about you that people might not expect?

I think the Enron thing is kind of, kind of surprising. A lot of people don't always understand that. Um, but for me, I think a surprising thing about me is that I think I'm a people pleaser and I genuinely just want to do right by people. I want to be kind, I want to lead with that kindness, I want to lead with that empathy. But I'm also can have a little bit of a temper. I'm a passionate person, and I think passion comes with that. But I think people would be surprised to know that I'm fighting my own internal doubts and demons all the time. Right? And I think they'd be surprised because I like to put on a big happy face. But everybody is just playing their, you know, they're fighting their own battles and we should be respectful of that as well. So. Yeah, I don't know if that's surprising, but.

Yeah. Well, here's the thing. What's surprising about that is not everybody wants to lead with empathy or it being about the humans. Also. Not everybody, surprisingly, is self aware to know that there are usually multiple versions of themselves. As you were talking about that, I literally was here thinking, like, yes, I am many times Bruce Banner on the outside, but Hulk inside. Like, I'm just trying to not turn green on people, you know, and so I totally got it. Okay, last question. Finish this sentence for me. Success to me means blank.

Success to me means being my authentic self and empowering others around me to be their empowered, their authentic self as well.