Victoria Harkes on Mentorship, Mastery and Making HubSpot Work | Women of HubSpot

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 conversation. I think I like conversation better than episode on the Women of HubSpot podcast show. Depends on where you're listening or watching this. And if it's your first one, I'll give you some context. It was a Super Bowl. The Philadelphia Eagles were playing. My daughter started to talk about how the quarterback had an all women's team, and I was moved by the conversation. I then immediately went to LinkedIn with zero strategy, posted a post about, hey, tag in a woman that you know that is using HubSpot works at. HubSpot is just in our ecosystem and holy mackerel, it blew up and people just started tagging all sorts of people, and there was all sorts of great conversations. Again, very moved. Look at my daughters. And we were like, we need to have conversations. And again, no strategy, no expectations. Just wanted to have dope conversations with women who are doing amazing things in or around HubSpot. And that leads us here today. Victoria park is. Did I say that right?

It's Harks arcs.

Okay, good, good. How the heck are you doing today?

I am fantastic. You know, it's a. It's a great day. Finally some better weather. So I'm super excited to be here because I know I definitely see a lot of people in the ecosystem. And the more women I see, the. The happier I get that we're getting great representation. And, you know, there's a lot of. A lot of power behind that.

I love that. I love that. So before I get into the questions and we start this journey, I feel like it's like mountains and peaks and valleys and all sorts of stuff over the next, like 30 to 40 minutes or so. Just tell people who you are, what you do and where you do it.

It's the simple way to say like a HubSpot administrator, HubSpot strategist, HubSpot problem solver, troubleshooter, guide, and I. I do that in a couple of places. So I have, you know, my own technical agency of one, just me, myself and I. But I also work at Diaz and Cooper, who's also a really awesome agency in the space, you know, focusing on, like, aviation, travel and tourism. So, you know, I get a blend of my own clients where they're a little bit more eclectic, and then some really niche, awesome clients in that space. And I'm, I'm helping them do everything from onboardings, you know, classic, of course, but also like really deep dive troubleshooting, building really niche cases. Everything from tracking, like plain parts through to, you know, scraping emails across systems and ERPs that traditionally don't allow for integrations. But hey, we find a way.

I love that. Hey, we find a way. And so I love that you're helping humans with HubSpot. And it sounds like you're also probably very busy. So again, thank you for taking time to have this conversation with me. Let's go ahead and start this journey. If we could go back in time, maybe it's a DeLorean, maybe it's, I don't know, some type of time travel machine. If we could go back in time and meet young Victoria just starting out, One, what would we see? And two, Victoria, what would she be most surprised by? About where you are now?

We'd see, probably depending on how far back we go, somebody kind of bouncing around a bit. And I think I've, you know, I've talked to a lot of other people in this space and I think it's a pretty common journey. But, you know, starting out, trying a bit of sales, love and appreciate it, doing what I did, hated it with a fiery passion. It was not a good fit for me at all. Oh, my goodness. Screaming into a void, terrible fit. I need way too much people interaction and that human connection. So made a pivot into marketing. Tried that for a while. It was good. Learned a lot, but it didn't give me the same excitement and joy that I needed. It was good, but I was. Kept running against this, like, attribution problems and, you know, is what I'm doing even making an impact? Does it matter? Why am I doing this? Everybody says you're supposed to do this on social and do that over here. And I just felt like I was like, ah, but does it matter? How do I even know? Which led me into HubSpot. So that's, that's where you'd find younger me is going, how do I even know any of this matters? Why am I trying to do any of this? And finding this answer to that question, then what was the first part of the other half of that question?

So what, what would she be most surprised by about when, like, where you are now?

I think probably the biggest surprise would be technically working for myself. I had a little Bit opportunity to, you know, run my own business. I will say it that way because, you know, it's like a little bit like a jewelry making, like very classic, you know, I was like 16, I'm going to run my own business and make some income type of a thing. And I was like, wow, that was terrible. And I did not enjoy that. I probably never want to work for myself. That was a bad experience. That was really frustrating, you know, and then because I was so tech inclined, I had, you know, family friend who wanted me to do a website for them and I was like, I could do that. That'd be great. You know, and they paid me money and that was amazing. Oh my gosh, I'm making money doing this. And it was challenging, you know, and I think more because of the. It was a family friend and that experience rather than the nature of actually running my own business and doing things for myself. But I read that as, oh dear, this is awful. I don't want to be running my own business. It's too much stress. I'll just work for other people. That'll be great. So I think that would be the biggest shock to myself is that I am now, you know, basically the freelancing slash consulting. I love every moment of it. I don't think I can ever go back. You'd have to pay me in the millions to be willing to go back in house fully and do it all for somebody else. It's so much more freedom. It's so much more accomplishments. It just, it's such a better fit.

Yeah, it's, it's a huge leap. But once you get there, I love how you kind of just phrase that up because all of those things are such true facts. Okay, so, Victoria, along this journey, I'm super curious, like, who are some of your biggest inspirations or mentors along the way?

Yeah. So I would say kind of in order in getting into HubSpot. Alicia, Domenico is the reason I looked at HubSpot stuff in the first place. I was doing it in house, but the in house to out of house is such a different. Is a drastic change. One that I think is far easier to do out of house. You get so much more respect and trust in what you're saying as expertise. And I was looking for a job. I just left my marketing path and I wasn't sure if I'm like, am I going for another marketing role? What am I doing? I've got this kind of like moment now in time to decide what am I going to do next? And I was chatting with a few different people and I chat with her and she's like, hey, have you ever thought about going the agency life? And I went, you know, I ne. It never even crossed my mind. And from that, started chatting with a few different agencies and started working both with Jen Meyer and with Omidias Cooper. And the two of them really gave me the foundation of both support knowledge and guidance and mentorship and work since I was working for both of them. So. And the opportunity to actually, you know, explore and grow and build that skill set and do that work. And it's been amazing. I'm still working with Omi now today at DSM Cooper, and it's been fantastic. The support I've received from both them. And I still frequently work with Jen. The support they've both given me as again, like the fact that in this path I was able to find other women who were in these senior leadership positions. Like they either own or co own their companies, they're running their teams, they are powerhouses in the space. And I am so incredibly grateful to them for leading me into where I am now and, you know, making me feel like I can, I can own what I do, I can succeed at what I'm doing and the like. That, that transition into this space, imposter syndrome, not gone. It disappeared. It was a daily occurrence when I was doing marketing because I could not tell what I was doing mattered. When I moved into this space and I had that support and I had that guidance, it's gone. I don't deal with that anymore. It's just not a problem. It's not a thing. And that is such a freeing experience.

I love that so much. And the word that just kept coming to the surface. There was this idea of support. And I, I love that you leaned into, like, owning who I am, what I'm doing, and who I am and what I'm doing matters. And the support, the inspiration, the mentors to get there along the way. This is such a. Such a beautiful way to tell that story. So along the way, on this journey that we're talking about, by the way, we're like, probably maybe like cresting into what I'll call a little bit of the valley questions. We'll get to the mountaintop questions here in a little bit. But during your journey, have there been any hurdles or biases that you've had to overcome in your career? And if so, like, how did you, how did you navigate those?

The biggest one, one of the biggest ones for me was that making that transition out of sales. And I've written a LinkedIn post about it, is I felt like I was failing as a woman because there's so few women in sales, and there was a lot of pressure. There were so few women on our team from management to be like, you have to stay. You got to stay in sales. Like, you got to. You got to succeed for the other women in this space. Like, you know, you can do this, so, like, it's important that you do it. And when I was like, but I'm failing at this, and I am miserable. Like, I am. Like, I was having breakdowns. Like, I was crying every day at work, and that's not a healthy place to be in. It was not a good space. I was in a terrible mental state doing that job. And. And like, when I. When it came to an end, it was like, you know what? This was a hundred percent for the best. And it took me a long while to really, like, understand and accept that. Like, one. As much as I want to support other women in every role that they're in, it's not my responsibility to suffer to make that happen and. And be in a spot that's not a good fit. Because being in somewhere that I'm not succeeding isn't helping other women. Right. It's perpetuating the problems of, like. Like, yeah, I'm bad at this, so I shouldn't be here. I should go do something else that I'm good at and, you know, making the transitions into what I'm in now. I do see it a lot on people's faces, like, a surprise when I introduce myself, like, oh, you know, depending on their level of knowledge in the space, like, sometimes I'll go with, like, I'm an operations consultant because, you know, they don't know the CRMs. They don't know HubSpot. So I'll go a little higher level, you know. You know, I help companies train and use software that helps them do sales and marketing, customer success. And they're always, like, shocked. I think both because of my age and my gender, there's a lot of, like, surprise. They're like, oh, that's not like a. I. I wouldn't have guessed that. And so I think there's a lot of. There's a lot of surprise there in that. But I also appreciate the absolute privilege that I have had over the course of my career in that I have not experienced as much, like, overt sexism or obvious favorites and things like that in. In the roles that have mattered. You know, there's been little bits in passing. That's just being a woman in. In the workforce, but nothing that's been truly, like, detrimental or damaging. That one was probably the biggest, like, hurdle to get over as a. As a core moment in time that I can think of where I was. Like, this was an impact specific to being a woman in this space that was so challenging. And since I've moved into the HubSpot space, I've not had half as much of that and dealt with half as much of that because I've felt like it's been so much more of a positive ecosystem. And. And maybe I'm an outlier in that because I've happened to meet these other really strong, really successful women in the space, at least that are at, like, that level. Then, like, that's. That's the goal. That's the goals. That's the. There's the marker. That's the next phase. Like, that's right there is what I want to get to. And I have that inspiration and support, and I've had such close access to. And I appreciate both the privilege and the. The experience that I've had that's allowed me to feel that and grow within that, like, I'm gonna say, like, safer confines.

Yeah. Yeah. If. If I'm being honest, you just took me on an emotional roller coaster. 1. When you said the words, that's just part of being a woman. I literally felt my heart and gut sink with those words and was like, oh, anyway, I won't swear. I don't usually swear on podcasts and shows up, but I, like, my heart sank. The other thing is, you threw in, like, a ninja tip because you're like, I speak the language that they need to hear to understand the thing that I can actually do for them, which so many people need to understand. That level of, like, being able to communicate, Kate. And being a great communicator. But the. Also the thing that I really want people to take away. When you were talking about your suffering through sales, ladies and gentlemen, you got to help yourself before you can help others. And that was a beautiful story of why that is so important, to get yourself in a positive place so that you can pour in positivity into the world and be maybe that inspiration or that mentor for somebody else from a distance or even close. Oh, man. See, this is why I love these conversations so much. There's so many good nuggets in here, so let's keep driving down a little bit further into the valley, if you will. Have you, Victoria, ever faced A moment where you felt underestimated or maybe even overlooked or just kind of like out of place in the industry and, and maybe paint a picture of that and how you handled it or picked yourself up by your bootstraps or whatever analogy metaphor you want to throw in there.

Yeah, And I think, I think I've come across that more with clients and especially like, the training for teams, because there is that. Like, you have to. Yeah, you're coming in as, as an agency, you're coming in and being told to these teams, like, they're being told you're an expert. So they have to take that at face value. And not everybody does, which I'm not saying is wrong. That's not an unfair thing to not just assume, like, okay, yeah, you've told me this person's an expert, but are they. Can I believe in that? Do I have, like. And some people, it's genuine skepticism. And for those, that's just a matter of, hey, you know what? You're going to see it in real time. You're going to be proven that, yes, there's expertise, yes, I know what I'm talking about. And I can help you do your job better. And then there's other people, there's other members of teams. Sometimes that, that's, that's not the case. It's like a no. I'm digging my heels in. I don't care what you have to say. I don't think you know what you're talking about. And I'm not, I'm not willing to listen. And I have definitely felt a lot more of that, you know, from men on some teams, especially, you know, the older they get. Not, not as a general absolute, but it definitely happens more often. You know, they kind of look at me as like, oh, like, you're just a. You're just a. You're a young lady. You don't know what you're talking about. Like, I've been doing this for 30 years. I know exactly. I know how to do this. It's like you probably, you probably have a wealth of knowledge and yes, you probably know a ton of stuff I have no idea about. You've got that experience, but you've also been doing it the same way for 30 years and we've got a lot more now that can make it better, faster. Yeah, full on Daft Punk. Harder, better, faster, stronger. That's, you know, that, that's the thing. And it, that change management's always hard. And it is a more of a struggle as a woman to, to get that push through and that, like, demand that respect, that base level of respect, because it's not asking for, like, you know what? You don't have to treat me like I'm some veteran sage who is the be all, end all of wisdom and knowledge, but there's like, a baseline level of respect of, like, hey, you know what you're talking about, and I know what I'm talking about. And we can come together and make something that's amazing and fantastic and supports you to do your job even better, or we can butt heads and we can fight about it, and we're going to end up both with a couple of broken toys.

Yeah.

You know, and it's. It's that transition that can be challenging, but for the most part, part, we get there. It just can be a little. A little bit trickier sometimes. Getting to that, like, happy time in the playground.

And there are a lot of us that get stuck there for a while. There's some of us that battle against it every single day. But this idea of a closed mindset versus an open mindset, the. The fact of that you can't be a know it all. You got to be a learn it all. And the idea of that. That information can come from anywhere is really hard to, like, get a. It's just. That's crazy. Okay, so let's keep digging in. A time in your life where you experience, by the way, this could be personal, this could be professional. It's totally up to you. A time in your life when you experience a significant. What you felt like was a failure or setback and what you learned and did from that point.

So I have. Speaking of those jobs, I've been fired twice in my career, which one. Having come into these roles, I realized I actually carried a lot of, like, I do not want to trivialize trauma, but there was absolutely, like, an instinctual, like, response of like, someone being like, can we talk? In my whole body going, oh, God, am I getting canned again? Panic modes that. That built. And I realized that recognized it, worked on it, worked with. Worked with the people I've been working with now to be like, hey, we do these things. Let's. If we can contextualize immediately, that will stop me from worrying. But both of those. The first one was from that sales role, and that was where it's like, you know what? I knew that that needed to come. That was one. It was such a good learning experience for myself because I was like, you know what? I should have made this choice. I should have left this job at least three months earlier than this. I should have made that call for myself. I tried to take a lateral move in the company to a different position, but they had a hiring external, you know, and I should have taken that and been like, the. You know what? We need to look elsewhere. We need to stop trying to. Like, we're beating a dead horse here. This is not working. It's not getting better. It's just getting worse. And that was such a good learning opportunity for me. Cause it was younger in my career, and I didn't have that confidence in myself to try something different, to explore other options and do more for myself. I was like, no, I have to stick this out. You know, not a quitter. And it's like that. But that wasn't. That were like, being there was quitting on myself and what I could accomplish and where I could go with my life was continuing to stay in that position was quitting on myself. So that was a huge one for me. And then the last one where I got Lego is when I tried to make the transition into rev ops and HubSpot full time. And it wasn't really a need that they had for where I was. And it was a. It was a very abrupt, very unexpected sort of transition, you know, from one week to the next. It was like, we're doing all this stuff and then actually, just kidding, We'll.

We'll.

Rachel, get your computer back. So it was a very abrupt moment where I wasn't prepared for or expecting it. Like the sales one. I knew something was coming. Like, that was like, the writing was on the wall. I just didn't want to, like, address it or deal with it. I was trying to, like, you know, I don't. Look, the second one, it came out of the blue. It was very unexpected. So it. But it gave me that opportunity. And I pivoted from that moment to be like, okay, like, do I want to keep trying to do that again? Get back into the same position or in this role? I started learning, like, hey, like, Rev Ops and CRM and HubSpot. Like, I really enjoy this work. I really like doing that. I like working with all the different teams. I love not just being stuck into one little department. I love this, like, interdepartmental functioning and support and making it so that, like, the whole customer journey sings and everybody works together and understands what everybody else is doing and you're not just sitting in your own little houses. I loved that work. And I went, you know what? This is a good opportunity. And when. When Alicia Mentioned like, hey, have you thought about agency? I went, this is. Yes, you know what? Yes, let's go down this path. And I'm so happy and thankful that that happened. It was at a perfect time. You know, it's one of those, like, blessings in disguise. It was in the moment. It was like, what do I even do? And then within two months, I was working in an agency. Three weeks later, another agency. And I'm like, this is amazing. And I'm personally gets bored easy. You know, most jobs in house, six months in, I'm like, hey, I'm bored now. Like, I'm gonna do my job and I'll do it well, but I'm bored. That doesn't happen in this space. There's so much, and there's such variety. I don't get bored. And I love that. I love that so much.

It's always something new. And if you don't think so, wait till tomorrow. It'll be something new. And if you don't think so, wait for the latest HubSpot update. It'll be something like. Yeah, I totally get what you're saying there. By the way, this is probably the first rewind spot because there's something that kept kind of hitting my cranium as you're talking of, like, the lessons we learn through the pain that we go through to activate us to where we need to get next and see success. So it's. It's again, just rewind that part. Re. Listen. Jot down notes for your own life where you're at. Don't sit there when you know you should be like, you should be making a decision. The writing's on the wall, but you're ignoring it. Just read it and then take action. You'll be in a far better mental space with yourself. Okay. All right, so we're going to crest up the valley, up the mountain here. Victoria, what does empowerment mean to you, and how do you pass that on to others in your field?

For me, empowerment is about being able to achieve what it is you want to achieve. And I'll expand on that because obviously, you know, yeah, sure, achieve your achievements. But what I mean by that is, like, not everybody needs to be the CEO and owner. Some people do. And for some people, that is the peak, and that is the ideal, and that is where they should aim for. And for other people, it's managing people, and that's where they succeed and excel. And for other people, it's. It's in the role itself, and they're going to do that better than anybody else can. And it's about empowering people to, and, and especially women to like. Where you're at is awesome. Where you can be is amazing too. It's where are you going to be at your happiest is where you should be aiming for. And it's okay to make lateral moves, it's okay to make backwards moves. It's okay to move wherever it is you need to move to make that happen. And that's the biggest learning I've taken out of my career is like, you can make those changes. You know, you don't have to go this like, standard. Like, ah, yes, here's the prescribed pyramid path. You have to keep moving down that. No, you could jump around, you could jump to a whole nother pyramid. You jump to a parallelogram, it doesn't matter. You bounce around and you find where it's actually going to fit and where gives you both the most fulfillment and happiness and obviously still pays your bills. Because at the end of day, we're all working jobs because none of us were born, you know, multi millionaire heiresses. So, you know, you still got to pay those bills. That has to obviously happen. But within your career is about finding the place where you can like, have the most impact that matters to you and you enjoy what you're doing and like not following the prescribed path other people have put in place for you. That's such a big thing for me. And it's where I've started. I started it after Inbound, not last year, but the year before. I met a lot of amazing women there, you know, like the admin hug meetups and a bunch of other like different bits and bobs and different people. I'm like, you know what, let's connect after this. Let's connect after this. And we started doing sort of an ongoing, like unofficial Women of HubSpot mastermind conversation. Like not a ton of us, you know, just like 10 or 12. And we just get together on a regular basis online, obviously. Cause we're all over the darn world, but you know, just to chat and you know, like share both, like technical, like, hey, I'm dealing with this and it's a really weird problem and I could really use another set of knowledgeable, intelligent eyes on this, which can be tricky in this space, right? There's a whole, there's a huge range of expertise and knowledge out there, which is great. But it also means it can be like the, the closer you get to that, like, tail end of like, you really know what you're doing, the harder it gets to get other support and help from other people because you run into that knowledge, like, barrier of like, I have to teach you so much about this problem for you to understand the problem, to be able to help me with the problem. So having other people that are. That knowledge and experience, maybe in different ways is so powerful. And then also other women in the space where it's like, hey, how have you approached that? Like, your manager is a guy and this is kind of the language and the barriers. You're reaching here or you're dealing with this team and as it turns out, they're all men and how are you managing that relationship? And again, especially like for that in house versus out of house, like, how are you enforcing that, like, respect and acknowledgement of like, we're on equal footing or like, hey, when I tell you this is how it has to be the system, sometimes it just has to be that way and you have to do it that way. And that's the end of the discussion. There's not a back and forth on things sometimes it's just a. You're just going to do what you're told on occasion.

Period. At the end of that sentence.

Exactly. And it's, it's so important there to like have that, that like camaraderie and connection. And, you know, sometimes you just need to complain. Sometimes you should be like, this is. Why is it always this. It's because it's always the same thing. It's always the same team and the same type of person over and over again. And sometimes it's just having that extra other people to validate that, like. Yeah, yeah. And here's, here's this interesting way I tried solving for that group or people or whatever thing might be so that, that's, that's what I've been doing the last two years. We've been, we've been meeting up and doing that like casual. But it's been really great to, to connect and share those stories together.

Yeah, I love that. We'll dip back into that conversation a little bit with another question. You may even go in a slightly different direction. But before we get there, can you share a moment in your career, now that we've talked about what empowerment is to you, can you share a moment in your career where you felt especially empowered or proud of something that you.

Achieved, like, as a whole? Honestly, it's one of the things, like, I cannot express just how thankful I am to, to Omi and her support. She has bent backwards, sideways, like she's A darn yoga contortionist at this point, trying, like, accommodating and supporting my growth, helping me work through within her team of, like, launching programs like whole service lines that I'm getting to lead and be the forefront on and build and grow. And that has been just that amount of trust in both, like, both my expertise, but also in my work ethic, in my, like, ability to work with my team, to grow a program and to work with all these different clients. Like, the. That trust and responsibility being provided to me is. It's really. It's huge. It's a huge factor in that whole imposter symptom piece disappearing is like, there is that. If there's external validation, there's always that element when it comes to that. I don't care what anybody says when it comes to imposter syndrome. Like, having external validation helps other people telling you, you know what the heck you're talking about is going to help, but it still has to come from within. And it's that, like, okay, I've got that, like, outside piece that helps. And now I can take that and look at it and compare it to my own experiences, compare myself against. Yeah. Other people in the space, in the field and go, you know what? No, I really do know what I'm talking about. I really do understand this. I am good at what I'm doing and. And I don't have to feel like I'm less than. Or blowing smoke or, or tricking anybody into following what it is. I have to say, the proof is in the pudding. It's like when I tell people and they do it and it works. It's black and white that it is successful and that I, I can, I can trust in my expertise and what I'm sharing with folks so that, like, empowerment there is just so. It feels so good. It feels so much better than, you know, in the past where I was like, second guessing every. Every step, every movement. Like, I was second guessing. Should I start with hey or hello? Which is a better one?

I don't know.

I don't know anything anymore.

Yeah, second guessing is not the place that you want to be. All right, so, Victoria, if you could change one thing about how women are supported in this industry, you had a magic wand, per se. What would that change be?

I think I would expand on that, like, informal group. I already have kind of running. I think having more spaces for, like, women in these roles as admins. Whether again, in US or agency, the experiences that we typically have are a lot more similar and the challenges we face are a lot closer together. So I think that that would be. That would be a big factor, expanding on that kind of a program and having more opportunity to talk with other women in. In women's spaces where there's not like the. You don't have to justify what you're talking about beyond like everybody else there has that same lived experience, so you don't have to spend all your time being like, no, really, this is what happens. And it's crazy, but it's true. There's just that immediate, like, oh, my gosh, yes, same. Because it's something that, like everyone else there has lived through and experienced and dealt with that same comment, that same problem. They've lived it. And maybe not everyone's lived every single one, but they've lived something similar enough that they're like, huh? Of course, that, yes, that makes perfect sense that that would happen.

Yeah.

So I think that would be, that would be my magic wand moment.

It's funny because my, my brain is transported to, like, a community where people get you and see you like, immediately. And therefore you can jump off into, like, deeper conversations and get past that piece of it. I love that so much. Okay, so this is called the Women of HubSpot podcast or show. So I have to ask a HubSpot related question. Are there any particular tools, strategies or trends in HubSpot that are exciting you right now?

I'm actually going to pull out and say, like, not A.I. it's exciting stuff. It's great. I think there's lots behind it and power and all that other wonderful jazz. I don't think it will replace what we're do, what we do. It never. I don't think it can. Not truly. That's that human element that's necessary to make it a success. But I think that, like, the, the growth I'm seeing in the other tools, the, like, the, the scale, I'm seeing them grow. Service hub is huge. And it's where I've said it for. I've said it for the longest time. It's always been a thing. Like, to me, success starts at customer success. Like customer service, customer support, customer success. If that is failing, you can throw money, you can light it on fire, you can build a mountain out of it, and it will not matter. At the end of the day, everything will collapse and fail. It has to start with having a good experience for the people that actually use your services, purchase your product. They have to enjoy it and they have to feel like you supported them as an organization and then they stay and then they tell other people to come and that's where success starts. And the fact that now HubSpot has really been pushing and building and like some of it in the last little bit's been a little bit quieter like some more just like subtle adjustments and fine tunings of the hub. But they've been putting so much behind the scenes of tools and management and providing things like yeah, now, yes, some of those AI tools are getting in there as well to help make that exciting scale. But so much of it is like you have control over that experience and the team is being given things like help desk where it's like, hey, a workspace for you. It's not just here's a ticket and yeah, sure. Basically it's a glorified form and a contact record. Great. There's so much more behind it now that I, that's, that's one that I'm really excited to see them continue to like expand on and grow into that. And the full on like basically CMS capabilities are in place for Knowledge Hub, the whole knowledge base and actually have that full on like code everything part. I cannot wait.

Yeah, it's so good. And I will say it's fun because you may be the first, if not first, the second person that didn't list AI, which is fascinating to me and I love that that you went in a different direction. Okay. You've mentioned this group a couple times. You've also mentioned Inbound, which is totally about like education but also networking. So I want to ask the question and wherever you want to go with this, of course is, is where you go. But how important is networking with other females to you and are there any certain strategies that you use to kind of help build those connections along the way?

Yeah, it is imperative working with and connecting with other women in a space both on a personal level. It literally, it's what's made my career. I decided that six years ago, give or take maybe seven, I went, you know what, this whole spray and pay resume approach and, and things sucks. It's hot garbage. It's a mess and it stinks. It's a terrible soul crushing process and my heart goes out to everybody else that is currently searching for roles and jobs right now. It's not a fun place to be in anyway. I want to get to the point where I have built a network and a community that I can reach out to long term. You know, not maybe this role, the next role, but the one after that where I'm not Begging at the door. I'm getting a nice welcome mat laid out saying, hey, I know a person who knows a person. Let me, let me, Let me show you the way in. And I knew I wanted that. And so I went, well, where does that come from? That comes from a community that comes from people that have each other's backs, where we support one another. And I've made just as many probably more than. Because, I mean, I myself am. I just. I'm just one person. So I've only been through the door a couple of times, but I've brought a lot of people into different roles, through. Into different organizations. So you have to be opening those doors yourself well in advance of those doors ever being open for you. And hey, if they never come back, I'm a big proponent of, I live in this world, I want it to be better, right? I don't care if it ever actually comes back to me. The whole karma thing, I'm like, you know what? By the fact that the world I live in is that 1% of a percent of a percent better. I live in it. I'm good with that. It's. It makes the world I am in slightly better, and I have to live in it. So it's great. It's always going to be better to make the world better. And having that support and then bringing that in for other people is so, like, it is make or break. It is. It is. What supported me entirely in where I am today are women. That's. That's 100%. Like, that was the domino effect. And I did make that a focus, not an exclusive focus. I have a lot of people in my networking community that are men that have been incredibly supportive and that I've learned so much from and have mentored me and supported me as well. So I don't want to discredit their value and the support they've given me. I've absolutely had that. But I've also had these really strong men that gave me that extra level of understanding and support that, like, understood like, as other women in this space and in the world today, like that understand it and can support and help and like, give that little extra push to get there and, you know, listen when things are challenging. And again, that, like, immediate understanding of, yeah, I've been there, lived through it, those lived experiences are there. So it's, it's imperative. It's absolutely a huge factor. And like I said, I would credit it as a huge component of where I am today.

Okay, so you got to rewind that Part because first of all, that was super dope. And I'll tell you where my brain was going as you were kind of threading this conversation in this story is like, one, you've got to understand where you want to go. Two, you've got to take the steps and put the things in place to get there. Three, you got to open the dang door because like that's how you're going to get to the place that you wanted to get to. And so that was so amazing of like, this is why it's important to network, to build your community to like, it's part of the process to get you from here to there. And when you hit the 1% of 1% better, like you literally were speaking my love language because I talk about just like 1% better each and every day. So that was super amazing. Okay, Victoria, tell me about one of the most rewarding aspects of your career so far.

Some of the things I've built. Like it's that. That moment when. When you solve a thing you were told couldn't be solved. So I know I touched on a little bit earlier. I mentioned briefly passing but like making a connection into a system that can't be connected to. So we figured out a way, you know, like functionally email scraping. But we found a way to get the information out of a system where it's like they don't open the API, there's no integrations. No, it's locked down tight. But they'll let you push an email out. Okay, we can work with that. There's a way to get that data out of the system and finding that way. And. And like I'm not a coder. Okay. So I don't code per se. Can I read a little HTML? Sure. A little bit of JavaScript here and there, but I can't write it and that's where. And I didn't load. But you know what props for props are due Chat GPT fan freaking tastic for helping you workshop code real great for that. That one I will give it. It's real good at that one and be able to like iterate through that until I could make it work. And that those moments like that where it's like it worked. Oh my God, it worked. Finally. That sensation is so like it makes it all worth it. Like getting to those moments are like, that's like the chasing that high, you know, it's that runner's high. It's like that moment where it's like, yes, it all just clicked and it's Smooth, and it's butter and it's beautiful. And I cannot wait to give this over to the client and for them to go, oh, my God, this is amazing. This is going to make my life so much easier. And I go, I know, it's great. You're welcome.

Yeah, we all love those massive dopamine hits when we've actually been able to take something that was nothing in creating into something amazing. I love that so much. It's so good. I'm with.

I want to make sure you can, however you want to, cut this in, because it's a little bit to the previous question that you asked, because I think it's really important to also share, like, concrete actions you can take when it comes to building your network and doing things. And what I do every three to six months, I kind of set it in as an alarm on my own calendar. I go through my LinkedIn inbox and I go, who have I not talked to in a while? Who has it been too long since I've reached out to this person with? And I go back through my network and I go, cool, I'm going to reach out to this person and set up a chat. We might not even be in the same space anymore. But you know what? There's always something you can take out of a relationship or something you can give back. And you don't know that door. You don't know what's behind it until you open it. And it's important to keep the, basically the hinges well oiled, so that door still works. You might not need it very often, and you may never need it again, but they might need you through that door. You know, it might come the other way, and you got to be there to open that door and help them through just as much. So I do that as, like, a regular occurrence. I go through my list and I'd be like, hey, it's been a while. Let's chat. And I maintain that, and I keep it ongoing with people so that, like, even if it's been a while, it's been a year, whatever, it's been a long time. Let's. Let's do 15 minutes, 20 minutes and catch back up. So I think it's really important to have, like, a consistent approach to maintaining those relationships.

I love that. I love that. So, Victoria, what advice would you give other women who might want to choose this as their career path besides the.

You know, do your headspot academy and stuff? Because, you know what? Starting out, it is a good spot. It's a great place to be like, do I even understand what this is about and what this program is? It's a great place to start. I'll give it its props. It's a great place to start. It's, it's connect with other people in the space. And there are so many opportunities. You know, like the admin hug is hot fire. That, that is such a great community of people, both from a knowledge gain and the people that hang out in that chat is a great place to connect with other people. Someone asks an interesting question, message them, message them privately, ask them to dive deeper, ask them to have a conversation later and build that connection. Because that's where it all stems from. I mean, heck, even like getting to know Alicia and her saying, let's get into agency work came from like two years before that. I was in like a women in revenue webinar that just popped up as a side note on something else. And I went, oh, that'd be interesting. And they had some breakout sessions. And I connect with somebody there who's like, hey, I run this thing called a hug and I'd love if you'd come on and talk about this thing you just did inside your HubSpot portal. And I went, I would love to do that. That sounds great. And I did that. And then Alicia saw it and went, would you do that on my hug? That would be great. I went, of course I would. I would love to be on more webinars. That sounds amazing. You know, I, I'm, I'm some 20 something who doesn't know much from HubSpot. I just picked it out of the hat of like, hey, this seems like a good tool. And you know, this was like seven or eight years ago now. And it all led into where I am today. And it all started from, hey, on a webinar. I messaged somebody. That was it. You know, I added someone on LinkedIn and messaged them and we started chatting. That that is literally the domino that led to everything else and where I'm at today. And I could not be happier about where I'm at in my career, in my life. My path in this moment is so strong. There's so much room still for growth and knowledge and gain. And it all started from that one little conversation that was what anyone else would consider like just a blip, just a whatever, cough handed, like, hey, that was really interesting.

Yeah.

And asking questions.

It's so interesting that you're tied to a webinar as you're like pivot point. Because I too, in 2012 got told that I should attend the world's largest webinar put on by HubSpot Academy. And if I wouldn't have attended that webinar, I wouldn't have won tickets to Inbound and I wouldn't have gone from being a designer developer to being the HubSpot guy that I am today. And so it's, it's, you're right, there's these blips in a moment in time and they totally transform where you end up. Okay, let's land the plane. We got three quick questions here and then we'll get you back to your daily life. Victoria, what are your long term goals?

I right now, even for the next few years, is to kind of stay where I am. My long term goal is to keep doing what I'm doing because it's fantastic. It is fantastic and I love it. Like I said, I could not be more happy. I feel so fulfilled and I love what I'm doing. And you know, in a few years out, keep on growing a little bit, making tweaks and adjustments. That's what I want to do. I just want to keep tweaking and adjusting where I'm at. I don't want a big sweeping like, oh yeah, I'm going to found a, you know, 500 person agency. If that's where the path leads me, that's where the path leads me. But that's not my aim. My aim is like I just want to keep making those minor adjustments that 1% each day on what I'm doing. And it's like, you know what? A little bit more here, a little bit more there. We balance things out. I love what I'm doing now and I just want to make that like, I just want to polish it. I just want to keep polishing it until it is the. It's already a gem and it's going to be even shinier.

I feel like that tied back to like the jewelry making time in your life. That little analogy, that was amazing. Okay, so two more questions. What is a surprising or little known fact about you that people might not expect?

I feel like I would say something about how big of a nerd I am, but I feel like everybody that meets me is not surprised by that fact. So I don't think that would be considered a surprising fact. But I also dabble in a lot of art. I'm one of those people that picks up every hobby under the sun, does it for three to six months and then moves on and then comes back to it again two years later. If it is either nerdy or art, I've probably done it and. Or have the supplies to do it in my house currently.

That's funny. I love that artistic. Again, it ties back to kind of something you said earlier of like being able to create something out of nothing problem into solution. And art is very much that just in like the physical sense versus sometimes with HubSpot, the mental sense. Okay, love this. This has been so amazing last question for you and I'm actually really excited to ask this and I'm to see what your answer is, but finish this sentence for me. Success to me, by the way, that's you. Success to me means blank.

Happiness. It is my guiding light in every instance and moment of life, is what can I do to make my life a little bit happier? Whether it is like I mentioned it earlier on the call, making the world happier. Because you know what? If I. I live in that world, I live in the world. This is crazy thing. I'm a part of society, I live in this planet. If I can make it a tiny bit better, it means that the place that I exist in is a tiny bit better and everything, you know, from. From, you know, and I'm a big proponent of like the whole altruism type thing. And nobody does anything for nothing, not truly. Like, if I'm doing something for somebody else, you know why? It's because it makes me feel good. And I think that is a sign of somebody that is a good person. If doing something for someone else makes you happy, you are a good person. That's a part of being a good person when other people's happiness makes you happy. But at the end of the day, it's about improving happiness. Everything boils back down to, how can I make my life a little bit happier, a little bit more positive? You know, support that in whatever area it is, whether it's, you know, doing that bit of art or solving that problem in HubSpot, opening that door for somebody, somebody else opening the door for me. All of those things contribute back to that same core pivotal center, which is a little bit happier, a little bit happier each and every day. And that means I know one day when I'm like, you know what, on my deathbed and I'm looking back at my whole life and I go, you know what? I was happy. It was a happy life. There was highs, there was lows. And that's a part of like having a happy life, is having those experiences. And that's how you can tell when you are happy and things are good. You have to have those hards and those challenges. Those are what make the happy better. So everything all contributes back to that core. I was happy. Success is happiness.