What Do I Do?
Simply put… I get things done. My track record proves I deliver high-quality projects on-time and within budget, from ideation and team development to launch and maintenance. I know more than anyone that executing a strategy requires meticulous planning, cross-functional alignment, and just plain hard work. Accountability, transparency, and by-whens are the keys to success.
As a high-energy team member, I am tenacious at solving problems and building teams. But I’m not just good at it – I love doing it!
— Samantha Mason
About Me
What Am I Looking For?
I thrive in both fast-paced startups and more sedate, mature companies – company size is immaterial to me. What matters is being in a position where I can make a positive contribution. For me, this has typically been in project management and group development. I love creating plans for optimizing performance through processes that are tweaked over time and building scalable and optimized delivery solutions so companies can grow. I want to work with teams that produce solutions that delight customers, whatever the industry or stakeholder. I also enjoy mentoring employees and growing well-honed teams that increase efficiency and quality and enjoy their work.
What Makes Me Tick?
Here’s what motivates me to get out of bed every morning – to teach, mentor, and make a difference in people’s lives and the world by solving tough problems! I think outside the box to deliver useful solutions that drive change. Let me describe a few examples…
Teaching a Skill – I once started a cooking school for college students because I saw a need for my sons’ friends. I have some amazing stories about needing to teach them the very basics, such as how to use a can opener and potato peeler. It honestly seems quite simple, right? But let me tell you, during this process, I learned as much as they did because to truly teach someone a skill, you have to start from a beginner’s mindset. Those experiences, in turn, gave me the ability to write detailed SDLCs and SOPs. One of my student’s moms reached out to say her daughter was able to prepare a fabulous roasted duck simply because of the confidence I had given her. Investing in people is always worth the effort.
Never Too Old to Learn: Senior Citizens and Tae Kwon Do – When I was studying for my black belt, I had the idea of teaching Tae Kwon Do to an assisted living facility. While most people thought I was out of my mind, it turned out to be a valuable, moving experience. You see, most people in wheelchairs and those confined to a facility still have the use of their limbs or can be assisted by others. So, every week, I took my hand pads in and taught an hour-long lesson where people learned kicking and punching. It broke their monotony and taught me how to look for new ways to come up with creative solutions to address different audiences.
Language Is More Than Speaking – I am a software engineer by training, but I soon learned that also means I can speak and write a different language. As I re-entered the workforce after raising my boys, I used my language skills to catapult my freelancing career. As you may know, natural languages are much akin to computer coding, meaning you just need to master the various syntaxes and important words. I found that I had a knack for teaching other people how to take their particular language of training, whether it be coding or musical skills or whatever, and create stories that attract audiences. One example is Michael Lynch, who described my influence on his writing here. He went on to publish a Hacker News front-page article about me. I learned from him how to ask someone what they wanted to accomplish, look at their skill set, and provide specific plans on how to reach a certain goal.
These three examples are just a drop in the bucket. Every day, I continue to learn from what I’m doing. For example, I reached out to those in my neighborhood. I ended up speaking (broken!) Italian and Spanish to people from Ecuador, Oaxaca, Mexico, Libya/Milan/Israel, and Guatemala, plus a high school student from Florida. When you take the time to reach out and understand individuals, you learn to solve many problems, as well as get some excellent food recommendations!
