Olivia Rejniak

Where are you working currently and what do you do there?

I’m currently a Senior Program Manager in the Customer Experience division of Uber, supporting the Eats business. Our team helps design, manage and improve the overall support experience for Eaters during their orders.

Can you tell us a bit about your education and career background?

I’ve had quite a diverse background! At the center of it has been an obsession for building strong brands, programs and strategies with a customer-first mindset.

Early in my career, I spent several years working in Brand Management in the Beauty, Food & Beverage and Hospitality industries in Canada. Seeing how global trends were impacting my work (e.g. new skincare trends in Asia, unique flavour combinations from start-ups in California) I became increasingly interested in orienting myself towards a global career path. I made the decision to move to Spain in 2015 to pursue my MBA degree at IESE Business School. Following graduation, I joined a boutique management consulting firm that specialized in advising consumer packaged goods (CPG) clients internationally. This allowed me to translate my previous Canada-only CPG experience into a global context and in a new consulting function.

After a few nomadic years, I decided to take another leap of faith and moved to San Francisco to join Uber. I’m thrilled to be working with a company that is shaping the gig economy and redefining the services industry landscape. Today I have the privilege to work with a team that is shaping how Uber supports its customers across the US and Canada.

I’ve seen the marketing landscape evolve, with more employers seeking candidates with performance marketing and digital marketing skills and even bringing agency roles in-house. This course was the perfect way for me to double down on these skills and ensure I’m staying relevant, getting access to the latest insights and bring them back to my role in the tech industry.

Why did you choose to study at BrainStation?

As COVID hit, with no commute and everything closed, I found myself looking for new ways to invest my time. I’ve always been someone who loves learning so when BrainStation courses were brought to my attention, I decided to seize the moment. The Digital Marketing course came highly recommended by a friend and knowing that I wanted to stay in-the-know with all things digital and marketing, I decided to sign myself up.

What motivated you to start digital skills training?

I’ve been curious to learn more about digital for a few years now. During my brand management days, I was exposed to many aspects of digital but didn’t own the technical execution or measurement as much as our agencies did. We often worked with our agency partners to set the vision of our digital communications strategy, but the details were often left to them.

This course allowed me to get into the weeds and really understand the mechanics more deeply. I’ve also seen the marketing landscape evolve, with more employers seeking candidates with performance marketing and digital marketing skills and even bringing agency roles in-house. This course was the perfect way for me to double down on these sills and ensure I’m staying relevant, getting access to the latest insights and bring them back to my role in the tech industry.

What was the highlight of your learning experience?

For me, it was working with my team on our end-of-course project. We decided to study Peloton and take on the role of consultants and advise the company on how to optimize their digital strategy. We had a diverse team and everyone brought unique digital skills to the table – and it provided a great opportunity to learn from each other. It was also grounded in real-time applications with COVID and how amid supply challenges, Peloton could lean into additional revenue streams beyond the sale of their physical product (e.g. membership model, athletic apparel sales) fuelled by savvy community building.

Was this your first online learning experience?

Yes, this was my first online learning experience and I was impressed with how engaged everyone was. Taking a course in addition to daily responsibilities meant that the students had a clear immediate goal in mind – whether it was improving their own businesses, sharpening their skills for their current role or looking to make a career shift. As a result, the people who attended were hungry and eager to learn. The instructors also came from the industry which was valuable as they could share first-hand experience and offer relevant insights.

What advice would you give women who are considering a career in the tech industry?

I’m a huge advocate for women in tech! Given the impact that COVID has had on the digital economy, a career in tech presents a lot of great opportunities. It’s a dynamic, fast-paced industry where you can learn a lot, quickly. I was a bit intimidated at first given that I hadn’t worked in tech before but my key takeaway has been that as long as you put the customer at the center of everything, you can be successful – agnostic of the industry. The technical aspects you can learn over time but the intention of serving your customer always remains the same.