What it is like to work with me.

I had the pleasure of working with Katy for the last 1.5 years, during which she served as Director of Product Management, AI Operations on my team at SoundCloud. Katy combines exceptional technical depth with sharp strategic thinking. At a time when new AI solutions were emerging almost daily, she consistently cut through the noise, evaluating opportunities, pressure-testing their potential, and determining exactly which innovations were the right fit for us.

Katy is relentlessly solution-oriented and one of the most determined problem-solvers I've ever worked with. She never hesitates to go the extra mile. She's proactive, analytical, and always one step ahead, not just doing what's asked, but actively surfacing issues, shaping thoughtful plans, and often being the first to drive execution. On top of all that, Katy is simply fantastic to work with: down-to-earth, approachable, trustworthy, and someone you can always rely on when things get complex. She knows how to get things done, and she does it with integrity, clarity, and a truly collaborative spirit.

Katy and I worked together for two years in the same Product department at a fast-paced education technology startup. I had the privilege of learning product management best practices under her wing, growing from Product Analyst to Product Manager, thanks in large part to her tutelage. She is a strong mentor with a strong sense of self and has always made herself available as a resource for others still growing into their own career paths.

My time working with Katy has had a profound impact on my professional development. I came into the product world with no prior experience; Katy made herself as available as possible to help me grow, on top of managing her own duties. As these duties at times included managing four separate development teams, it should be no surprise that Katy has a high capacity for challenging work that requires equal focus on competing priorities.

Katy brings her full self with her wherever she goes, which is one of the most rewarding things about collaborating with her. She is just about as authentic as you can get. She has strong convictions and ideas, and backs both up through methodical research and validation. In my experience, any work Katy does as an individual is always in service of reaching common ground with her teammates so all can work toward meaningful, actionable solutions. Her attention to detail with regard to team processes is a noteworthy example of this. Katy's eye for efficiency, in communication, in workload management, in product roadmapping, helped propel our Product team to where it is today, both in improving cross-team collaboration and developing an overarching product strategy.

Working with Katy left me a more confident, competent product manager with a clear sense of myself, my responsibilities, and what makes me uniquely capable of handling them. At the very least, Katy is a valuable teammate because she can bring out the best in her coworkers. And that still does not begin to encapsulate the value accrued by her years of experience, passion, and work ethic.