🎉Happy new year everyone!
I hope you are happily celebrating the beginnings of 2023, meanwhile, I am taking some time to recap the previous one. 2022 has been quite different from its precedents. It started in quarantine and continued with a resignation which brought up a quality family summer while it ended up with new professional beginnings.
Bye bye wappier
I left my job. I started at wappier as the first-ever product manager of the organization during the summer of 2019; that has been my first full-time remote role and lasted for three years. When I started wappier was doing revenue optimization for games while when I left they had switched to web3. Why did I leave? Simply because after three very interesting years with many product management and social challenges as well, including covid-19 and fatherhood, I felt like it was time for me to pursue my next challenge. I am still missing my team, these guys were rocking it and I hope we’ll meet again.
Taking some time off
I decided to take a 6 months break. Before pursuing my next challenge it has been vital for us to recharge. Is there a better way to do that than spending time with a toddler? I don’t think so! We did several family excursions, but how many? Our car says it’s ~15000km. We went swimming more than 60 times and I attended more off-season basketball training than ever so I join VAO. However, I could have planned this break better, what I mean… during the first two months of it, I couldn’t stop doing stuff. This is why I built Babyweeks, a growing cycle calculator for mothers, and re-launched my Personal Website after 2016. Moreover, I decided to use a universal resume and cover letter so that I scale my job search for handpicked positions that I liked. I met lots of tech companies from around the world and yet this has been my first time with extensive interview rounds, it was really enlightening. I switched it off during August and September only. If you ask me now… I am going to do it again one day and I am sure the 2nd time will be a charm.
Hello 100 Mentors
Last December I started working with 100 Mentors! 100 Mentors’ grand vision is to democratize education for everyone while our mission is to empower learners by helping them enhance their soft skills! The team is super diverse and folks seem to be empowered. It’s always great working in such an environment, and I really enjoy my first days here. Regarding my role, I am the first person working 100% on the product, my goal for the next 6 months is to initially better connect the business and tech departments while advocating the user needs during product development cycle of a new product. Let’s see what I can bring in.
Extras
Little things that I’ve done in my free time.
Mentoring youngsters
Last Fall I supported the GreenTech Challenge, as a Startup Mentor. The program accommodated 4000 students and researchers, 459 teams+startups, 70 companies, and aimed to boost innovation around technology and the environment. My super girl team, comprised of 3 chemical engineers, submitted a proposal for an innovative heating device that uses plastic as its fuel! We’ve made it up to the semifinals only but we are still young and our future is bright 🧡.
Last Spring I was a Startup Mentor at the Invent For The Planet of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. This is a program, started by the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University which helped other universities across the globe organize events for one weekend to focus on solving problems that affect us all. For one weekend, there were no barriers, no borders, no boundaries, only students focusing on developing innovative solutions to problems we all face.
Product blogs
I reactivated my blog and finalized two of my several drafts on Product Management.
Books & Courses
Shame on me, this year I didn’t do that much. Yet that’s what I say every year, to be honest 🙃. In 2022 I finished Empowered by Marty Cagan and attended Marily’s course on AI Technical Product Management, they both were excellent! I’ll definitely use some of my learnings in my everyday. Regarding out-of-school books, I started Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP by Mirin Fader which is really interesting.
To remember
Farewell to my grandma. A fantastic person left us, my 90 years old grandma passed away last May after spending more than ten years in a wheelchair. A sensational diamond-brained lady who managed to follow progressions despite her age and was never critical of others. She lived through the 2nd worldwide war, the economic boom, and the recession with the same attitude. She had three kids and had done several jobs, while she was most proud of her cutting and sewing school for dressmaking. I’ll definitely miss your stories.
