Interview #3 with Alice Warren

A SLEEP DEPRIVED ARCH STUDENT

Alice Warren immediately struck my interest with her unconventional path. Like myself, she had studied her undergrad with architecture, but now she is now doing something (SEEMINGLY) unrelated. To my intrigue, she has found a way to utilize her creativity and ambitions in a start-up company focused on empowering women and supporting menstrual health.

Alice graduated from studying architecture in 2006 and worked for several years doing architectural work. She soon found that outside circumstances were driving her to a different field…

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Growing up, Alice was always greatly intrigued and fascinated by science. Yet the science programs and her overall experience with it as an adolescent was not the most positive.

Nevertheless, she felt passionate about science and in 2011 went after a Master’s Degree in Biology. Meanwhile, she had worked various marketing and analyst jobs and found much of her enjoyment was rooted in incorporating design into her everyday.

SOME OPPORTUNITIES FIND YOU

Alice pondered what to do with her diverse interests, aptitude for project-based learning, and ability to work on a myriad of tasks and challenges. If you couldn’t guess it already, working at a start-up company was the perfect match for her. 

Alice is clearly an ambitious change-maker and holds her values close to her heart. She is to expect nothing less of a potential company to work for.

“I was looking for change makers: companies invested in the spaces that haven’t changed in decades.”

And this industry sure hasn’t changed much until recently…

SUPPORTING THE MENSTRUAL HEALTH OF WOMEN AT THINX.

Alice now works for an amazing company that I have followed for years: THINX. THINX is the first company ever to create underwear that can be worn during menstruation in substitute of standard feminine hygiene products (disrupting the use of wasteful tampons and pads)!

 Alice has been working with THINX for just over a year now and is accomplishing her goal of working on diverse challenges and using human centered design to enhance our experience with the THINX product.

She closely works with those in both project and product development, and comments on the collaborative strategy between the teams. I also got a one on one info session on the differences between product and project management which led me to my next conversation… talking with THINX’s primary product developer, Courtney Newman.

IT'S ALL ABOUT HOW YOU FRAME IT

With Alice and many others who I have interviewed, I found my fascination with the diversity of work and (seemingly) no common thread. I asked Alice how she felt that she had the right credibility or experience when moving from one opportunity to the next.

She so intelligently enlightened me with the simple phrase 

“It’s all about how you frame it.”

At the surface level, you or I might just see the title and company that someone worked for. But as Alice went on to explain, she has experience in B2B businesses, tech and management, human relations, analytics, and project management.

She explained to me her journey, stringing together all of her experiences into a cohesive story that I’m sure could get her to anywhere she wants to go. 

PARTING ADVICE

“Don’t always take the first job.”

Alice explained to me, though it is important to build your resume among great companies, you can’t always rise up out of your particular department, and, for that reason, don’t always jump on the first thing in front of you. If given the choice: a bigger role at a company vs a smaller role that is more closely aligned to your overall vision, choose the second route. There’s probably more opportunity for you to grow there than taking the first (tempting) option. 

Always be open to new learning and make an opening any way you can. Get your foot in the door, even if that means working as a receptionist. Make good impressions and seek out mentors. Keep reading and keep learning. (Anything by Mireille Guiliano will do!)

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