Teamwork makes the dream work, and we'd be nowhere without our talented, dedicated team of employees.
To give you a glimpse into the day-to-day happenings of our team, and give you a chance to meet the brains behind the operation, we're highlighting a new Beautiful.ai employee each month. Every employee brings their own unique ideas, skills, and perspective to the company and contribute to the overall business in different ways. To show you a behind the scenes of each department, we're interviewing members of the team on all things presentations, remote work, and everything in between.
For our first interview we caught up with Fatima Sbeih, Director of Customer Success and one of our longest standing employees. If you've ever run into a hiccup or question while using our product, you've likely talked to Fatima. She's well versed in Beautiful.ai, and helps our customers tell their story. Today it's her turn to tell her story. Let's get into it.
Q: How long have you worked at Beautiful.ai?
A: I started in September of 2017. Back then, we didn't even have customers yet and it was just random beta users who would stumble onto the platform. Seeing where we’re at now is insane to me. I feel like my baby is all grown up!
Q: What is your role and what does it entail?
A: My team is the biggest advocate for our users: What do they need? What would they like to see enhanced? What are they struggling with? Etc. We’re your linebackers and support system. On the day to day, I focus on product adoption, user growth, and all things customer experience.
Q: How do presentations play a role in your day-to-day responsibilities?
A: Outside of supporting our amazing customers with their presentation needs, we use decks for all of our team stand-ups, leadership updates, and quarterly roadmapping. To plug Beautiful.ai— I love being able to jump between computers (cloud hosting!!!) and just go right into the deck I was working on. It makes it so easy and seamless for me.
Q: What do you love most about working at Beautiful.ai?
A: The cross-departmental functionality of the team. It creates a success-domino effect. I am interacting with the Sales, Marketing, Product, and Engineering leaders daily. Trends and issues are caught almost immediately and we’re able to adjust our business decisions to meet the demands of our users. It’s really awesome to see.
Q: What is your favorite Beautiful.ai feature?
A: I wish I could show you my Slack conversations with our founder, Mitch Grasso. Just about every feature he’s built and sent my way I’m always like "OMG THIS IS THE BEST THING YOU’VE EVER BUILT." And then he builds something else, and I’m like "ok I take it back this is the best thing ever." But hands down, our Analytics feature will forever be at the top. I haven't seen anything like it. You’re able to see if someone has viewed your link and which slides they spent the most time on. It’s super handy to have. That and our Team Slides where you make an update on one slide and it’ll update across all decks that use that slide. It saves so much time.
Q: What is something exciting you’re working on right now or something work-related you’re proud of?
A: There are some TOP SECRET features in the works right now that I am absolutely DYING to spill the beans on. It’s going to really elevate the product and I think users are going to be so happy once they’re out (cue sob emoji). One thing that I can say is: we’re working on a bunch of video content that I think will help many of our users who are more visual learners as they go through the tool.
Q: What was your first job?
A: During Undergrad, I used to work for a consignment company on campus. People were able to bid on things like old desks, laptops, binders, etc and we would approve/counter/deny their bids. When college students would come in and overbid on hot items (like MacBooks), I would shake my head as subtly as possible and point at the ground to signal “go lower”. While I loved working with customers and helping them get what they needed, I swore I would never go into “sales” again, and yet here I am, nearly 10 years later, working in Customer Success. Never say never!
Q: The best career lesson you’ve learned so far?
A: Trust your gut. It’s something I always tell my team — even if it's me telling them otherwise, they may have a better point of view. You know your role best as well as the mechanics of the project you're working on. If alarm bells start ringing signaling something isn't right— or that it's TOTALLY right— go with it. Chances are, your assessment was correct, even if your colleagues/manager doesn't see it. With following your gut, it's also about being prepared to (respectfully) defend your view point and making a decision.
Q: How would you describe your job to a class of Kindergarteners?
A: I work for a software company (computer stuff) that helps people make cool pictures to show at work. Whenever people get stuck or need help, they call me. Basically, I’m Spiderman.
Q: Favorite remote work activities?
A: I love sharing songs or playlists with my colleagues. It’s really random and not limited to one genre of music, so it’s fun to see which songs resonate with which peers. No one likes any of my death metal music though :(
Q: When you aren’t working, what do you like to do for fun?
A. I love hiking with my dog, Reptar (yup— like the Rugrats). I’m an Oakland native and we have some amazing trails. If not outdoors, you can probably catch me reading a new sci-fi book or painting.
Q: What is one thing you cannot live without?
A: Work-wise, I would be very very sad if TechSmith decided not to support their suite of tools (Snagit!!). I use them as much as I use Beautiful! Personal: Spotify. I listen to music all day long. When I'm working or painting or even sitting down meditating, I have a playlist for everything.
