Why did you decide to become a mentor?
I kept seeing the same pattern: capable PMs who had everything it took but couldn't demonstrate it under pressure. They knew the frameworks but fell apart when it mattered. That gap between competence and communication is fixable - most people just don't know how to close it on their own. I became a mentor because I can see exactly where the story breaks down and close it faster than someone working alone.
How did you get your career start?
I started out as an engineer, but what I kept wanting was to see the whole picture not just my piece of the stack, but how everything connected and how the product actually came together. Moving into product management was the natural answer. It gave me the cross-functional view I was looking for and put me in the room with every part of the organization, not just engineering. What helped me move faster than I expected was a background most PMs don't have: journalism. Learning to communicate clearly, tell a coherent story, and present with confidence under pressure - those skills translated directly into the work. They made me more effective in reviews, more credible with leadership, and better at representing the product to people who didn't share my technical context. That combination, engineering foundation plus strong communication opened doors at some of the biggest companies in the industry. I ended up at Meta because I've always been drawn to consumer technology and the question of how it can genuinely improve people's lives. That belief is still what drives the work.
What do mentees usually come to you for?
Most of my clients fall into one of three buckets. The first is PMs transitioning from platform or infrastructure work into commercial or consumer-facing roles, technically strong but struggling to tell a story that lands in a different kind of interview. The second is PMs trying to break into AI PM roles who need to close that gap quickly. The third are people who need to sharpen their executive presence and communication: how to influence without authority, translate technical work for leadership, and show up with the kind of confidence that gets you taken seriously at the next level. Across all three, the pattern is the same, the skills are there but the packaging isn't. I help people close that gap through practice, not more prep work.
What's been your favourite mentorship success story so far?
One of my earliest MentorCruise clients came to me wanting to become a more assertive PM and break out of execution mode. What stood out about working with her was how fast things shifted once we made the coaching specific to her actual context her company, her challenges, her experiences. She told me she was applying things immediately after sessions, sometimes the same day. She later described it as one of the most empowering professional development experiences she'd had. That kind of feedback from a first client sets the tone for everything that follows.
What are you getting out of being a mentor?
The work keeps me sharp. Every client brings a different context - different industry, different gaps, different blockers - and figuring out the right intervention for each person is genuinely interesting. I'm also learning a lot about how AI PM hiring is evolving in real time, because I'm watching what lands and what doesn't across a range of candidates at companies like Glean, Sierra, and Arize. There's also something clarifying about having to articulate what you know well enough to help someone else use it. Mentoring has made me a better thinker about product, about careers, and about what actually separates people who advance from people who plateau. I didn't expect that part going in, but it might be the most valuable thing I'm getting out of it
