Career Spotlight: Maya Calabrese

Tell us about yourself – your name, company, title, and responsibilities?

Maya Calabrese, Fusion Risk Management, manager, customer success. In my role, I am responsible for account and portfolio management strategy for the customer success team; own and lead strategic customer relationships for a portfolio of high-growth and complex accounts, ensuring long-term success; and manage a global team of customer success managers.

How did you get into the business resilience industry?

I started working in the financial services industry in Boston in 2008 and was exposed to risk management very quickly, given the economic state of the world at that time.

A few years later, I stepped into the role of business continuity coordinator for a mid-sized investment manager and took over the system administration of a legacy planning platform, which is where I started to fall in love with the nature of global resiliency planning. I was exposed to every business function across the organization, how each business unit’s work contributed to the broader business goals and objectives, and started to use critical thinking skills to help support each function’s resiliency strategies.

Tell us about some of the challenges you have encountered in your career?

Early on, I felt what I can only describe as impostor syndrome. I was meeting with individuals who were subject matter experts in their field and initially wondered what I had to offer based on my limited experience.

I later realized my value add was my ability to have that third-party view, the ability to take a step back and see the bigger picture of what each business function was doing to contribute to the greater good of the organization and provide insights to them about their dependencies to other business units, people, applications, and third-parties that they otherwise would not have

Have you had any mentors? Describe the effect they have had on your career.

I’ve been blessed with a plethora of mentors and sponsors throughout my career. When I started working within business continuity and disaster recovery space full time, I had a director who (gently) threw me into the fun of a two-day weekend DR exercise after one week in my role. He set me up for success by guiding me in the areas where he knew I knew nothing (the organization itself) and let me figure things out for myself. The level of both support and autonomy immediately gave the confidence I needed to propel myself into the role and company, as well as a quick way to establish the necessary relationships both within the IT team and the business.

Outside of the resilience space, I’ve established other strong, long-lasting relationships with folks like MBA professors, speakers who partnered with to run workshops with my customer success team at Fusion, and clients who have turned into professional sounding-boards for me. Each relationship brings something different to the table, a new way of thinking about a challenge, guidance on how to manage a team, and input on managing an ever-changing career landscape.

What are some lessons learned you still leverage today?

Pause, stop, and soak before responding. Whether to an email, Slack message, verbal request, phone call or text, take the time to absorb the message, prioritize the request, and be intentional in your response will always lead to better outcomes.

Assume positive intent. In any role, and especially in the resilience space (and customer success!), we rely upon others to help us do our jobs in the most robust, efficient way. Everyone is more than busy in today’s world which, at times, can mean there are delays in work output that have an impact to our goals and objectives. I’ve found if you take the time to get to know your cross-functional colleagues, understand what they have on their plate, and assume they aren’t causing intentional delays or roadblocks, ultimately everyone collaborates more effectively.

What aspects of working in this industry would you like to see change or evolve?

Whether in the resilience industry or other, people tend to get comfortable working in their silos. It’s the subject matter they’re comfortable with and as a result, it’s easy to overlook or forget the bigger picture of their work, how it contributes to their colleagues’ work, and ultimately their organization’s strategic goals and objectives. I’d love to see our industry continue to evolve to break down those silos, for our resilience professionals to not just collect the data but also share the wealth of critical business information that’s inherently a part of business continuity, disaster recovery, and risk management programs. Risk management truly is a competitive advantage, and I’d like to see a more focused approach from program teams to execute against this, as well as recognition and support from leadership for these teams and programs.

What types of formal training and certifications have you pursued, and what kinds of learning and networking opportunities are you seeking to continue your professional development?

I currently hold a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) from Suffolk University, Certified Business Continuity Planner (CBCP), Project Management Professional (PMP), and am a level 2 certified Customer Success Manager through Success Hacker’s customer success program.

I continuously seek out professional development literature, most recently reading “Strategic” by Rich Horwath. I also love a variety of podcasts ranging from “Women in Customer Success,” to “HBR on Leadership,” to “The Huberman Lab,” and a good daily dose of NPR’s “Up First” and the WSJ’s “Morning Report.”

Having the opportunity to speak with my clients, colleagues, and fellow industry professionals at conferences and Fusion’s Regional User Group meetings is by my favorite way to network. From industry best practices to new technologies, to learning about what folks do in their time away from work, these types of opportunities are priceless.

What gets you excited about your career?

Resiliency and customer success, while two seemingly different industries are quite similar. Both require you to understand every part of a business, what each function does and how each team operates. When I moved into a customer success role, supporting the resiliency industry, it was amazing to me how much of my experience leading a global continuity program is relevant to what I do today to support the strategic growth of my clients.

With that, I’m excited to see how both the resilience and customer success spaces continue to mature into being not only a necessity to support an organization, but a true value-add for businesses, including revenue growth and strategic planning.

What advice would you give to those embarking on a career in this industry?

What parts of your job and/or education do you get the most out of today? What doesn’t feel like work, where hours go by before you look up at the clock and realize it’s time to end your day? Articulate what those areas are and throw yourself into learning more about them.

For example, I get the most joy out of sitting down with a client, listening to a challenge they are facing in their day-to-day work, and then digging into the why. Why is this a challenge, what gaps exist in their current processes today, what information do they need to share with their leadership teams and then using critical thinking to help them solution and solve their needs.

Because I know this, it’s allowed me to focus my time, efforts, and career development opportunities to help me be even better at what I do and enjoy it in the process.

Talk to other people. Folks who have been in the industry for their careers, folks who have pivoted from other industries, and folks who are newer to the space. Ask questions, and be curious about their experiences, the challenges they’ve faced, and what they’ve learned along the way. This type of insight is invaluable when entering a new industry, and the connections you make along the way will only benefit you, personally and professionally.