Atlanta Kabbage Team Visit

Team Dinner at Eataly

This week the Kabbage team from the Atlanta office was in town. I was really excited since I had met a lot of them virtually, but not in person yet. Would I be able to recognize them from seeing them on video or would I totally embarrass myself and mess it up? I am happy to say, yes I was! I may have had to confirm someone’s last name but they had to confirm mine as well!

The team was super friendly and nice, they also brought a sense of the start up vibe, which I missed from my internship at Jango days! (I am surprised to see that Jango still exists after all these years, its been at least a decade!)

Tuesday night we went to PJ Clarke’s, I had not been here in over 2 years, so it was a nice to be back and to spend some time with the team that was in town! I met some new colleagues who I know we will be fast friends! There was even a DTF, Down to FOOD, moment - if you were thinking anything else you have your mind in the gutter!

Last night, the product team had an impromptu dinner at La Pizza & La Pasta a Colori at Eataly! We had not done a team dinner yet, so it was nice to interact with a smaller group and really get to talk more as a group vs one offs and get to know everyone!

After dinner we went to to O’Hara’s for drinks, which was nice to chat with everyone. I ended up finding my Kabbage twin James and new BFF Clint, who is super tall! We also found an old man singing his heart out by himself as if he were at a karaoke - can we please adopt him to be our team mascot?

I am even more excited and invigorated to be part of the Kabbage team after meeting the Atlanta part of the team in person! Can’t wait to see all the great things we will do together!

Global Summit in Florida

TLS Global Servicing Leaders

Group Shot of the TLS Senior Leadership Team & Market Heads

This week I was in Florida planning and hosting a Global Market Head Summit for the Travel & Lifestyle Services (TLS) Division of American Express. I had 28 colleagues from across the globe come together to speak about best practices and leadership about the global servicing for TLS.

The 3 day summit was one of my first big projects I have taken on as Manager of Strategy & Business Planning aka Chief of Staff of the entire global organization AND the first time a global event like this had been held. In fact, many of the team had not met one another in person, which added to the impact and influence this event could bring. This conference was very high stakes and high pressure as it overlapped and followed the senior leadership team conference of my company - however I thrive in pressure and was up for the challenge!

Menu from our joint team dinner I planned at Shooters!

The Summit was a lot of work, but it was worth it and we managed to accomplish and learn a lot from one another. It was great to meet everyone and eye opening for the team to have a true global perspective in person.

While I can’t say what we discussed some global takeaways I would like to share for global teams:

  • Meeting in person vs online can really unite a team

  • What may work in one country may differ in another, keeping a global perspective is key

  • You are not alone, a challenge you have may be shared globally

After many late nights and hours, I am happy to say the event was a success! A 9.3/10 according to my survey, I’ll take it for my first global event! If anyone needs an event planner, let me know!

Sunset in Sunrise, Florida - Not a bad way to end my time in Florida!

Sunset in Sunrise, Florida - Not a bad way to end my time in Florida!