Today, we dive deep into the journey of being unstoppable, featuring the dynamic Alex Love, VP of Marketing and Communications at Riva Solutions. As a new mom who took on this significant leadership role just weeks before her daughter was born, Alex shares her unique experiences of balancing motherhood and a thriving career. We discuss the importance of having a supportive work culture, especially during life’s major transitions. Alex emphasizes how empathy and open communication are vital in the workplace, particularly for those navigating parenthood alongside their professional responsibilities. Tune in for insights on leadership, resilience, and the beauty of raising strong individuals while striving for success in your career.

Today, we dive into the inspiring journey of Alex Love, a VP of Marketing and Communications at Riva Solutions, who has mastered the art of being unstoppable while juggling her new role and motherhood. She shares her experience of stepping into a leadership position just weeks before welcoming her daughter, illustrating how she balances career ambitions with the demands of parenthood. Alex emphasizes the importance of supportive workplace culture and the need for open communication, especially when managing the challenges of being a working mom. Our conversation touches on how empathy has deepened her leadership style and the significance of fostering a strong team dynamic where everyone lifts each other up. Join us as we explore how to thrive in both personal and professional realms, and discover some valuable lessons on resilience and adaptability along the way!

Takeaways:

• Alex Love shares her journey of balancing a demanding career as a VP while being a new mom.
• The importance of a supportive workplace culture is highlighted as essential for growth and success.
• Empathy in leadership has become more pronounced for Alex since becoming a mother, influencing her approach to team dynamics.
• Identifying gaps in the workplace and stepping up to fill them can pave the way for career advancement.
• Communication and trust within a team are crucial for navigating both personal and professional challenges effectively.
• Alex emphasizes that motherhood has taught her to appreciate the complexities of balancing work and life responsibilities.

Jaclyn Strominger hosts an engaging conversation with Alex Love, a multifaceted professional and VP of Marketing and Communications at Riva Solutions, who shares her journey of becoming a new mom while stepping into a leadership role. Alex discusses the whirlwind of emotions that came with taking on the VP position just before the birth of her daughter, highlighting the unique challenges of balancing a high-pressure job with the demands of motherhood. She candidly addresses the steep learning curve of parenting, especially during the 'toddler phase', and reflects on how both experiences shaped her into a more resilient and empathetic leader.

Throughout the episode, Alex underscores the significance of having a supportive work environment that values flexibility and understanding, especially during major life transitions. She elaborates on her leadership team’s commitment to her growth, which enabled her to navigate the complexities of her new role alongside her responsibilities as a mother. By sharing her story, Alex offers listeners a glimpse into the realities many working parents face and how the right support can empower them to thrive in both areas of their lives.

The discussion also touches upon the importance of building a community among parents and how sharing experiences can alleviate the feelings of isolation that often accompany new parenthood. Alex encourages open communication within her team, fostering an atmosphere where personal challenges can be discussed without fear of judgment. Her insights provide valuable takeaways for anyone looking to balance career aspirations with family life, proving that with the right mindset and support, it is indeed possible to be unstoppable.

Takeaways:

• Balancing motherhood and a VP role requires support, understanding, and a flexible work culture.
• Empathy is magnified after becoming a parent, especially in a leadership position.
• Open communication and trust are vital in both family and work settings to navigate challenges.
• Career growth can happen when you identify gaps and proactively seek opportunities within your organization.
• Building a supportive team allows for shared growth and reduces the burden of leadership.
• Strong leadership fosters an environment where personal priorities and work responsibilities coexist harmoniously.

Links referenced in this episode:

• failingpod.com
• linkedin.com/in/alexlove

Well, hello, everybody, and welcome to our amazing podcast. And today, I actually should also introduce myself.

I am your host, Jaclyn Strominger , and today I have the absolute pleasure of introducing to you Alex Love. Let me tell you a little bit about Alex.

So Alex is a dynamic and multifaceted professional, and she is currently serving as the VP of Marketing and communications at Riva Solutions, which is. We'll talk a little bit about what she's doing there. But she brings a wealth of expertise and unique perspective to the table.

She's also a new mom, and she has her own podcast, which is Mastering the Art of Failing. So Alex's journey is marked by versatility, and she understands how to make a big impact with limited resources.

So, Alex, let's talk about being unstoppable.

Do it.

So welcome to the show. So, okay, so seriously, new mom balancing career leadership roles. How are you being unstoppable?

You know what? Some days it feels like I am stoppable, but, yeah, you know, stepping into.

So my daughter is just about 17 months old, so we're, you know, well past newborn.

We're now in the let's figure out toddler phase, and big feelings and big opinions, as I definitely see my personality mirrored back in this time, which, you know, was the phase I knew was coming, but just welcoming it with open arms. But, yeah, I took the VP role four weeks before my daughter was born.

So it was one of those things where it was two huge life shifts happening all simultaneously with big expectations on both sides of the house for things that I'd never done before.

So I was very, very thankful for the supportive culture that I had from my leadership team, you know, who not only followed through with the promises for promotions, even knowing, you know, impending maternity leave and things were changing on my world, but gave me the grace to sort of figure that out, because when you welcome a child to the world, you're a whole new person.

So I came back with new priorities, new limitations, you know, healing while you're trying to balance, you know, low sleep, just low everything with this tiny creature that you now have, like, full responsibility for. You know, you don't get a lot of training on it. They're just like, here she is.

Right, Right. I mean, you know, with all the books that are out there on momhood, there really is not a book about how.

Because it's so personal, like, on how to deal with, you know, sleep deprivation. Because everybody deals with that differently.

Everybody deals with being a mom differently and all those responsibilities and how, you know, not to throw in your partner, but like your, your partner really in this case, like, or maybe you're a single mom. Right. Depending upon what your role is. Really is so individual.

Yeah. And it's good to have friends who are like in different phases of momhood too.

So, you know, we started our family, so I'm previously married, remarried, so you know, my husband and met in our 30s. So we started our family a little bit later than some of my friends who had marriages and children sort of in their 20s.

But it's always fun to have those people that you can point back to and say like, is this normal? Is this real? Is this what we're really doing? How are you dealing with it?

And I've loved being able to pay it forward for some of my friends who are a couple months or maybe a year behind me in sort of motherhood that are like in the trenches of having a 4 month old, 5 month old and being able to pass down that wisdom.

To say like, this is hard because you're putting your whole heart into it and you care and if you didn't, then, you know, you'd be kind of breezing through this. But because you're giving it your all, not only in your career but also to your family, like you're very, you're stretched very thin.

But I like, is a phase that everything is temporary, that the newborn stage, eventually they start sleeping, you know, eventually you get to a different milestone. You know, now, now my daughter is walking, running, you know, throwing things.

We're dealing with new challeng but it's really fun to see her evolve and to see myself evolve too as we're dealing with new challenges and trying to figure out again, my concern when I found out I was having a girl was how do I actually parent a mini version of myself? Because I know I have a strong personality, lots of opinions and I know that's going to be served right back to me.

And I'm absolutely loving raising strong women, but it's a lot.

It is a lot.

So something that you said, I, I, I actually really kind of want to touch on because you, you have, you entered into momhood, you know, as you said, you just took on a new role as, as VP and, and your, you know, the team at Reva obviously supported obviously your role like the, the pregnancy obviously, and have becoming a new mom and giving you the promotion.

So I'm really curious as to, you know, the strength of the leadership and how that has made such a great impact for you because I think that's really Important to help us be unstoppable. You know, again, as you said, even as a mom, even as a new mom, having that surrounding. But the corporate, the corporate family.

Yeah, it would definitely not have been possible without the support.

You know, I have the privilege of working directly for our CEO and I've been at the company now for five years and started in a director role and sort of, you know, continue to add on things to my purview, different departments, overseeing a lot of things, and now sort of sitting a little bit more on the strategy side of the house in terms of what's the vision for the company, how are we going to continue to grow, how do we pivot, change cultures on side of my, you know, daily operations, management, managing the marketing communications team. But thankfully, everyone around me is also parents too.

And so while the senior execs, you know, are a little bit, have older children that are in high school, approaching college, they've been in the trenches.

And as entrepreneurs who started their business at the same time when they were welcoming and expanding their family, you know, they had that experience that, you know, they've gone through it.

Maybe they're, you know, a little bit further reserved, but it's still in your mind when you're like, oh, yeah, I remember those nights trying to build a company, a business, and also sort of managing, you know, my growing family too. So it was just, it was really. I had a moment actually when, you know, I was.

We were in Miami for a leadership off site and I had already told the team I was pregnant. So everyone had known for about a month or so.

And the VP conversation had been something that we'd been talking about for a while and the timeline was there, but I was really kind of nervous to sort of bring that back up because it was, it was a handshake conversation. It wasn't anything that I had documentation for. This was just the path that we were working towards, an agreement.

And so many women get sidelined because they make these announcements and, you know, you could be the top of your game.

You step out for a couple weeks, months, what, whatever, for your maternity leave and come back and your role is gone or your something has shifted or, you know, because your priority has changed. Someone in the company thinks that you're no longer the loyal employee because now you have children to take care of.

So, you know, I was very cautious, even with good relationships when I sort of made that announcement. And of course, everyone was happy for you.

But in the back of my mind, you know, for a while I had that in my brain, is this gonna still work out for me? You know, and doing the best I can being pregnant, trying to manage all of this.

But we had a moment when, you know, after sort of the, with the, of strategic planning went through, we were standing at happy hour, you know, having dinner, and the CEO came up to me and he said, are you excited to be vp? And it just gave me this like warm feeling where I'm like, I didn't bring it up. He brought it up.

We're still months away from both of these things happening, but his perception of this hasn't changed.

And it was so soothing to me to be able to know, like, they accept, they understand that this is where I am in life, that I'm going to do my best to succeed on both sides of the house. But my priorities are going to change significantly with the welcoming of my daughter.

But it just gave me such a good feeling about, wow, I am in the right place. Because I have been in some of those cultures where you don't have that you don't have to buy in from the CEO.

And especially sitting formally in a marketing role, you really do have to have that good relationship and buy into the vision and the culture because that's ultimately my job is, is to market it right. But. And I've left, I've left roles because I didn't have that connection and I didn't have that buy in.

So it's just a really nice moment where I was like, oh, I am in the right place. And this is a, this is a long term thing for me that.

Okay, so I just absolutely, absolutely love that. Okay, so so many great things. And I almost like have goose.

Well, I do have goosebumps from what you said because I think it's so important that, you know, we, I can talk to him blue in the face to talk about vision and mission and buying into that.

And if you're, if you haven't bought into it, if you're the leader and the people on your team haven't bought into it, you know, that's not the right fit. And, and so it's so important that I think, you know, listeners as you hear, you know what Alex just said, she bought into it. She knew that.

But so did the leader, the CEO of the company know that? But I want to go back to the before this conversation happened. Okay. And that is somebody in this role before?

No.

And so I'm curious as to how did this conversation even start with you becoming the VP of marketing and Communications? Because this is a It's a huge. I, I think this is so important because it's a, as, as you said, you've had this conversation with a path.

So I'd like to hear about that.

Yeah, absolutely. So I joined the company in a director function.

They had a loose department, if you will, and they didn't really have anyone sort of in the management or the leadership for it.

They had an associate who was sort of helping with things and they certainly had a presence and had started to put pieces together, but they never had anybody formally building up this department. So you know, at the time the company was in the small business program, but they were on a trajectory to graduate the program early.

So in the government contracting space we have certain protected business classes that help you get contracts with the government. So they're part of the eight, A small business, small disadvantaged business program. But there are size restrictions to that.

And that was conversations that they were having literally the first day I walked in about, you know, how do we set the company up for success once we exit this program?

Because there is a pretty big void in the government contracting industry for companies who exit this small business program and then are able to succeed, you know, because you no longer have these protected classes or contracts that you're eligible for. So you're immediate immediately competing against Gdit, Lockheed Martin, these massive billion dollar companies.

So there's this void of companies in the middle of these 80, 100, you know, 300 million dollar companies, they just don't exist. So it's very, very difficult to be successful in that phase because you just lose all of the cushions and all of your on ramp. Right.

They were having these conversations about, you know, how do we beat the, the, the cliff essentially is what we call it. How do we beat this cliff? How are you one of like the 2% of companies that are successful at the end of this program?

So investing in the culture, investing in marketing, communications was one of the things that thankfully the CEO, you know, was buying into and said now is the time for us to formalize what works in the 8A small business class, sort of a jack of all trades, you know, we'll do anything. Doesn't work in this mid sized market because you have to know who your customers are.

You have to have real products, real services and be able to attack those opportunities with laser precision to be able to continue to get bigger and bigger contracts. So he had the forethought to bring on and say, it's time to formalize this department. We need to bring somebody in.

So he is somebody that I had met in the industry years before.

I was looking for a new opportunity because I had hit that threshold at my current role where I no longer bought into the vision of where the CEO was trying to take the company. And I needed the opportunity to bow out and say, I can't come on this journey with you. I don't, I'm not, you know, I'm not in alignment.

I think I did one virtual interview I had, you know, that was it.

I got this job offer and I said to my husband, now at the time I was like, you know, this feels really risky normally, but in a Covid environment, if this doesn't work out, I don't think anyone's going to judge me for making a jump. Right. You know, you just don't know. One virtual interview. And I said yes, right.

Like it's either a great opportunity or it's a terrible one and I'll have the opportunity to reset if this doesn't work out. And so five years later, I'm still here and still good, good opportunity.

But in terms of the growth trajectory, to your point, there was no one formally in this role.

So even though I came in as a director, I was doing a lot of the functions that you would see at that higher level strategy, because there was no one there a long time to be able to build up the relationships and, you know, be able to move the needle in some of these areas. Because we were maturing so fast as a company, we're growing very fast.

You know, our, our clients are changing, our customers are changing, our employee base is changing.

All while we're trying to figure out like, who are we and what do we do and what are we really good at so that we can narrow down our focus to be successful in this mid sized market which we knew was coming. So my background outside of marketing, I've come in and out of marketing before.

You know, I have an mba, I was a consultant right before I joined Riva. And so I've got, you know, client experience, I did a lot of strategic planning, a lot of change management, communications, things like that.

So I, I enjoy that side of the house in terms of Growing businesses too.

So I think it was easier for me to sort of build my pathway from just managing marketing by able to identify gaps that were in the company and then helping to solve them. So one of the first things that came under my purview was internal communications.

At the time, the HR department had like a massive turnover and basically everyone left. And so that left us in a drudge where we had some events coming up. We had a lot of employees who are on contract site.

So they just need a lot of touch points back to the corporate office because we're not all in the office working together. They're very native to their client site.

So having been in that position myself, you know, working for a large contractor, understanding what their point of view was, that was an area where I've done event planning, I've done communications. I can help you with this.

So, you know, figuring out like, let's put it under, let's build a strategy for it, let's put some thought behind how we want to do this and build our culture. Because when I go out to ask for marketing things, I'm asking for favors.

So the more that I can bring people into the fold and bring and change our culture, the easier my marketing job is. If we have happy employees, we have happy clients. So, right.

The way that I tied it together was, you know, maybe we put this function under us as well.

And so just over the years, I've been able to identify some of these gaps for the company or sort of track on trends or say, hey, this is what I'm hearing from the field being to take that and turn that into some solutions, not just problem identification. I think a lot of people get stuck there, right. So you have to be able to identify and then execute on those solutions.

And so that's kind of how I started to build the ladder for myself. And honestly, there's a couple times where I just showed up to meetings, you know, because I have a background in strategic planning for clients.

When I saw an opportunity that there was to help the company start to do that, that gave me access to, to a lot of meetings and a lot of information that I wouldn't traditionally have just sitting in that marketing role. So finding ways to be very helpful outside of my regular role, identify gaps, help to build that strategy.

And with each year that has been more and more sort of my focus area is the larger vision and strategic, you know, position for the company, which empowers marketing, is all a piece of it, but has again allowed me to kind of go from a Director, day to day manager, up into these leadership options.

So I love that.

I mean, obviously at the end of the day, you know, you identified the gaps and find found ways for you to actually interject and be helpful, not to take over, but to be hopeful. And I think that's so important. So something that I, but I, that I want to share is that, I mean, obviously you're doing this.

So did you approach the CEO first about the path to VP or like, how did that conversation even start bubbling up?

Yeah, it was probably a mix of both. But knowing myself is probably something I asked for.

And I know that is not always common, that people are feel comfortable advocating for themselves, but because it is so easy for me to point back and say, hey, this is what I came in formally to do and these are all the things that we've since added and here are the results that we've achieved. How do we close that gap? What is the next step for me? You know, my ambition has always been to come up to the C suite.

So what are those steps that I need to take to put myself at that next level? What am I not doing today that you would expect to see a senior director do or a VP do or you know, now on the treasury for senior Vice president.

And so it's always working about six months ahead where you think you need to be. But people will tell you, you just have to ask the question.

And I think to your point about, you know, trying to find ways to be helpful, my job is always easier when everyone else's job is easier. And I think that's true of me being a manager for my direct reports, but also those individuals around me.

So just being able to be a utility player, helping people think through some of these problems that they might be, might be hitting because they're stuck in their daily routine, it's always helpful to have an outside source come in and say, hey, let me help you think through that. Because ultimately we're all trying to build the company together. And I'm not here to take credit, I'm not here to take your job.

I'm just here to make your life a little bit easier. Easier because again, at the end of the day, I have to market this company. That is my core function here. I have to market it.

I have to recruit new people, new partners. And so if all of the wheels are turning together and we have happy customers, happy employees, that makes my job just so much easier.

I really love that.

I mean, basically it's again, key thing that you just said too and listeners, I think it's really important is letting your ambition and your personal vision be known and vice versa.

Like as a, as a leader, you know, you need to make sure that you also know the people in your, that are on your team, what their vision happens to be so that you can help them bubble up, you know, and if, because if they might, if they are the person who is not speaking or doesn't feel comfortable, help them get comfortable with that. That is so important. So as a leader at the team, you know, at the team, like, how are you using these skills to help your team?

Yeah.

So basically everyone on my team is a new position because as my team continues to grow and the purview continues to grow, we need to bring more individuals in to be able to handle some of these things.

And even as my role sort of changes in terms of, of focusing more on enterprise strategy and overall projects versus day to day marketing, that frees up an opportunity for me to find someone to take my job. So essentially that's how I've been building the ladder is every rung that I take.

My goal is to bring my team up with me and find opportunities to give them as much visibility as possible.

Have them be in places where they can be successful, to take their credit for some of these projects and make sure they're in front of the stakeholders that matter. I never want to be the singular point of failure. I don't want everyone to have to come through me.

I want everyone to be able to build relationships with the individuals that matter at the company so that every single person on my team can be a point of contact for someone and we can come together and figure out how to do this. But you know, I am not the top of the pyramid. My job is to make everyone's job easier.

And so I have, I try to have very thoughtful conversations at least quarterly, outside of the hey, what are you working on? What's the status on this about? You know, what's your vision? Where do you see yourself? How do I put you in positions that make you more successful?

What about my job? Do you want to learn? Are there opportunities for you to proxy or be in this meeting? For me, my calendar is atrocious.

The less meetings I have to attend, the better. So find opportunities for my team to represent me the department so they get that facetime, they can build those relationships on their own.

I absolutely love that solicitors. I mean, this is so quintessential.

I mean, I feel like I share this all the time and it's something Something that Alex said is, you know, for each rung that you go up in the ladder to bring your team with you, because eventually, if you can bring people to replace you, that's what we want. Not that.

Not that we want someone to take your job, but if you're going to move up, the only way that you can move up is to put somebody else in that place to fill that. To fill that next. That spot. So it's really, really important. And getting to know people, it's really, really key.

You know, Alex, what you're doing is, is as a leader and being part of this company is really quite amazing. I'd love for you to share a little bit, though.

You know, there's empathy that has to come with it and, and not to just bring it back to being that new mom. But, like, how does that empathy, now that you also have, now that you're a mom, it's been, you know, 17 months old. Right. How has that changed?

Or has it changed how your. How you. I guess I could say empathize with people on your team?

Yeah, it. It definitely has made me softer. And I was joking. You came back a lot softer.

And I was like, well, that's kind of what happens when you have, you know, a baby. But I think I always had empathy.

But it's definitely magnified now because I don't think individuals without children fully understand the mental load and just sort of the expectations that exist with just keeping other people, like, going and alive in certain cases. And we'd always had the flexibility, like I said, you know, during COVID the company decided to remain fully remote.

So we do have an office that will go in for meetings and other things like that. But we have a lot of flexibility built into our company, which comes with a lot of trust, and it works for our company quite well.

So a lot of us are able to be so successful, both personally and professionally because we have such an integrated work life flex. And so, you know, someone needs to go to a doctor's appointment or, you know, has something for their children.

Like, my expectation is your family comes first. As long as you're getting the work done, I don't care at what hour you do it. It just needs to get done.

But those are just things that you need to communicate that, hey, if I'm going to be offline for a certain amount of time, I just need to know that. So I'm not like, chatting you wondering where you are, Right? Yeah. The crazy thing was she's no longer. She's since moved on for another opportunity.

But at the time when I was going, you know, through my pregnancy and then, you know, my maternity leave, the deputy who I left in charge was in a similar place in her life, and her and her husband were also thinking about extending their family. So, you know, having been a little bit ahead of her, I said, man, your first trimester is really, really rough.

If you could do anything, just promise me that when I'm on maternity leave that you don't get pregnant. Because it's like there are days where I would wake up and just like. Like, stare at the wall for an hour. Because you're just. You're so tired.

You're just insanely tired.

And I was like, I know even writing you the best of plans for the weeks that I'm gone, you know, there's going to be a lot more expectations on you, a lot more eyes on you, and this is an opportunity for you to shine, because I'm no longer there. Like, this is your department for the next eight weeks. So I said, whatever you do, if possible, just try not to get pregnant while I'm out.

Of course, she got pregnant while I was out, because that's the way that the universe works.

But I think being able to go through something like that myself and then be able to immediately turn around and sort of give that gift and grace back to someone on my team who is going through something exactly the same eight months later. And, you know, everyone on my team at this, at that point was a mom or, you know, expecting mom.

So I just think we've had to learn to work around the schedules and work around the ebbs and flows of what life looks like, because you can have the best intentions for the week. And then ultimately, my daughter will get sick, and it just is what it is, right? Yes. So work will always be there.

I think, you know, if you've got high performers, people who will want to learn, are a good culture fit. You just have to build that trust with your team that everyone has each other's backs.

If there's truly something you can't get to today because you have another priority, just communicate with it and make sure that, you know, everyone can. We can continue to move the ball, we can move priorities, we can change things around because you're. You're a whole human. You don't just work.

You're not just a mom. You're both at the same time. And so we have to treat people that way.

Yeah, that's so true. And I love what you just said. It's so important. Trusting communication is absolutely, absolutely important. So, Alex, I could talk to you forever.

I think what you are doing is great. I love what you're sharing. So tell our listeners how they can connect with you and get more of your wisdom.

Yeah, absolutely. So you can find me on LinkedIn. Alex Stevens, love if you like pit bulls and powerlifting. My Instagram is probably for you.

So not a professional account, definitely my personal life. But you can also catch up with me on my podcast, which is failing pod.com.

That'S awesome. Well, I will have. We will have links to those in the show notes. So, Alex, I so appreciate you being a guest and listeners.

I'm sure you've gotten some great tips and wisdom out of this.

So please do me the amount, the best favor of which is to hit subscribe and also to share it with your friends and colleagues because I am sure that they will get some great wisdom out of this as well. So I'm Jacqueline Strominger, your host and thank you all for listening and thank you, Alex, for being an amazing guest.

Thank you so much for having me.