Meaningful work is hard. It’s complex, it’s challenging, and finding it is not always a straightforward path.
When I left my role as VP of Trust and Safety Operations at Facebook in 2019, it was initially supposed to be a six month break to spend time with my family and consider what would come next. When COVID-19 hit, that six-month timeline went out the window. With more time to reflect and re-evaluate, I knew that the two things I wanted most from my next opportunity were people and purpose.
On the people side, I was eager to learn from and grow alongside talented, mission-driven individuals. When it came to purpose, I needed my next role to be at a company where my work mattered—where it would make an impact and improve people’s lives.
That’s why I’m thrilled to announce that I have joined Oyster as President.
People and purpose at Oyster
It’s an incredible time to be joining Oyster. In many ways, the last two years have accelerated a shift to and greater understanding of flexible, distributed, and remote working models.
The pandemic also challenged employers to reimagine how they could scale their businesses while navigating the shifting dynamic of what employees value from the workplace: flexibility, diversity, and trust.
I’m joining Oyster to help companies thrive by hiring talented individuals with diverse perspectives and skills. I’m also deeply committed to Oyster’s social mission—to create a more equal world by making it possible for companies everywhere to hire people anywhere. I believe strongly that when people no longer have to choose between where they work and where they live, they can access careers that provide financial stability, wellbeing, and more equal opportunity.
In two short years, Oyster has made a lot of progress toward this vision. Oyster has built a fully remote and diverse team, raised over $70M in funding, and expanded coverage to more than 130 countries.
I’ve enjoyed joining companies at a hyper growth stage. There tends to be an energy and camaraderie that comes with working alongside people solving complex problems together. I saw this first-hand during my 10+ years at Facebook, where I was responsible for managing the complexity of multiple platforms and balancing the interests of multiple stakeholders—from developers and community members to business partners and advertisers. I see similar challenges and opportunities at Oyster and am excited to dive back into that hyper growth mindset.
When I first met with our CEO, Tony Jamous and the team here at Oyster, I was impressed and energized by their candidness, transparency, and sincerity around the opportunities and growing pains ahead.
When it comes to people and purpose, Oyster resoundingly checks both of those boxes for me.
What’s next?
As we at Oyster further embark on our mission to create a more equal world, I hope my experience can help make a difference. I’ll be focused on integrating and scaling our product, engineering, operations, and legal functions. I’m also interested in how we can draw from our own global hiring growth and experience to empower other companies as they ensure employment compliance around the globe.
A new era of global employment has arrived and we have an opportunity to democratize global and remote hiring. As President here at Oyster, I’m excited and energized to help unlock this new phase of work.
About Oyster
Oyster is a global employment platform designed to enable visionary HR leaders to find, hire, pay, manage, develop and take care of a thriving global workforce. It lets growing companies give valued international team members the experience they deserve, without the usual headaches and expense.
Oyster enables hiring anywhere in the world with reliable, compliant payroll, and great local benefits and perks.