85. 3 Keys to Defining Your Career

What Rules!?: A career podcast for women of color

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. That's the motto that's taken Wendy Wu far—from Microsoft to Google, and now to software developer SailPoint, where she is the Chief Marketing Officer.

Wendy believes that “you have to be the owner of your own career,” and that means defining what you want outside of your current role. She tells us about the time she did just that at Microsoft when her position was eliminated and she had to create a new position for herself.

“Oftentimes a job description just tells you the status quo for today,” says Wendy, who grew up in China. “It doesn’t tell you what’s going to be next for you, so always extend yourself into other areas that may set you up for longer-term success.”

We chat about three keys to defining your career and Wendy encourages us to seek help along the way!

Theme: Know What You Want

Episode Highlights:

• Work life blend vs work life balance
• Always give your best effort at work and life
• Go beyond the job description
• Create your own opportunities
• Talk to others about their jobs
• Try out a role and pivoting as necessary
• Be aware of how you feel
• Volunteer to develop new skills
• Ask for help along the way

Wendy's Bio:

Wendy Wu brings over 20 years of experience in B2B enterprise marketing to her role at SailPoint as the company’s Chief Marketing Officer. At SailPoint, she’s focused on accelerating the company’s growth through modern, digital marketing, elevating SailPoint’s brand recognition, driving product adoption, and helping to deliver against the company’s business goals worldwide.

Prior to joining SailPoint, Wendy was Vice President of Marketing at Box, where she led the global demand generation team to fuel the growth of the business as a leading content cloud platform.

Before Box, Wendy spent eight years at Google Cloud. While there, she built the demand generation team for the Google Cloud Platform, eventually scaling the global marketing programs to support a multi-billion-dollar business.

Before Google, Wendy held various product marketing and marketing leadership roles at Microsoft and other global companies.

Wendy received her bachelor’s degree in English from Fudan University and her master’s degrees in Public Policy and Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.

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