Welcome to our new blog series, Sync with Symbians! Our team at Symba is growing and we would love for you to get to know us.
With each post, we’ll highlight a rockstar team member of the Symba team. You’ll learn a lot about the people who make Symba, their journey so far, what their day looks like in their role at Symba, and much more.
Meet Paula Mora, who works as a Chief Strategy & Operations Officer at Symba. Paula has been with Symba as a founding member since fall 2018 and leads the sales team while executing Symba’s overall growth strategy and operations. Outside of work, Paula loves cooking, yoga, and inline skating. Come, let’s learn more about Paula and her journey so far - professional and personal!
- What brought you to Symba and what’s been keeping you here?
Ever since undergrad, I have always been interested in the intersection of human capital and economic development. While working at the World Bank for 2 years, this interest grew into a passion and led me to explore entrepreneurship as a path to social impact. It was during my time at the World Bank that I met , Ahva Sadeghi, Symba’s CEO and Co-founder and immediately jumped on board to help Symba grow and move from an idea to a growth stage startup. The mission of Symba to #OpenUpTheWorkforce also resonated very heavily with me. As an immigrant, professional development opportunities like internships really paved the way for my career progression and professional growth. Without these opportunities, I wouldn't be where I am today.
- How would you describe Symba’s work culture?
Supportive and driven, our team is lean and we rely on each other to meet our goals and objectives. We are driven to accomplish our mission because we have a deep alignment with what we stand for and what we came together to achieve.
- What does a day in the life of Paula look like?
It sounds cliche but there is truly no day like the next. One day I’m leading the sales process from prospecting to demo-ing and within the same day I may be conducting interviews to grow our sales team or researching new technologies we can implement to make our processes more efficient. However, constant collaboration across our different team members is always a common theme.
I aim to create a routine around my work days to set me up for success. A typical day begins with a 6:30am Hot Yoga class and a green shake afterwards. After work I try to stay consistent with my end-of day wrapup, cooking dinner and enjoying some quality time with my partner and our dog Waffle <3
- Proudest moment at Symba?
So many proud moments with our badass team! One of my proudest moments was giving H.M. King Felipe VI of Spain an in-person demo of our platform all in Spanish along with Ahva! It was an unforgettable moment where I even managed to make the king laugh.
- How’s it like to be a ‘remote worker’ at Symba?
Our team strives to create a culture of support and values everyone’s personal time. As a remote worker at Symba, you feel the effort and energy that everyone in our team brings in order to create a common unified team experience. Even though we may only see each other on screen, we’ve developed activities like ‘Wednesday Wellness’ where we do a wellness activity together once a week and other engaging community building activities, to keep everyone connected and enjoying the work they do.
- What’s your personal mantra and why is it important?
“Siempre para delante” which means Always Move Forward. These were the last words my grandma said to me before she passed away. And these are words that drive my everyday actions to always move past difficulties and find beauty in uncertainty.
- Any advice for future Symbians?
Your Symbian experience is yours to own and ours to help launch. There is so much support and a family-approach in all we do. We are the sum of our parts and can’t wait to welcome you to our Symba fam.
Now for more fun stuff!
- Favorite book: Amor en los tiempos de Cólera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Favorite TV show: The Office
- Favorite cuisine: Mexican and Middle Eastern (can’t choose one)
- Favorite vacation spot: Tokyo, Japan
- Favorite cause: The DREAMers movement
