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Meet Mara Siverson, our latest team member to be featured in RedCloud’s "10 Minutes with" interview series where we get to know our team of experts, their professional and personal interests. Mara's role involves a blend of business strategy design, execution planning, and operational program management, focusing on supporting a Director in the Microsoft Global Partner Solutions organization. With four years of experience supporting her client, Mara brings valuable insights and a unique perspective to our team. Outside of work, Mara enjoys exploring new interests, advocating for work-life balance, and finding relaxation in surprising ways. Stay tuned below to learn more about Mara and her journey!
Describe your role and what you do in a nutshell.
My client is a Director in the Microsoft Global Partner Solutions organization, focused on partner strategy & execution. My role is a blend of business strategy design, execution planning, and all the operational program management required to keep things running smoothly. While the nature of my job requires that I wear many different hats, I really enjoy working in Microsoft's partner business, whether it be diving into data or refining go-to-market and landing strategy with the team. I've been supporting this same client for the past four plus years, and it's been amazing getting to be a part of the evolution of her business remit over the years.
How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance in your role?
Though working remotely can make the separation of work life & home life difficult, I'm fortunate to have a dedicated home office, and I find shutting the door when I log off for the day is a great way to employ the "out of sight, out of mind" mentality to help drive this separation. I'm also a big fan of making lists, so I've gotten in the habit of when I think of something work-related when I'm not "on the clock," I just type it in a quick note in my phone so that I can purge it from my head and revisit it when I'm working. Admittedly, this is an area I still need to do better in, but these little tricks help quite a bit!
Tell us about something interesting you've learned recently.
I recently learned about the Swiss Water Process, which is a method used in the specialty coffee industry to decaffeinate coffee beans using only water! The process removes 99.9% of caffeine from green coffee beans, which are then dried & bagged before being roasted, allowing the coffee to retain the unique flavor profile of the origin of the beans. I assumed all decaf was achieved by adding a bunch of chemicals, so this was definitely surprising info! (My husband leads B2B wholesale sales at Caffe Ladro Roasting, and he's always sharing really interesting facts about coffee.)
If you could suggest a book for the entire RedCloud team to read, what would it be and why?
The Cure for Burnout by Emily Ballesteros is absolutely a must read for anyone struggling with work-life balance or experiencing feelings of overwhelm when thinking about work (and I'm not just saying this because the author was a good friend of mine in college!!) In the book, Emily explores how to build healthy habits to avoid burnout and how to manage one's own personal & professional boundaries. The content is relatable, and she strikes a good balance between being a book on self-help versus business-focused. If reading isn't your thing, the book is also available as an audiobook!
What's a piece of obsolete technology you still have a soft spot for?
I really miss when cell phones had physical keyboards. I enjoyed the tactile feeling of texting with real buttons – long live the BlackBerry!
What's one thing people don't know about you that they would be surprised to discover?
While it's no secret that I'm a big baseball fan (go Mariners!), something that usually surprises people is when I tell them that I also collect baseball cards. I'd guess that I have around 50k cards spanning from the 1970s to modern day. One of my favorite things is when I can find bulk card lots off Marketplace and then sort them by year and team. I'm not sure why, but I find it extremely relaxing!
What are you passionate about or enjoy outside of work?
When I'm not working, you can usually find my husband, myself, and our two blue heelers outside doing anything we can to enjoy the fresh air: camping, hiking, fishing, skiing, sitting at the nearest brewery, you name it! Both my husband and I grew up in Washington, and getting to introduce our dogs to all of the activities we enjoy has been such a fun experience.
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