In this week’s spotlight is Trish Fontanilla, the Community Manager at Vsnap. Not only is Trish a returning mentor, she is actually mentoring two teams this year! She is mentoring a local Boston team from the Advanced Math and Science Academy, and another team from Valley Christian School and Dougherty Vally HS in San Jose, CA. Since last year, Trish has shown her dedication in many ways for example, when she organized a field trip in the fall to MassChallenge, a startup accelerator at the Boston waterfront, and where Vsnap is currently located.
TRISH’S INTERVIEW WITH US:
Tell us about your background. Where did you grow up? What was your school experience like? What did you study in college? Include anything else you’d like to share about your youth.
I grew up in a small town in New Jersey where I was a bit of an odd duck. My father was a chemist and an inventor, so like him, I was constantly coming up with different “inventions” or ways to approach things. Mostly to get myself out of trouble. My quirky sense of self and behavior didn’t make me the most popular girl in school, but by the time I was in 8th grade, I had honed my awkwardness and turned it into comedy. I even scored the title of Class Clown that year. I then went on to an all girls high school that my parents picked for me. My freshman year I was slightly rebellious, but when I realized they weren’t going to transfer me, I started to join clubs instead of complaining about them. By my senior year, I was president of my class. In 2002, I moved to Boston to attend Emerson College. I originally got in as a Media Studies major, but dropped it the first day of school. To get inspired, I joined the majority of the clubs on campus. I was a camerawoman for the nightly news, did stage crew for a theatre group, wrote for one of the literary magazines, led volunteer projects with the service club, was a DJ for the on-campus radio station, jumped in as an orientation leader, and much more. Class-wise, while I was figuring out what I wanted to do, I had an amazing advisor who made sure I was covering all my core requirements. Because of her, I completed most of my requirements by the end of my sophomore year. It was then that I settled on Writing Literature and Publishing as a major. And when I graduated in the fall of 2005, I also had minors in Psychology and Performance Studies.
What was it like studying writing in college? What did you like most about your classes?
It was pretty amazing. I took every writing class under the sun: magazine, sketch comedy, sitcom, playwrighting, poetry, fiction, and screenwriting. What I liked most is actually what I hated most: workshops. During most workshops, people got to comment on what you wrote and you weren’t allowed to say anything until the end. It was incredible. Excruciating, but incredible. It taught me to always put out my best work. It’s easier to defend when you know you’ve done your best. Also, no matter what you do or where you go, the ability to convey your message via text is invaluable. And on the flip side, being able to give constructive criticism is also an great quality to have.
How did you get your job now? What do you like the most about it? What do you do at work besides code?
It’s a bit of a crazy story. You can read the whole version here: https://bit.ly/sye5zv But the cliff’s notes are: In May of 2011, I was leaving Boston after 9 years because I was looking for a job I could be passionate about and I just hadn’t found it here. Mid-May I went to an amazing networking event so that I could say bye to friends and pick up some last minute freelancing work. My now boss saw me tweeting about it and we met up at the event. 2 days later and less than a half hour into our discussion he offered me a job as employee #2 at Vsnap. Turns out he had been talking to mutual friends and people within the community about my me/work. It took me a week to say yes. I was totally scared and had never worked at a startup full time, plus it would be just me and him to start. But helping to build a company has been exhilarating. Most days I wake up in the morning excited to go to work. And it’s been 2 years of that so far.
My title is community manager, which is generally creating content, managing all the social media channels, demoing at events, customer service, some PR/marketing, community building, and arguably being the face of the company. But being a startup, I’ve learned a lot about product, user interface, QA, reporting bugs, documenting features, and more. If I wasn’t at Vsnap, I may not be a mentor for Technovation, because a lot of community managers don’t have a chance to get as close to the product as I have.
What do you do outside of work?
My passions are volunteering, music, and community. I’m a volunteer leader for Boston Cares and have worked with about 50 non-profits in Boston since I moved here. I love music and go to shows when I can. Last year I did Ladies Rock Campaign, which throws a group of women together to create a band, learn instruments and perform the music they write all within a weekend. It’s a benefit for Girls Rock Campaign, which is a week long version of LRC, focusing on empowering girls, building confidence, and fostering collaboration. It’s like the musical version of Technovation. I also get involved with the startup community as much as possible. I think the key to being a great community manager, is being an awesome community member. I’ve also been on the events committee for Wonder Women of Boston and the Asian American Women in Leadership Conference.
You are mentoring two teams this year— one in Boston and one in SF. Can you tell us how this is going, what you are learning, and what you feel are the advantages of each?
Last year, I had the chance to meet with my team every week. While I loved seeing the girls and getting to know them, sometimes it took some time to focus. This year, mentoring both teams virtually has allowed us to focus and use our time together more efficiently. Although it does cut out some of the bonding time because of that focus. I think the perfect scenario would be a mixture of both in-person and virtual mentoring.
What do you know now that you wish you had known as a teenager?
It’s okay to have a non-linear life. I’m a first generation Filipino American. My parents came here in the ‘60s, but had relatively straightforward career paths. I thought that I would have it all figured out by the time I graduated college. I didn’t, and that’s okay. I love my current job, and I tap into different lessons and skills I learned in all the different jobs and industries I’ve worked in. I took a lot of risks and I wouldn’t have done it any other way.
If you could teach one “lesson” to all the girls participating in Technovation this year (something additional to the curriculum we currently have), what would it be? What do you feel is most important for girls to learn as they develop a high tech product?
Be passionate about what you’re working on. No matter how many competitors you may have, your team and the execution will differentiate you. People may be able to replicate your ideas or features, but they won’t be able to replicate the enthusiasm you can bring to the product or the community that will rally behind you because of it.
