Perfect. Let's go ahead and start. Um Yeah, welcome everyone to Yelp's meet and greet session. Uh My name is Marine and I am on the tech tile events and partnerships team here at Yelp. We're on internal and external events for engineering and product.And currently I'm tuning in from Toronto, Canada. So let us know where you're tuning in from today. I'm here with my fellow helpers to meet and chat with you all. So if you have any questions, please put them in the chat box or unmute yourselves if you like and we'll try to answer your questions live.

Hi,

Natasha from New York.

Welcome.

Welcome. Let's get into it. So I'll ask all our three speakers for today um for them to introduce yourselves and what you do at Yelp, I guess. Let's start with elite.

Sure, thanks Maureen. Um My name is Elise. Welcome to our wonderful meet and greet session. Um I am a uh group product manager on um our ads product team. Um We are a relatively lean but mighty uh group of product managers. I am um currently based out in London. Um And um what else is interesting? Um I started, I started out um at Yelp in the San Francisco office um and moved to London around six months ago. Um But in total, I've been at Yelp for a little over four years now, I'll pass it on over to Catherine.

Thanks. Thanks, Elise. Uh Hi, everyone. My name is Catherine. Thank you so much for joining us today. I am a design manager at Yelp. I'm located in Ottawa Canada. I've been with Yelp for about a year and a half. Now I joined early last year and I lead a team of user experience designers and we're working on solutions for pros in services businesses. So you might know about Yelp. Lots of people think about Yelp as a restaurant business. You can go and find great reviews on Yelp. Um and restaurant owners can also manage their profiles on Yelp, but we also do help a lot of other businesses in our local communities. And so that includes services businesses. So you could think of um you know, roofers or uh mechanics or plumbers or even hairdressers in your community. So we're trying to create uh new solutions for those service pros to help them connect with different consumers that might be in their local area. I will pass it over to Supriya.

All right. Hello everybody. My name is Supriya. Um I'm a software engineer with the billing infrastructure team at Yelp. So a little bit about my team. So uh every all the revenue that comes to Yelp actually goes through our system and we generate invoices and the uh invoices for our customers. I'm also the tech lead for the billing infrastructure team and as a tech lead, I'm responsible for planning the road map and making sure it's successful. Uh I have been with Yelp for more than four years. Uh Yeah, and it has been a fun journey.

Awesome. Thank you all for sharing my dear Yelp. Well, um one question that I wanted to ask and obviously our audience is probably curious about how did you end up at Yelp? And in the role that you're currently in, um we'll pass it back to you at least.

Yeah. Um Great question. So, um as I mentioned, I've been at Yelp for over four years now. Um And how I ended up in my role is a little different from how I ended up at Yelp because I actually started out at Yelp. Um not in a product role. So when I first started out at Yelp, um I joined the uh business operations and strategy team. So my road to product um is actually a um I want to say atypical, but um I think the reality is that most people um kind of have also a secu a circuitous route into product management. Um And so um the way that I ended up at Yelp was I was initially um a management consultant and I wanted to um be deeper and get um hands on in a tech company. I was looking for a company that was um all about uh building community and I was looking for a role that was very uh data driven. So that was kind of what initially brought me to Yelp. And I think throughout my time here, um getting to know the business a lot more intimately getting to know the people in the business and um also having a background in economics myself, getting more technical as I was at Yelp, um eventually led me to um the product management role um and specifically in the ads world, um which is more of a um like system side of product management rather than um like a feature side of product management.

So what that means is for my day to day, I am not as lucky to get to work with Catherine or product designers as much as some of my um other um product management uh peers would. Uh but I do work very closely with um data science and uh machine learning teams and applied scientists uh to kind of figure out how um best to uh design our um a delivery systems and algorithms in order to make the ad product work. Um So that was kind of a, you know, winding road for how I got here. But um hopefully that gives um a bit of an intro.

Thanks Elise. That's quite a journey. Um Yeah. And how about you, Catherine? How did you end up at Yelp and your current role

similar to Elise? It was definitely a winding road that brought me here. I have a background in industrial design, which is physical product design. Uh But I started to get really into um digital design and U I design early on in my career, starting with some high tech companies. Um I had worked previously on enterprise software as well and um I was really interested in learning more about users. So one of my favorite parts of the design process was being able to talk to customers and consumers and learn about where either um they have different needs or where they might be struggling either just in their daily jobs or with the software that they were using. So that sort of evolved my career to be uh very central around UX. Um I also love leading teams. I love mentoring and coaching, especially just designers um and helping them grow their careers so that naturally evolved into a management role. Um And I had been in manager roles where I was covering a wide area of a product. And so I had a lot of design reports and when I joined Yelp, I was really drawn to the fact that uh we're working in really close collaboration teams, even myself as a manager, I still have the opportunity to do a lot of hands on work.

So I get to talk to a lot of our users and consumers. I get to do research, I get to um participate in the old design process with my whole design team. So it gives me a lot of great satisfaction to be able to do that in my career right now. Um And I was also really drawn to Yelp just because of the consumers that we get to work with. So um helping local communities and also helping uh local business owners, especially during this time when um with COVID, a lot of small businesses were struggling and looking for other ways that they can um thrive in their current business or starting new businesses. So that really also brought me to Yelp and really um make sure I have a lot of job satisfaction day to day in, in order to help them.

That's great to hear Catherine. Um I hope that answered Simone question on the chat box. Um But I'll pass it on to Soria let us know how you end up at Yelp. And uh what in your role that you're currently in?

Sure. Um So I'll start with how I came to the US. Um I came to the US for my master's degree. Um And when I graduated, I joined Sonar uh at which was my first company. Uh I was looking for a switch because I wanted to move to Bay Area for. So that was the one of the most primary reasons for me to apply to Yelp. Uh But when I interviewed at Yelp, I felt like, really welcomed. I immediately knew that this was a culture fit for me. I found the work exciting and that, and that's when I knew like I'm going to join this company. Um And here I am and I'm really uh I'm, I'm really happy with my decision actually. Um So regarding my current role, uh as an engineer as a software engineer, generally, people have three paths that they can choose from. Uh They, it's a product manager role, they can go for an engineering manager role, a tech lead role, like if they want to move forward into a, into a different role. So for me, I was very clear from the beginning that I wanted to be a tech lead because I wanted to stay uh as technical as possible, uh At least for the next few years of my career.

So when I knew that uh when I uh so I decided to talk to my manager regarding that. Um And let him know like, hey, this is something that I'm looking for. Um And he's later on when he saw an opportunity for me, he started paving the path for me and that helped me grow in that direction. Uh So what I learned from that is that the key is to be always vocal about what you want to be in your career with your manager, with your peers. Um And I think that helped me, like, get into the role that I wanted to be in.

Thank you, Soria. I think that is super important and obviously talking from you all from different teams and different roles. How would you describe Yelp culture and what's your favorite part about it? I'll start with the

Yeah. Um I think Cyria touched on this a bit. Um But, you know, I think the um friendliness is definitely one of the like constant traits um that I see from people and also how I would describe like a lot of um my interactions with folks at Yelp. Um I think um on top of that, I think it's um it's, it's extremely friendly people but very collaborative. And um i it's no exaggeration to say that the smartest people I've ever met I met at Yelp. Um And so I think, I think being able to um be definitely not the most knowledgeable and not the smartest person in the room and not the most like traditionally authoritative person in the room sometimes and still feeling welcome in that space. Um I think is probably um how I describe Yelp culture to, you know, most folks anyone interviewing like anyone who asked me and I think it's, it's, it's a big part of the reason why um you know, I've, I've stuck around for as long as that I have. And also, you know, I'm currently in London, started out in the San Francisco Office, you know, been, been able to and fortunate enough um to have like different types of like Yelp experiences as well. So that's, that's probably how I would describe the culture.

Thank you for that, Elise. I'll definitely second that. But how about you, Catherine? How would you describe Yelp's culture? And what's your favorite part about it?

If I, if I could sum it up in one word, it would be communities like Elise was saying that um everyone's very friendly. Um just like, and you feel like you've joined that local community when you start everything from the onboarding process where um there are so many people jumping in to help a lot of programs being developed. Um We're doing onboarding remotely can be very, you, you could easily feel like you're not um getting to be part of the culture or part of the team, but having the team being so welcoming, uh making sure you get onboarding buddies, lots of resources, lots of education to go through when you first start up communities to join as well.

Uh really helped to create that feeling and like, Elise was saying everybody works together. So there's no one person in charge. We definitely work in teams. So for example, design works very closely with PM and engineering, whether that's even from planning to working on the design and reviewing designs to then implementing it. Um It's definitely teamwork along the way. So that's definitely one of my favorite parts that there's always someone to, uh, offer you advice, to give you help. Uh, if you don't know someone, there's always someone to reach out, um, to learn from, uh, and a lot of learning as well. So if you want to learn about a new area, there's someone that will teach you about it at Yelp, for sure.

Absolutely. Teamwork makes the dream work. Um, so, yeah, so sore on your end. Um How is Yelp's culture? And what's your favorite part?

I guess it's definitely fun and exciting. It is very friendly. I remember when I used to go to office like pre pandemic. Uh We had like one large, we've a few large tables there on the um uh o on, on, on uh on the lunch floor and uh we would just all sit together and just like talk to talk to everybody around us. Um And eventually we would be friends with everybody around us. So I really enjoyed that part also. I think Yelp loves to trust its employees with responsibilities. You will be sometimes thrown into the sharks and asked to just figure the way out and that way you may end up with an op opportunity in your life in your career. Earlier than later, you may end up in a leadership ship role as well earlier in your career than other companies. Uh So, yeah, I really like that about Yelp. Um I also like that Yelp has a very inclusive and diverse uh culture.

Yeah, awesome. I, I always see those wonderful photos when uh we were in person in San Francisco. So I, I definitely see the fun in it. Thank you. So, Pria um for the audience, feel free to add on any questions that you wanna hear or ask live to um our speakers at the moment. But I have another one that I'm really curious about. So what are some ways that you collaborate with other Yelp employees outside of your core team?

Oh It's my

go ahead. I think you were muting and coming back

on might what first,

I could take that one first while Elise is working? Um So, like I mentioned, definitely um all the different functions from Design PM Engineering Marketing, uh Sales. We definitely work closely together on any projects. Um But that might, that might be around a project based.

So you'll definitely get the opportunity to work with lots of those different functions and collaborate together, but there's lots of other opportunities that you can do at Yelp that will take you outside that core group. Um So for me, it's the design team. Like, what can I do with the rest of the design team? Um I had the opportunity to, to co-lead uh a learning committee. So we're trying to find new learning opportunities for designers, bring that to the entire design team, not just my core team. Um And then, so we bring in whether it's external speakers, sometimes we'll bring in someone from marketing or PM to talk, um and to teach the team about new things, but you also have the opportunity to join um external groups as well. So whatever your interest is, I'm a mom, for example. So I'm part of a parenting group. So there's other parents that we can chat with, um, talk about things that we are all experiencing at this point in our careers. Uh So there's definitely that support system that you can find at Yelp and a lot of ways to reach out and uh just become friends with a lot of, of the Yelp employees as well.

That's awesome to hear. That's, that's very evident in our team as well. But how about you crea it? So I think you're cutting in and out as well. They're probably gonna jump back on. But uh we do have a question as well from Simone if the sharks bite. Um How do you or do you have recovery support? I guess that's from um Yelp as well. Elise. Welcome back. Hi.

Sorry about that. Yeah, I could take that answer while Supriya seems to be experiencing similar tech issues that I am. Um, if the sharks bite do have recovery support. Uh Yes. Um I mean, I'm, I I'm trying to come up with a more um specific example. Um I guess more broadly like one of the things that I appreciate a lot about um Yelp culture, like along with the friendliness collaboration, all of that. Um I would add that we're kind of just by nature of the size of the company in a sweet spot where we are not, we are well, well past start up stage, so like, definitely not small, but we are also not huge. Um And I think as a result of that, um I have not experienced um like um intense feelings of like hierarchy or bureaucracy. And so my support system has always been consisting of um both peers and also uh my manager, like managers of other people. So like, you know, more like dotted line relationships, folks around me and even like folks who report up to me, the expectation and uh both formal and informal channels of feedback are constant. Um And so I think very rarely and I'm trying to think back in my own experience. I don't think there's ever been a moment where I, I felt like stranded on an island or, you know, like, like sharks nipping at my heels.

I feel like usually there's, there's, there's always um there's, there's certainly like criticism, like, you know, if, if, if something wasn't planned out beforehand or there was like some um prep that was supposed to happen, that didn't like you. Like, I would, I would hear that feedback, but I don't think it's, it's, it's ever um you know, like attacking you for the sake of doing so or trying to establish a power play or whatever. It's, it's, it's never been personal. Um And so, um and, and the, and the feedback afterwards of the coaching to do better next time, um I think has always been extremely helpful.

Thank you for that answer, Elise. Um And yeah, uh one question as well from our audience uh is about how is it for uh interns at Yelp? And I know Elise and Soria, you both have experienced things in the Bay Area in person as well. So you've probably seen how it is for interns back then?

Yeah.

Um So I haven't been an intern myself but I have um interacted with interns so I can um perhaps offer up um some of that. Um I think kind of um tied to what Sriya had mentioned earlier in terms of um like trusting people with a lot of responsibility. Um I think that's something that we see a lot with um our intern classes as well. Um Usually they're given um a substantial project, there's a deliverable at the end. Um You know, there's a presentation, um many decide to come back full time. Um And I guess one of the um um we generally like treat interns like the same way as we would like a full time hire. Like, you know, they would be participating in meetings, um participating in um like company events, hackathons, what have you. Um And so I think very much um an integrated part of, of, of the culture,

anything to add to bri, oh, she probably has that connection issue again. But uh we have a very interesting um, question from Courtney as well. What is uh one thing at Yelp, you would like the opportunity to be more involved in um something that you're passionate about that you haven't really had the chance to do. So, uh with some various reasons, I guess uh I'll start with you, Catherine.

Yeah. One thing that I, I'm starting to get involved with now, that's really um exciting. For me, my career is starting to define vision and strategy. So something that uh from the design side, sometimes we have the opportunity to sometimes not so much, but since we're going through so much research, we're talking to so many consumers, we do uncover a lot of opportunities whether that's for the company or um to create something new as well, new features, um new tools for our users.

So uh for me, it's starting to get involved in that process of how can we define vision, especially in the services area, for services businesses and how can we then communicate that to everyone? So how can we start to get that put into plan started to put into maybe our uh longer term road map for the product?

Awesome. That's good to hear. Well, uh I hope you get to do that soon. Uh How about you Elise.

Um This is, this is not a canned answer. Um But I think my, so, so the question, you know, what would you like the opportunity to be more involved in? Um My most recent answer um is actually something that I now am involved in. But thanks to what Soria was saying, needing to be vocal about what you want to be involved in. Um and, and specifically, um um so I'm currently a group product manager, meaning that I manage IC product managers. Um And one of um the, the areas that I was um hoping to get more involved in and build out um is um a, a stronger um like product manager community out here in London. So, you know, II I have the mandate of like building out my own team. So hiring on boarding, all of that is like part of the job description. Um One of one of the areas that I wanted to be more involved in is also kind of more of that community and connectedness out in the London office. As folks know, Yelp is headquartered in San Francisco historically. Like most of our folks were in San Francisco before we became and are now a remote first company. Um And so as as we grow um in Europe, um trying to uh keep um so some of those core Yelp cultures and build that connectedness, build that community.

Um That's been something that's top of mind. For me as someone who, um, has kind of seen um Yelp through various stages. And so, um, that was one thing that I wanted to get more involved in and I'm starting to, um, get to do more of that, um, and build out um a better um onboarding experience for some of the um remote folks out here.

That's awesome to hear. At least, uh it's definitely very important to be vocal to basically like do what you wanted to be more involved in. How about you, Soria? Is there anything at Yelp that you wanted to be more involved in but didn't get the chance to do so yet? Yeah.

Can you hear me?

No. Oh, you can't.

Um So uh something that I always want, I wanted to do but I haven't uh I wouldn't say I haven't gotten a chance to do it. It's just like I haven't found my type of. Yeah. Uh like the technology that we are building. OK. Coming on off. Uh

Oh sorry, I,

yeah,

maybe I should jump

out.

Oh, sorry, Maureen. You can you hear me now? Yes, we could hear you now.

OK. Yeah, I, so I, I was mentioning that I want to present in conferences more on behalf of Yelp. So uh I have been so the technologies and tools and everything that I'm working on. I want to be able to share it with the rest of the community. Um And make sure like the knowledge is like spread across people. Um And also like it, it, it we as women, like there are less number of women in tech. So I do want to share my experience with other engineers who are women um And maybe encourage more people to join uh the tech industry. Um Again, like, I it's not like I haven't gotten the opportunity. It's just like I need to find that time for myself. Um And, and do that more.

Wow, that's, that's great to hear. Supera if you have any questions on attending more uh conference and speaking, let me know. Um but uh one question is probably um uh something our audience is very curious about. Um Can you tell us about some of uh uh Yelp uh employee group activities and like your experience attending some of those as well?

Yeah, I could, I could jump in here. Um So one of uh I'm actually not sure about whether this is factually true some more. You might need to check me on this later. But I think one of our biggest employee groups is um um a we stands for awesome women in engineering. Um And I coming into um a product role had always, it's like initial stages was the worst, had imposter syndrome of like, oh, am I like actually technical, like I didn't study computer science, I didn't study engineering. I studied economics. So I think, you know, there, there, there was some like Mathy um aspect to my um education but, um I had never really identified as a very technical person. Um, and I think um the Awesome Women and engineering group at Yelp um, organizes, um, a lot of events, uh a lot of meet and greets. Um, when I first moved to London, uh the UK chapter out here has um, frequent um, like lunches to get together, see how everyone is doing, especially in um a remote setting um connecting uh to make sure um um folks feel like they have a forum to um talk and discuss and just connect with each other.

Um And one of the um flagship programs that they do is um an allyship training uh which um has been um an incredible resource for folks all across the company. So um that's, that's, that's a re recent uh frequent um group that I uh interact with that comes to mind.

Yeah.

A we is awesome. Um Catherine, do you have any favorite um employee group activities that you attended? Yeah.

So those are that, that's definitely my favorite as well. A we and we have another one. W IP women in product. Um So very simple. We get to learn from each other network with each other. Um bring in external speakers right now, everything is remote, but we will eventually move to being able to do things in person. Um If I'm also thinking just about the design team, some of my favorite things are just the social activities we get to do together. Um So we make sure to schedule time frequently in order to do group events, whether that's taking a cooking course from an airbnb host or um creating something together like pottery. So making sure we spend time to do social things as well that um making sure we're, we're, we're keeping work fun. We're making sure we get to know each other. It just makes working together so much easier.

Awesome. That's so fun. I know. So you're, you're very involved with a we as well. Um Any other employee groups that you're interested or like your favorite, basically.

Yeah. A w is definitely my favorite. It lets me uh interact with the awesome women in engineering uh at Yelp. Uh uh I have been a part of uh the public speaking group uh in at uh for a we um and we help organize events for the employees at uh uh Yelp. So that is definitely my favorite. Uh But other than that, as Catherine mentioned, the social events that we have for our team uh uh uh uh uh uh helps us like build better connections. Uh My favorite one is um uh horse riding that we went with our team. Uh So we all were like horse riding together uh and learning how to horse ride. So that, that definitely brought us very close to each other. And as Catherine said, like it helps. It makes work in working with each other easier as well.

Yeah, we'll definitely have a lot of fun, um, uh, virtual activities as far at a we, but looking forward to those in person one and maybe do some horse riding too in the future with the team. That would be fun. Um, but yeah, I think we're at time, uh, for our session, but if you all are interested to chat more, we will have our booth session later as well after this session. Um, so feel free to visit us in Expo, find the Yelp booth and then we'll chat more.