When Megan Marsac began her design career, she didn’t simply wish to enforce guidelines — she wanted to create them.
As an art director at Mason, she has had the chance to do just that, solving numerous creative challenges. Yet the company hasn’t simply enabled Marsac to strengthen her skills. She has also had the opportunity to network and witness the organization’s female representation increase significantly under the guidance of their CEO Nancy Xiao, whom she considers a personal hero.
“The environment Mason has cultivated has brought truly incredible women into my path who will undoubtedly impact the rest of my career,” Marsac said. “I couldn’t be more grateful for that.”
Shana Markham has also worked with influential women during her time as a senior design manager at Private Division, partly through her involvement with the company’s female-focused employee resource groups, which stems from a diverse culture. In her mind, strong inclusivity doesn’t merely support the organization’s women; it also gives her the chance to spearhead the creation of games that appeal to a wider audience.
“This inclusion is reflected in the games we create, giving us the ability to listen to and integrate our players’ diverse experiences,” Markham said.
Whether they’re spearheading innovative work or connecting with others, these local women leaders have found ample room to grow. Marsac, Markham and Knock Vice President of People and Culture Nicole Ossey discuss how their employers have helped them pursue their career goals.
Mason’s platform enables businesses to build and deploy smart devices without the use of hardware, firmware or an operations team.
What are your overall career goals, and to what degree have you been able to fulfill them at Mason?
Prior to beginning my career, I dreamed about having the ability to help someone else communicate their passion visually through storytelling and the creation of a focused, charismatic brand. I started my design career as an art director in automotive advertising in Detroit. I wanted to get my hands dirty and do more than enforce guidelines that someone else created. Rather, I wanted to create the guidelines myself, and Mason allowed me to do just that. In hindsight, it may have been naive to jump headfirst into an early-stage startup with three full-time equivalents at the time, but I knew I was up for the challenge.
At the time, our founder Jim Xiao was my direct lead. He was extremely supportive of my wild visions and big design dreams, and he always presented me with challenges in need of creative problem solving. After a year of working for Mason in Detroit, he moved the company to Seattle and brought me and my family along for the ride. My time at the company so far has introduced me to amazing people and places, offering me learning opportunities I never thought I would have. I’ve met so many strong individuals, lifelong mentors and friends.
What benefits or professional development resources does Mason offer that help support and elevate women in the workplace?
Mason supports me in many different ways. In addition to career and life coaching services, we have inspiring fireside chats powerful women in leadership. Our company values target inclusivity, and our leaders know that we cannot build a successful product without first cultivating a diverse and inclusive environment.
The environment Mason has cultivated has brought truly incredible women into my path.”
How has Mason built an inclusive and equitable culture for women?
Mason has built an inclusive and equitable culture for women partly by hiring our fearless leader and CEO, Nancy Xiao. She’s my personal hero and has completely changed the game. With Nancy at the helm, we’ve brought the ratio of women at Mason up to 40 percent, and it keeps growing. This increase in representation inspires me to be my best self in both my career and personal life. The environment Mason has cultivated has brought truly incredible women into my path who will undoubtedly impact the rest of my career. I couldn’t be more grateful for that.
Private Division is a gaming publisher that helps studios bring their creations to a global audience.
What are your overall career goals, and to what degree have you been able to fulfill them at Private Division?
My current goals are to grow my skills as a lead designer and build out a team of people who are not only well-equipped to be designers, but are also good stewards of the player experience. I’m leading Kerbal Space Program 2, which has involved maintaining several design challenges between creative player experiences, tightly interwoven game systems and the constant push and pull of creating an authentic experience that players can understand and interact with. I’m proud of our direction and my team’s ability to ensure everyone is informed and focused on delivering a more intuitive and informative sandbox that enables players to build and fly cool rockets, rovers, planes, and vehicles. Our current project is significant, and our team has to retain a large amount of information during the decision-making process and has worked in some rather ambiguous problem spaces. It’s been an honor to build and lead a diverse design team through these challenges while watching everyone grow and collaborate to create a game we know our players will love.
What initiatives and professional development resources does Private Division offer to support and elevate women in the workplace?
There is a wealth of easily accessible personal development resources. I have unique strengths and weaknesses, so having the ability to receive tailored support rather than adhere to a one-size-fits-all growth plan makes me feel acknowledged and reinforced. Additionally, we have employee resource groups for women, which have proven to be highly supportive regarding our day-to-day working experiences and have offered unique resources. It’s helpful and comforting to have access to an amazing group of women.
It’s helpful and comforting to have access to an amazing group of women.”
How does Private Division cultivate inclusivity in the workplace?
Our first value is that we are a team, and that coincides with fostering an inclusive culture. We each bring something unique to the table, which enriches the team as a whole. Inclusivity is prioritized from the top down and from the bottom up. We have a diverse and easily accessible leadership team that is focused on working together to create wonderful player experiences. Not only do we aim to hire people who would fit in well, but we’re also looking for people who can broaden the team’s experiences.
Having the ability to drive a culture that respects and celebrates diversity and hire people to bolster that diversity enables us to forge a team that acknowledges a wide range of experiences. This is reflected in the games we create, giving us the ability to listen to and integrate our players’ diverse experiences.
Knock offers a CRM for multifamily housing communities equipped with a wide range of capabilities, including tour scheduling, messaging and task management.
What are your overall career goals, and to what degree have you been able to fulfill them at Knock?
I ultimately want to be a chief people officer and I’d like to become certified as a Gallup-certified strengths coach. On a company level, I’d like to work at an organization that will go through an acquisition or IPO. I was lucky to learn a lot at two private, venture-backed startups in the Bay Area and bring that knowledge with me to Knock. Knock is the first place where I’ve come in as the company’s first people operations employee. I’ve had the chance to build processes and a team from scratch, own my department and iterate on ideas and feedback. I was the first female executive at Knock when I joined three and a half years ago, but luckily I’m not the only one now. We have a wonderful presence on the team today.
I’ve had the chance to build processes and a team from scratch, own my department and iterate on ideas and feedback.”
What benefits and professional development resources does Knock offer to support and elevate women in the workplace?
This year, we started offering more leadership and strengths training workshops. Employees also have learning and development budgets so they can request funds in order to participate in conferences, certifications, coaching or online courses, all of which are intended to support them in their current role or a future one. Besides that, our HR team started offering weekly office hours, during which time employees can discuss and discover career opportunities. We also offer 14 weeks of fully paid birth-parent leave, which includes two weeks of pre-leave and 12 weeks of parental leave. This reflects the company’s effort to support women who are also seeking personal growth with their families. Sometime soon, the company plans to publish a more defined job promotion path, which will outline expectations for every level of each role and describe how employees can progress upwards or into a new career path.
