“Remember that your environment can make all the difference.” 

AngeLink keeps celebrating brilliant women in tech with our weekly interview series. Meet Anna Reich, Director of Operations at AngeLink. She has a bachelor’s degree in marketing; before AngeLink, Anna was working as a Marketing Director at a moving company and an FGCU football club. 

Why AngeLink? How long have you been working there? Can you share a little bit about what it is that you do and what a typical day for you is like? 

I found AngeLink on Indeed about 2 years ago. The company was really small back then…I think there were only a few employees. So yeah, I’ve been here pretty much since day one. 

Oh wow! So how do you think AngeLink changed in these 2 years? 

Our team has grown tremendously, from just a few people to over 50 employees! It all started with just an idea, and today, we’ve launched our app, we have a website, and we have an amazing team that made it all happen. At first, it was merely a vision, and back then, I don’t think we realized how difficult it would be to make it happen. No wonder that there’s only one competitor in this space… 

 What apps do you use daily at your job? Which one is your favorite and why? 

Most of the time I use Jira, Confluence, and Slack. I use Airtable a little bit with marketing, but I just haven’t been focused on marketing as much lately. Also, I started working with Zendesk recently as we get customer support up and running. My favorite tool is probably Slack because there’s so much you can do with it! And I like how easy it is to integrate it with other apps such as Jira, Confluence, Outlook, Google Drive, and Airtable. Having all alerts and messages in one place or setting up Slack reminders helps me to stay focused and organized.  

What influenced you to pursue a career in marketing? 

There’s a lot of psychology behind marketing. I really like figuring out what the customer’s wants and needs are and being able to deliver them. It’s also a very creative field. There’s a lot of different parts to it, but I like that. 

What was one piece of advice that you heard or maybe read somewhere that helped you in your career? 

I feel like not everyone realizes that just showing up, being reliable and dependable goes a long way. Actually, it plays a huge part in how successful your career will be! A lot of people tend to underestimate these qualities nowadays. 

What is one piece of advice you can give women who are thinking about starting a career in tech? 

Remember that your environment can make all the difference. Surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals will help you to become the person you aspire to be. 

So true! Why do you think there are still so few females in the technology sector? How can we get more women into technology? 

The stigma around technology is that it’s more of a male-dominated field for introverts and geniuses who sit in front of their computers all day long. But there’s so much more to technology than that. I think we should highlight all the potential benefits of working in tech more, such as flexible schedule, remote work, challenging yet rewarding projects, just to name a few. 

What’s been your greatest challenge and your greatest reward in your professional career? 

Well, because AngeLink is a startup, it’s a very fast-paced company. Things change all the time, so we need to adjust constantly! Figuring out the best way to tackle what needs to be done, reprioritizing, and reevaluating can be a bit challenging at times. 

Do you have any female role models? 

Yes – Kim Kardashian! I know a lot of people don’t like her or think she’s not talented, but I think she is extremely good at marketing. Kim Kardashian has started so many products and businesses and while some of them are not as successful, she knows how to adjust and continue to persevere.