Happy International Women’s Day! In honor of this special day, we wanted to take a moment to introduce you to sixteen amazing women from the Atlassian partner ecosystem.
From engineers and product managers to marketing managers and founders, these women are making their mark in the tech industry and they provide a great example of the power of hard work and determination.
Learn more about their backgrounds, motivations, and advice for others who would like to join the Atlassian ecosystem.
Ólöf Kristjánsdóttir
Director of Marketing @ Tempo
Leading a team is a wonderful challenge that is both rewarding and hard. With my teams, I focus on three core things: Protect, provide and provoke.
Protecting the team is about making sure the team has good prioritization and that I stand up for them when needed. Providing for the team is about making sure they have the resources they need to do their jobs and being there for the team when they need help. Provoking is about motivating and encouraging the team members to grow in their role and guiding them on their career path.
Seeing team members grow and take on new challenges is the greatest pleasure of being a team lead and when I see team members collaborate together to tackle challenges that might have been too much for the team before, is what I'm most proud of.
Laura Mihai
Graduate Full Stack Developer @ AppFox (part of Automation Consultants)
I’ve learned a lot in just under a year within the Atlassian ecosystem. It makes me feel really proud when I can help my teammates and share my own experience and knowledge with them.
I’ve also had a great opportunity to build an Atlassian app from the ground up this early in my career! I feel it’s something unique to the Atlassian ecosystem. It’s a collaborative space and the applications are constantly evolving so it’s a great place to improve my development skills.
My advice for new joiners would be to embrace the experience. It may seem scary at first glance but once you take the time to learn how Atlassian app development works it becomes much easier! I would also say don’t be afraid to network - everyone I have spoken with is super friendly and genuine which makes everyday work a great experience!
Britta Neugebauer
Senior Marketing Manager @ yasoon GmbH
I've been introduced to the Atlassian ecosystem when I started working for yasoon in 2021. As a new ecosystem joiner, I experienced it as very promising, colorful, and diverse.
Working in an extremely developer focused company, I love that we keep on learning across teams and share our knowledge in various ways. I’ve learned to trust my instincts, be confident about my skills, and not be afraid to do things differently than my peers.
Marlene Kegel
Product Manager @ codefortynine GmbH
As one of the first team members, I was able to get involved in many areas of the company, such as customer support, business strategy, marketing, and product development.
I'm particularly proud of successful product features that I've helped develop from start to finish, such as the Deep Clone Project Clone.
Teodora Vasileva
Marketing Manager of Custom Charts for Jira @ Old Street Solutions
My advice: Not to be afraid to change perspectives.
I transitioned from a Graphic Designer and eCommerce Photographer with zero knowledge of tools like Jira and Confluence to an Atlassian super-user and Atlassian Community Leader.
If you are passionate about learning and growing, Atlassian Ecosystem is a beautiful and friendly place to start.
Frederike Häusel
Team Assistant/ Partner Manager @ re:solution
I started as an office manager during my master's program at re:solution. This was the first time I ever came into contact with the Atlassian ecosystem. Soon after I became involved with the Sales& Marketing team to help organize events and communicate with partners. Therefore, today I have a shared role of team assistant and partner manager.
My advice for newbies is: Absorb all the information you can about Atlassian and take part in the community 🙂
Melissa Castán
Motion & graphic designer @ Jexo
I like to help my team by materialising all member's ideas into tangible actions and making everyone part of the creative process, I'm proud of the good communication and synergy that this has developed within my team 🙂
Imogen Drews
Frontend Developer @ Polymetis
I help my team by implementing frontend features and sometimes doing UX/UI tasks. I am especially proud of a notes feature that I designed and implemented for one of our apps. It was really fun to see the whole process from beginning to end!
Saloni Hajare
Technology Intern (Consultancy team) @ Automation Consultants
I started my journey with Atlassian software and tools as part of the Slay the Dragon (Cloud and Server) training. From there on, contributing to a client demo, performing a migration project helped me expand on the initial knowledge gathered.
To all new joiners, my advice is to take the time to learn each concept well, as there is a lot packed in the learning process. Secondly, don't hesitate to ask for support within your team or on the Atlassian Community channel, there's always someone ready to help!
Katarzyna Pawlak
Senior Product Owner and Lead Technical Writer @ Deviniti
My career began with writing documentation for our apps in 2017, which required the deepest knowledge not only of what our team is developing, but also of Atlassian products.
It's extremely valuable as a product owner: understanding the products, but also the business that surrounds us - the expectations of our customers.
For new colleagues in the ecosystem, I advise you to click: click in Jira, click in Confluence, create your own workflows, add custom fields, learn about apps, etc. because practice makes perfect. Atlassian University and passing ACP exams also help in gaining knowledge (I can boast of having passed several exams myself).
We cannot forget about the thriving Atlassian Community, which encourages you to broaden your horizons, share your knowledge and experience, but also ask questions.
Sarah Saleh
Content manager / Product marketing manager @ Jexo
I was freelancing content work and came across Biro and Nikki, who were then looking to start a company. Almost a year later, in 2019, when they founded Jexo, they got in touch with me and that was it; ❤️ I've been part of the Atlassian ecosystem since.
Advice: even if you don't know much (or anything) about Atlassian, or Jira, the ecosystem is so rich in content and filled with truly wonderful people, you'll eventually figure things out... ☺️
Cora Egli
Technical Writer @ bitvoodoo ag
I help my development team by communicating our apps' features in an understandable way. I always try to break down complex topics into easily digestible chunks of information. I am especially proud if I can improve our app interfaces using plain language.
Michaela Mayer
Marketing & Partner Manage @ K15t
More than four years ago, I joined an Atlassian partner by chance and immediately identified with the Atlassian tools and ecosystem. Nowhere else have I had this sense of community and products that I would really recommend to anyone at any time.
For newcomers, I would recommend being out in the community as much as possible and talking to as many people as possible.
Nikki Zavadska
Co-founder, Product @ Jexo
I joined Atlassian ecosystem in 2017 when I co-founded Jexo and started our journey on simplifying project management in Jira. It's been quite a ride since then but I'm grateful for all support from Atlassian over the past years.
As a founder you might sometimes feel lost but that's not the case here. There is a community of like minded people and Atlassian's who are ready to help.
Stephanie Somic
Graphic Designer @ re:solution
At my previous employer, we only used Jira and Confluence as internal tools for communication.
Here at re:solution, a company that develops addons for the Atlassian ecosystem, I got an insight into the colorful and large Atlassian Community. Not only does the use of our own created apps make it easier for me to organize and structure my everyday work life, but also the exchange with Atlassian partners and the participation in various events and hackathons enrich my work.
Priscila Calisto Marques
SupportOps Engineer @ e-core
My first contact with Atlassian was when I started working on e-Core in March 2021. From the beginning, I was very impressed (I’m still) with the tools and platforms that Atlassian offers. I had the opportunity to work in Server-Data Center and Cloud environments with JSM, Jira Software, and Confluence.
My advice for the new Atlassian joiners is to take some actions as Atlassian University courses, watch some YouTube videos, create a test instance, and you will be impressed with the Atlassian Universe. There are many opportunities when you acquire knowledge of the Atlassian ecosystem. So, feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions!
I hope you enjoyed getting to know these 16 amazing women from the Atlassian partner companies. There are many more fantastic people hiding behind each company, doing their best every single day, delivering value and gratitude to the Atlassian ecosystem as well as customers. 👏👏
Happy International Women's Day!