‘I Love My Job’: I Have ‘The Space to Celebrate and Feel Genuine Joy From My Team and Company'

Welcome to I Love My Job, the series where we hear from real women who really love their jobs. In this edition, we sat down with Jordan Houghton Mace, Senior Manager, Customer Success, Enterprise at Braze — a leading comprehensive customer engagement platform that powers customer-centric interactions between consumers and the brands they love.

Mace has been an instrumental part of Braze since the very beginning. In fact, she was one of the company’s first 50 employees. At the time, “I didn't necessarily know what I was looking for,” recalls Mace, “but I was very fortunate to be an intern on the marketing team.” As a result, she’s been given the freedom to try many roles at Braze: from content marketing to customer advocacy marketing to more technical roles. “And, then, I also got to stretch out my people management skills as a manager of the enterprise segment,” says Mace. Throughout it all, Braze has been supporting her career journey. 

In the following video, Mace shares more on why she loves working at Braze. We also provide lightly edited highlights from this video discussion in the following article. 

What do you find most exciting about your work at Braze? 

The opportunity that I have to impact a variety of areas. I get to make an impact on the community. I get to make an impact on the culture of the company. I also get to make an impact on the customers that we work with. We get to work with very thoughtful, strategic marketing-centric customers. It's really fun to see the recommendations that I made when I was a customer success manager in a business review actually get implemented “out in the wild”. I get to show my family: “Look, the things that I thought of are now out there in the market.” And it's pretty exciting. 

Also, the impact that I get to make as a mentor. Now that I hire and create teams, I hopefully coach them well and empower them to be leaders out in the world. It's been really exciting to see that the things that we all offer can create growth for a variety of people. And it's really fun to see the impact that you make day one, year one and now, for me, in year seven. It's so exciting to watch my ideas grow alongside the product and alongside the people that I get to work with. That growth, sophistication and maturation over time has been really exciting. 

How would you describe the culture at Braze?

The Braze culture is ever-evolving. When I joined, Braze had energy and newness — everything that we were doing was so unique. It was a very small company that had really big aspirations. And, over time, I've had the luxury of watching us become a bigger company. I've watched this go from being a scrappy startup to a public company that's trading at Nasdaq, which is very exciting. But, there are a few themes that have been very consistent throughout the growth that I've seen, which are also the reasons why I'm still at this company seven years later. And a variety of them tie back to Braze’s six core values… 

And, the remote-friendly nature has been really helpful with our culture as we've adapted to this new world and this new environment… It's a culture that supports growth, a culture that wants to celebrate growth and to aspire for growth in a variety of facets. And it's one that has supported me throughout my career. 

What is your favorite thing about Braze? 

The first thing that comes to mind is the people... But, when I think about what separates Braze (besides the people), it’s the fact that we are a company that walks the talk… We say things and we set really ambitious goals — and then we achieve them. And, more often than not, we exceed what we expect… Walking the talk, doing what you say you're going to do, it can't be diminished. It is such an important part of my happiness at the company. 

How does Braze support employees? 

When you think about benefits at a company, you often think about things like the administrative benefits, whether or not you can bring your dog to work, if you have a 401k and if you have a dental plan. 

But, when I think about the benefits of working for a company like Braze, it's more far reaching than that. Work-life balance has been an integral part of the culture of the company, both pre-pandemic and today. The benefit that I am very grateful for is the fact that this is a company that has celebrated every large life event that I've had. 

Since being at this company, I got married, and I moved across the country. I am now a fully remote employee for the very first time of my life. I've also become a new mom while at this company. Having the space to celebrate and feel genuine joy from my team and company is really comforting… I've been able to be at home with my son, and that work-life balance can't be understated — it is the most important thing that I cherish in my career. And I've been able to find it at Braze.

What advice would you give to other women who are looking to work at Braze? 

The core values at Braze are pervasive through your work experience, so check those out here. The one that I think is most exciting is taking your seat at the table…We're looking for people that aren't going to come in and necessarily assimilate. We're looking for a fresh perspective, and we really want to hear it. So [...], I would highly encourage you to think about how you can bring your unique perspective and your unique traits to this company because we're not looking for culture fits, we're looking for culture adds. We want to evolve and expand, and you only do that when you bring in new people that have a different experience and background. 

Also, seek out people who will help to develop you at your company or in your career or network, who will hold you to a high standard and help you get better, grow faster and think from a different perspective… You’ll be amazed at the things you can accomplish. 

Interested in joining the team at Braze? They’re hiring! Click the link below to browse opportunities. 

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