What is your Personal and Professional Background, and how did you get to Veeva?
Lauren: After studying biology and applied psychology at the University of Illinois, I had an opportunity to study evolutionary anthropology through a unique field research project. The big picture of this field is understanding what makes people tick — something I have always been drawn to, and that continues to serve me well in my professional life. This specific project entailed a deep dive into cultures via global expeditions. The research team had asked me to liaise between them and the local people, which allowed me to help manage excursions to Fiji, Chile, Hungary, Borneo, Bali, and other incredible countries. At this time, I was also pursuing my Master’s in Health Communications at Northwestern and I realized that I wanted to transition from research to working with health services providers.
My collective education and experience came to fruition in a job at a company that provided a patient engagement solution, which was where I began my customer success journey. This company was acquired by a larger player in the space, and eventually, I took a new job at a patient records company. The customer success role at this organization required more travel than I had expected, but more importantly, it wasn’t the best cultural fit for me. This was a company set up to burn you out quickly. I knew I wanted a company that would value my work ethic and be a place where I could make a long-term commitment.
I interviewed with many companies and didn’t see the fit I was searching for. Veeva had not been on my radar, so I had no preconceived ideas, but the interview process secured my faith that this was the company for me. What I saw then, and is still true: the customer success team is united in their commitment to the mission statement — Customer Success, Do the Right Thing, Employee Success, and Speed. These values aligned with my own.
I have now been at Veeva for more than three years, and my current role is as a Sr. Customer Success Manager operating out of my remote office in Chicago. Our job is to help customers get the most value out of the investment they already made in Veeva’s CRM product. Our work is to be true advisors to customers with no biases. It’s a unique position, and most of our conversations are warm and fuzzy. When they are not, we advocate for our customers to help them get what they need.
What’s unique about the work environment and culture at Veeva?
Lauren: Being part of the life sciences technology sector, in particular, is different than being in other tech environments. Life sciences is more demanding and nuanced because we cannot tell the industry what to do — our customers play a huge role in guiding us on what is needed. In my role in customer success, we serve every business size — from startups to global enterprises and have to be sure to treat all customers, regardless of size, with the same respect.
When I look back at what I expected at Veeva and this function, I am a bit surprised by how customer success is actually done here. In my previous companies, the role was more reactive — responding to a crisis and smoothing things out over dinner. At Veeva, my responsibility is to collaborate with the customers, create and drive a roadmap. It’s proactive. Our team is at the center of the customer experience, and we often get called in to help other teams. Company leadership makes it easy to Do the Right Thing because they always tie things back to our core company values.
At Veeva, I know I can make a difference and be rewarded. No two days are the same, and I constantly get opportunities to work on both internally and externally facing projects. I look forward to every day at Veeva and no longer have the Scary Sundays I experienced at other companies — fearing what awaited me for the week. Instead, I embrace every week and every new challenge.
Every day we demonstrate that we care. Veeva’s philosophy synchronizes with my own. I grew up in a loving, Middle Eastern family and learned to care for people, particularly those less fortunate. My work in customer success is a natural succession to my upbringing.
How will Veeva help you grow?
Lauren: I consider myself extremely fortunate to have grown up in a supportive family that helped me develop a sense of personal confidence. Working at Veeva has been instrumental in empowering me professionally and shaping me into the person I am today. Unlike other cultures that held me back, Veeva has raised me up. For example, just a year after joining the company, I was pulled off my daily CSM duties when I received a call from a manager who asked me to be the subject matter expert and a key point of contact for our newer “remote” product, Engage. Engage was ahead of its time when it was first released but quickly updated specifically for Covid to create a compliant communications platform between our customers and their health care providers. Veeva knew we had to Do The Right Thing with Speed and provided the services for free for our customers for the entire year. It was a fast ramp up with thousands of new users going live in days, and the project needed user information, best practices, and dedicated customer success experts.
As a result of saying “yes,” I learned what it meant to lead an effort, and it catapulted my role in the company. For the first time, I was considered a thought leader. This experience reinforced something I learned early on in life: you must first be willing to put in the work and volunteer. You have to step up to the plate even when it’s uncomfortable, and finally, you cannot progress by being a bystander. There’s no innovation in comfort. My professional growth is evolving with exposure to other groups. My colleagues actively get me into more conversations, and I am putting out feelers to find ways to grow.
On the personal side, the culture at Veeva also synchronizes with my natural entrepreneurial tendencies and curiosity. Traveling and learning new cultures are two of my core passions and are fundamental to who I am. At Veeva, I can travel as much or little as need be without compromising my well-being. My Veeva schedule and flexibility also keep my creative side vibrant. I have an artisanal soap business that combines my love of high quality, scientifically and chemically sound personal care products with ancient Levantine traditions around the use of olive oils.
What would you say to someone who was thinking of working here?
Lauren: It’s hard to believe that a company with this type of culture actually exists. I feel confident that based on my experience, Veeva is exactly the place where people would want to be. It’s warm, inviting, and like a family — a place where you can grow. It’s small enough to make an individual difference but large enough to impact the industry. It’s also an amalgamation of the coolest people I have ever met, and they all have a bias toward customer service and the greater good.