7 highlights from my 7 years at LinkedIn (today is my LinkedIniversary!)

Today is my 7th anniversary at LinkedIn! They say time flies when you are having fun and that has definitely been the case. I really can’t believe that it was 7 years ago that Nate Bride and Brian Frank hired me for a Sales Effectiveness position at LinkedIn. 3 roles, 6 managers, and more desk moves than I can even remember, I’m still here and still as excited about the company, the culture and the people as I was when I started.  I am “in it” to create meaningful connections and create opportunities for inspiration and that’s basically what I’ve had the opportunity to do since I set foot on LinkedIn’s campus. Thought I would capture 7 highlights from the past 7 years…in no particular order...

1.    PASSION PROJECTS - Two programs stand out: 1) CULTURE CAMP: I still can’t believe I had the chance to combine my love for LinkedIn’s culture and summer camp through this program! 2) RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS: Seeing our Random Acts of Kindness program ripple around the world was so inspiring…I will never forget the story of the group in NY who paid for couples’ weddings in NYC at City Hall and the group that chipped in & helped a young girl pay off her quincea?era dress!

2.    ALUMNI AWESOMENESS– I love helping to build out this program, working cross-functionally internally to make it happen & staying connected with all the awesome LinkedIn alums! #InAlumni #RelationshipsAlwaysMatter

3.    OPPORTUNITY FOR AUTHENTICITY – Yes, I get to wear costumes and wigs at work and it’s totally normal. ;) There have been several examples of this: Halloween when I won the costume contest as Lady Gaga, my ever present blue wig at Sales Kickoffs (see below with my start group buddies) and my bright pink wig at Culture Camp. I have also participated in 3 Flash Mobs since working at this company. #dreamjob

4.    RUNNIN' UNITED – This still remains one of my biggest highlights of being at LinkedIn – and in life in general. The fact that we had over 600 employees from 24 offices around the globe participate in a global run that I organized to benefit an organization set up to honor a friend of mine killed on 9/11 was nothing short of MIND BLOWING! Oh – and we raised over $50,000 together. Pretty remarkable.

5.    SPEAKER SERIES – It’s been such an incredible opportunity to bring in inspiring speakers for the company. I truly love hearing when an employee was moved/impacted by these events (my favorite example was when Cory Welsh saw the Adam Braun Speaker Series on Pencils of Promise, decided to start a chapter in SF!) I also feel very lucky that I get to meet and work with all the amazing speakers we bring in (Arianna Huffington, Steve Young, Emily Chang, Deepak Chopra, etc.) People always ask who my favorite speaker was and I think it would have to be my very first Speaker Series event with Seth Meyers that we did at a Comedy Club in New York (MAV, how fun was that?)! I was definitely a bit star struck and it was such a cool event to pull off. The energy from the NY employees was just incredible.

6.    GROWTH – It's been fascinating to be a at LinkedIn from pre-IPO through acquisition by Microsoft and to see the impact the company has made in the world. We were ~1000 employees when I joined and now we are over 11,000 employees. We had ~100,000,000 members when I joined, and now we are over 560,000,000. It’s been amazing to be a part of such tremendous growth & success! And on a personal note, I started by having to commute down to Mountain View every single day because there was no office in San Francisco – and now I get to work out of the most amazing buildings in SF!

7.    RELATIONSHIPS! - I can’t underscore this one enough. I have met the most amazing people at this company. It has been such a privilege to work with and get to know SO MANY amazing folks at LinkedIn. I am so grateful for the many special friendships I have made with my colleagues. #RelationshipsMatter

Here’s to the next 7 years! ;)