Employee Spotlight #26: Camille Arigo, Head Of Operations At Pareto

Camille Arigo took up BA Communication Arts Major in Writing at the University of the Philippines Los Ba?os, which molded her to always uphold honor and excellence in all the things she does. Arigo's former work in the field of teaching and writing has led her to her current work at Pareto. 

Pareto Head of Operations Camille Arigo.

Frederick Daso: What was your journey to becoming the Head of Operations at Pareto?

Camille Arigo: In the beginning, I started as a Project Manager and a Data Analyst both simultaneously — here, I was exposed to project management and initial project execution. I also studied and implemented mechanisms that align our continuously evolving product roadmap with our users' needs. During this time, I worked mainly with CEOs and founders to address their concerns with their work, our UX operations, and our company's customer service department. Sometime in 2021, there was a need to consolidate all operations work and communicate these with the company's core team. The Head of Operations position was opened, and I applied for it. The team trusted me with the position in September 2021.

Daso: There's a lot of conventional career advice about being a successful Head of Operations, but are there any unorthodox lessons that you've learned through experience or been taught through mentorship that more of your fellow operations professionals should know?

Arigo: As someone leading a team of people with different backgrounds and communication styles, phrasing requests and suggestions well could go a long way like dissecting information dissemination by telling them the goal of the process, sharing our plan, and requesting the team to share what they think about this plan and if it's possible within a given timeline. Rather than tell the team what the process is, there's likely a more collaborative way to get the point across while giving the team flexibility to improve the process if they have concerns.

Daso: What's the toughest project (professionally or personally) that you worked on as the Head of Operations or in general? What were the most important lessons you learned from that project?

Arigo: During the time when the operations team was continuously growing, we had to restructure teams and break down old ones. It was challenging since the team had to undergo another period of adjustment. The biggest lesson I learned during that period was to take time and consider all processes that will be affected during a big transition. 

Daso: Who are some of the most inspirational people you've worked with during your tech career? (This is an opportunity for you to explicitly shout out awesome people who you've worked with and positively shaped your career!)

Arigo: Definitely our founder, Phoebe Yao. Not only has Phoebe built Pareto from the ground up, but she has been consistent in her work ethic since day one. Our leadership team and project managers, especially Arianne Biligan, Joyce Cordero, and Keziah Palarca, through their help and initiatives, we're able to build systematic and sustainable solutions to keep the operations running. Our VP of Engineering, Adrian Villa, and our engineers are helping build tools to support the Pareto operations team efficiently.

Daso: How would you define your company's culture, and how does it create an environment where you can do your best work?

Arigo: Our culture is a good mix of hardworking, driven team members who know how to have fun and take things lightly. Since the office has been 100% remote, what made this team-based culture work is our fast-paced collaboration that all happens on Slack. The team knows how Zoom fatigue happens across most remote teams, so we limit our virtual meetings on MWF only to make space for more focused work in between. 

We value have six values we adhere to at Pareto:

1. Collaboration: Helping others is a priority, and in fact, it is everything we do. At Pareto, you can rely on others for help and advice—in fact. You're expected to do so. Anyone can chime in on any client or project. 
2. Results: We do what we promised to each other and our clients with quality results
3. Efficiency: We care about working on the right things, not doing more than needed, and not duplicating work. This enables us to progress more, making our work more fulfilling.
4. Diversity and Inclusion: Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to the success of Pareto as a globally distributed and 100% remote team. We aim to significantly impact our efforts to foster an environment where everyone can thrive. We are designing a multidimensional approach to ensure that Pareto is where people from every background and circumstance feel like they belong and can contribute. We actively chose to build and institutionalize an inclusive culture that supports all employees equitably in achieving their professional goals. We hire globally and encourage hiring in a diverse set of countries. We work to make everyone feel welcome and increase the participation of underrepresented minorities and nationalities in our community and company.
5. Iteration: We do the smallest thing possible, as thoughtfully as possible, and get it back to our customers as quickly as possible. If we take smaller steps, we can get feedback sooner. Instead of spending time working on the wrong project or going in the wrong direction, we can receive fast feedback and correct ourselves before wasting too much time.
6. Transparency: Be open about as many things as possible with your coworkers and clients (to a lesser extent). By making information public within the team, we can make contribution and collaboration easier. Use and create public channels on Slack as often as possible; only go 1-to-1 when giving negative feedback. On a personal level, you should be transparent about your work and life challenges. Do not suffer in silence or put up a poker face. Additionally, don't be afraid to admit you made a mistake or were wrong. Take the initiative to deliver information you think is important and never hide the truth.

Daso: What are the most important skills you've had to develop in your job, and what specific projects or assignments did you work to develop each core skill?

Arigo: To name a few, it would be project management and creating mechanisms and SOPs for the operations team to follow as we put into practice new processes. In project management, all Project Managers were given a chance to round up teams to execute several user projects within a specific deadline. Implementing our support team systems, async user onboarding, creating ad-hoc teams for project delegation, and continuously evolving billing process along with the team's feedback has helped me immensely improve my process creation practice.

Daso: What's one interesting (non-work related) thing that more people should know about you?

Arigo: I did theater when I was in the university! I think it helped me navigate different user conversations and social interactions at work and in life. 

Daso: What's something you want to accomplish in your career that you haven't yet? What motivates you to get there?

Arigo: I still improve my systems thinking approach in line with what we do at Pareto and work while traveling the world. What motivates me is the freedom, experience, learnings, and growth that I've yet to experience in the years to come, along with the opportunity to help other Filipina women discover their capabilities.

Daso: Who should I interview next?

Arigo: Here are my recommendations:

• Julian Bantayan
• Millen Jesuitas
• Elizabeth Robertson