Weaving a Tapestry of Tech, Community, and Personal Growth with Naomi Kemeny
A deep dive into the role that holds the fabric of a company’s culture together 🧵
Anyone that knows anything about business knows that a business is made up of many different types of people playing all sorts of parts that make the company run and function as a whole. Each individual role is crucial for the company’s success. And in our most recent interview, we got an insight into the life of one of the many keys on this company piano. Meet Naomi Kemeny, community manager at Weavik Inc — a company that works to provide “tailored product development solutions” to companies, no matter how old or new they are.
Origin Story 📌
Ever since her childhood, Naomi has had a huge passion for the environment and sustainability. In fact, she wanted to become a photographer for National Geographic.
“So since I was little, I’ve always loved animals, I’ve always had such a sensitivity towards them and it always made me sad thinking about animals going extinct. I’ve always felt really connected, I guess a little bit spiritually as well, but just very connected to the environment around me.”
Despite this, when she got to university, she started majoring in business. She just wanted to give it a try but later started feeling lost and sad. One day at the University of Waterloo campus, where she’d been studying, she found herself at the building for the environment. After going inside and then doing some thinking, her passion for the environment was brought back and she was inspired to take the environment, resources, and sustainability programs after completing the business program for three years.
“I didn’t quite enjoy the things that I learned about business in school which I didn’t think would be necessary for my future. But, when I started at Weavik, I first had an admin role which was like pure business and what I learned in University came in handy. I realized that any kind of knowledge won’t go wasted. Since business is about people, applying that knowledge became very fun and motivating for me.”
Naomi is now a community manager at Weavik.
Weavik is a consulting company specializing in product development. They work closely with businesses (regardless of the stage they are in) to provide solutions to bring their ideas to life. They do this by analyzing companies’ goals and long term plans.
Naomi strives to create a community within Weavik to foster company unity, strength, and team dynamics. She’s created internal events, like a social calendar. For example, social Fridays: the employees get to hang out, play games, chit-chat, and connect as a whole group. She also created the internal newsletter and will likely even create an external newsletter in the future. She handles social media posts and goes to events and conferences, like the Elevate Tech Festival and Collision, where she captures content and converts them into posts. Her role is crucial for the tech industry, even though it’s not a role of an innovator or a developer or anything of that sort.
“ In my role, it’s kind of up to me to choose what I want to do with it. You kind of do what you think is best.”
Key Takeaways from the Interview 🔑
1. Overcome Self-Doubt 🤔
Naomi talks about how she struggled with the huge challenge of self-doubt. She explained how your mind always loves to play tricks on you, and forces you to ask questions like:
- Can I actually do this?
- Can I actually be a part of this?
- There’s so many bright minds and smart people doing so many different things. Would I be able to fit in? Would I be able to succeed?
However, you can’t let yourself fall into this pattern. Instead, you should learn from the smart people around you and build yourself up.
“And then the other one of just having self-doubt, like, can I actually do this? Can I actually be a part of the tech industry where there’s so many bright minds and so many smart people doing so many different things? Um, so yeah, you can’t doubt yourself. That was a huge challenge. It was a mind game.”
2. Focus on People 👥
As much as we try to be as independent as possible, you can’t really get anywhere without people, whether it’s your support system, your enemies, those you give harsh criticism to, your role models, or even your employees. Clients & customers help form a community and this helps build businesses and make them better.
- Achieving goals often involves collaboration. Success isn’t just about individual brilliance; it’s about how effectively people can work together in teams.
- In business, catering to the customer’s needs and preferences is crucial.
- Effective leadership and management hinge on understanding and motivating people.
- Building relationships is fundamental whether it’s in your personal or professional life.
“You can’t really get anywhere without people and without keeping people happy. The future of this company is just building that community.”
3. Build Cool Shit 🔨
Develop different creative and unique things for a bunch of people in a bunch of different areas. This includes things like apps, robots, rockets, or literally anything you’re passionate about. Always push yourself to constantly do and think new things. Don’t fall into a mundane, daily routine.
4. Find Something Inspirational Everyday ✨
Inspiration can be anything — it doesn’t have to be in the grand scheme of things. Even the smallest of things like conversations, a news article, a podcast, a relationship, or a random encounter can give you inspiration. You have to be able to notice and appreciate these moments.
It can come from being exposed to innovative projects and hearing ideas from all sorts of smart minds. Always try to be curious and stay open to learning about advancements happening within your workplace or industry, as this allows you to better understand how they can shape the future. Witnessing other people’s passion and enthusiasm for their work can also inspire you. Their energy will often resonate with you and give you a similar drive.
5. Keep an Open Mind 🧠
Even if you never expect yourself to end up somewhere or don’t see yourself in a certain industry, keep an open mind, as you never know where the wind will take you and where you will end up.
“I never necessarily pictured myself in the tech industry, but I did fall into it. And I do love what I do, and I do love the people, and I do really enjoy the industry. ”
6. Transitions Take Time 🐌
Transitions in life are hard but you will always naturally adjust, so don’t give up because you are finding a transition between two things to be difficult.
“It was just like a challenge coming from university life, where I’m just doing a bunch of odd different things and then becoming an adult, with an adult job now. So I would say that was probably my biggest challenge.” (We now know that Naomi found her place in this company and loves where she works, despite the challenge of transitioning.)
7. Relaxing Work Environments Make a Difference 🪴
Finding a company with friendly people and a chill, relaxed environment contributes to your overall happiness and productivity more than you know.
“It definitely adds to it when, like, your company kind of just feels like a fun place to be as opposed to just like a suit and tie, sitting at a desk all day kind of place.”
Rapid Fire Questions 🔥
- Who’s your biggest role model? Her partner
- What’s your dream job if not at Weavik? National Geographic photographer
- What’s your favorite hobby? Photography or Climbing (Indoor Bouldering)
- What’s your favorite store? MAC
- What’s your dream destination? New Zealand
- What’s your all-time favorite movie? Princess Mononoke from Studio Ghibli
- Would you rather go on a beach vacation or a mountain getaway? Mountain getaway
- What’s the proudest moment in your life? When she started her own photography business.
“So I was doing it for a while as a hobby or just for fun, and then I was like no, I’m actually going to dedicate time into doing this professionally. And I did, and I remember launching my website for the first time and I was like I did that, Like it’s so cool that from nothing I created something and I get to touch people’s lives doing photography, so I think that that’s like the proudest moment for me.”
TL;DR ✨
- Naomi Kemeny’s fascinating journey began with a childhood passion for environmental sustainability and eventually led to her pivotal role as a community manager at Weavik Inc in the tech industry.
- Naomi shared her personal struggle with self-doubt in the dynamic tech world, and explained the importance of elevating your self-confidence. This helps with productivity and overall happiness.
- Naomi describes the pivotal role of community in business success, emphasizing the importance of collaborative spirit, effective leadership, and the understanding customer needs.
- She repeated the need for a constant drive for innovation and creativity, urging individuals to embark on projects that are not just routine but uniquely exciting.
- It’s crucial to, despite unexpected twists, stay open-minded. An example is the way that Naomi unexpectedly found fulfillment in the tech industry.
- Naomi explained that adjustment to new phases takes time, so don’t give up when transitions between jobs, schools, or even school to a job seems tough!
