For International Women’s day, we spoke with some of our extraordinary women at Templafy to hear their stories.

They come from different backgrounds, work in different departments and speak different languages, but their attitude and passion for what they do are truly inspiring. Let’s see what they have to say!

Margrét Ólafsdóttir, Information Security Officer

I have been with Templafy for almost two years. I am a part of Templafy’s Information Security team, which has the task of protecting the information in Templafy, maintaining and continuously improving our great security posture within the organization and in the services that we provide to our customers.

I got to know Templafy when they were a client of another company I worked for. I formed strong relationships with the Templafy people I worked with and saw the culture of striving to be the best in class. Now approaching my second work anniversary, I count myself lucky to be a part of the journey Templafy is on.

I’m thrilled I chose to study information technology. Compared to lawyers and doctors, it may not be as straightforward explaining your thesis topic to your friends and family. Nonetheless, tech is a versatile and ever-growing field that has a place for diverse professionals and personas, hopefully eliminating some of the prejudice around a people-person who loves to code or other “nerdy” things.

I’ve repeatedly heard that you don’t receive a career; you must take it. Not all opportunities will be handed to you; you must grab them or even create them. I believe this is true in many aspects. We take control of our own development and contribute to shaping the pace and path of our careers. Seeking advice and confiding in a mentor is a show of strength.

Whether you work to live or live to work, I can speak first-hand that it’s not only possible to love your job, but I have realized that it is crucial to my well-being. If I find myself feeling otherwise, I strive to solve it. There can be many solutions that don’t involve the ultimatum between quitting and putting up with it.

As for advice for the people at the beginning of their professional journey, I would like to point out that job interviews are not only about selling yourself. Landing a job is a mutual responsibility between you and those on the other side of the table to find a good match. It’s a  match between yourself and your future colleagues, your leader, the company culture. So it’s important to be truthful about yourself and seek the same from them. Because who knows -you might end up having multiple careers at this company.

We can be our friends and families’ biggest cheerleaders. So give yourself the same advice as you give your close ones – and don’t forget to follow it too!

Enas ElSayed, Senior Software Engineer

I’m working as a Senior Software Engineer in Team Dynamics and I am responsible for doing some magic with our back-end code. I joined Templafy almost a year ago and it’s been a fun ride ever since.

I come from Cairo, Egypt. I studied computer science at university and majored in Bioinformatics. After I graduated, I took a 9-month diploma (ITI) focused on software architecture to improve my skills and find a nice job. I’ve been working as a Software Engineer ever since I started, as I loved the idea of transforming a set of requirements into working software and solving problems in front of me.

It wasn’t always easy trying to find a foothold among all the different languages, technologies, and sectors of the industry. Figuring out what you want to do as a Software Engineer and filtering out all the different feedback. One of the main challenges I faced was not letting myself just nestle into a comfort zone and get outdated in this ever-changing industry. At times, it was frustrating to deal with low expectations or stereotypes, but the key was to just carry on.

My advice is always to improve skills and stay up to date. Skills speak for themselves.  Listening to feedback is crucial but it’s even more important to filter out what works for you and what to ignore. Negative comments and moments of self-doubt will happen, and it is important to not dwell on them.

Courtney Dye, Sales Development Manager

I am a Sales Development Manager and sit in the NYC office. I’ve been at Templafy since January 2021, so I just recently celebrated my one-year anniversary!

I am originally from Boston, Massachusetts. Since being in college, I always knew I wanted to start my career in tech sales, because of the rapid growth of the tech industry and the competitiveness of sales.

After graduating undergrad, I was supposed to start at another tech start-up based in Boston, but because of the pandemic, my job offer was rescinded, so I went back to school to get my MBA at Fairfield University. From there I decided that I wanted to start working and came across Templafy’s LinkedIn profile when I was searching for jobs.

My first role at Templafy was as a Sales Development Representative. Now I’m leading a team of them which is a pretty cool experience because I’m able to take my own experiences and incorporate them into the role and understand how my team is working. Templafy is the first company that I’ve worked at, so I feel pretty lucky that this is all I know 

The biggest challenge I’ve faced on my way when stepping into my current role has been trusting myself. I think it’s easy to feel uncertain of the decisions I make, especially now since they impact my team, which has been a new experience.

I’ve struggled with trusting what I think is right because many of my colleagues are more experienced than me, which sometimes gets in my head.  I have been able to overcome it by taking time for myself to reflect and voice my opinion. I reflect on the decisions I make and how those working with me are impacted. Additionally, one thing I do is think about myself in my rep’s shoes. I think about how they would feel and react and judge the situation based on that. I’ve also realized that they do not work for me; I work for them and putting them first in any decision I make helps me trust myself more.

If I had a chance to advise young professionals, my number one piece of advice is to trust yourself. Regardless of where you’re in your career, trust that your thoughts, opinions, and feelings are valuable.  Secondly, make sure in whatever job you do or anything in your life for that matter, make sure you do it to the best of your abilities because you never know what door it could open. And thirdly, find what gives you energy and makes you happy both in your career and in your life.

Erika Baltusyte, Head of Creative and Content Production

I’ve been at Templafy since September 2018, back when we were a small group of less than 70 passionate people squeezed into a tiny office. I joined as the company’s first designer, so there was a lot of space to be creative and be a part of building the brand and how we commercialized the product visually.

Right now, my role is Head of Creative and Content Production and I lead a super talented team of creatives. It’s our job to ensure global brand alignment of all the customer touchpoints, from website to social media, advertising, campaigns, customer-facing collateral, video, etc. 

I’m from Lithuania and I’ve been living in Denmark since 2009. I came here to study design and I fell in love with Copenhagen so here I am still! I’ve worked at quite a few types of companies, but Templafy was my first venture into pure tech. I loved the challenge of creating something tangible from an intangible product (software).

Startups always come with their own special variety of challenges, but I don’t think challenges are necessarily a bad thing! What keeps me motivated is it feels like I get to work in a new company every year, and professionally it’s a huge growth spurt to work at a start-up.

Don’t be afraid to be challenged, and equally, don’t be afraid to challenge! It can be intimidating to work with more experienced people at first, but experience has shown me, that everyone comes with their own unique perspective from life, and that participation in itself makes for a stronger, wiser team. 

Barbora Hodorová, Product Owner

I joined Templafy a little over three years ago. I started here as a Tech Support Specialist with the short-term goal of “not getting fired”! I was eager to give it all I had, and within a year, I was promoted to Senior Tech Support. A bit later on, I became a Technical Project Manager, and now I am a Product Owner.

As a Product Owner, I  act as a bridge connecting engineering teams, the customers, and management to ensure that the product vision is realized and executed. This is challenging and exciting at the same time.

I was born in a small village in the northeastern part of Slovakia. And when I say small, I mean under 500 inhabitants small. After graduating high school, I moved to Prague, Czech Republic to pursue my studies in International Relations and Diplomacy. My first job was as a receptionist, and later I became a Service Manager. A colleague referred me for the position of Tech Support Analyst to support the DACH market. It was only due to my language skills that I was offered the job, but I was surprised by how quickly I gained the essential knowledge to perform effectively. Things just clicked and made sense. This was my first encounter with IT / Tech, and I loved it. As one would say, the rest is history.

The biggest challenge I had faced on my way was the stereotype that women are not “fit” to excel in Tech. I just had to break it! It did happen on numerous occasions where I would be handling a support ticket, and the receiver on the other side would request a male counterpart to investigate further. I was a little discouraged and hurt at first, but maybe it was my pride or maybe the type of person I am, but I was determined to prove them wrong. My response was to set up a call, over-prepare for it, and show them they made an error in their judgment. I succeeded in that, and what a feeling it was.

I would advise everyone to never stop being curious. Don’t be scared to try and fail; instead, learn from it. If you can’t find someone to get answers from, become that person yourself.