Roxanne
Q: Who are you? Where are you from?
A: Hi, I’m Roxanne! “Where am I from” is a bit of a loaded question as I’ve moved 29 times! While I can put about half of that on my nomadic parents, the other half is 100% on me (once you’ve planned and executed a 500-mile move in less than a week, your threshold for saying “yeah I can make this work” gets remarkably lower). I mostly grew up in California and Italy but I’ve been in the Boston area for most of the last 10 years and I’m as close to settling down as I think I’ll ever get!
Q: What’s your background? What did you do before Modulate?
A: My undergrad was in game development with an emphasis on animation. I realized early on that my strengths lie in training and project management rather than being an artist myself, and I’ve applied those skills across various start-ups. While most of my experience has been in Customer Support leadership roles in the 3D printing industry, I had the privilege to be a member of UMass Amherst’s Partnership for Worker Education and Smith College’s office of Instructional Technology while completing my MBA. Besides support and technical training, I’ve also had brief stints as a prop maker, a costume designer, a web designer, and taxidermist.
Q: Why are you joining Modulate?
A: Throughout my career it’s been really important to me that a) I work with people who are smart, self-aware, and passionate about being the best version of themselves, and b) I can support the development of a product I believe in. Modulate checked every box, and then some! I’m so excited to be here.
Q: What’s your ideal work environment? Any special strategies you use to stay effective?
A: I am the kind of person who enjoys setting ambitious goals, finding the obstacles in my way and knocking them down. My ideal work environment is an encouraging one that will help me get unstuck when I need it, but will also let me do my thing when I’m on a roll. I’m fairly ruthless about prioritizing and love using the original bare-bones bullet journaling techniques to help me stay focused on what needs to get done each day.
Q: Tell us about something you must have in any culture you join?
A: Humor, creativity, and opportunities to express who we are outside of our roles. I want to know your pet’s name and what you’d steal if you had the opportunity to successfully execute an Ocean’s 11-style heist.
Q: Who are you outside of work?
A: I’m an enthusiastic serial-hobbyist! Any given month I might be obsessed with painting, reading, laying in the sun, or embroidering 8lbs of cashmere for a Couture Mothman Halloween costume while going through old Twilight Zone episodes. More consistently, I love figure skating and board games, and will always happily watch someone else play a scary video game (as long as I can backseat drive). Random special interests that sometimes surprise people include eurodance, WWI, and Arctic exploration!
Q: What’s something you’re great at that few people realize?
A: It’s been ages since my community theater days, but I love to sing! I even learned how to yodel for a part once and, somewhat more recently, got a whole room of tech guys dancing to It’s Raining Men at karaoke night.
Q: Leave us with a fun tidbit - a favorite joke, a story from your past, an obscure riddle, whatever you like!
A: My grandfather currently has one of the 4ft long model submarines used in the Hunt for Red October just hanging out in his living room and my sister and I might come to blows over who gets it.
