Transforming Lives Through Learning: Angela Romero, Principal Manager @ Coursera

In this episode, I spoke with Angela Romero, Principal Manager at Coursera.  We spoke about her experience working in a PR agency, cold calling and her role in sales at Google, Duolingo as a startup with an e-learning environment giving people practical and fun learning opportunities through technology and access to better jobs, all about Coursera, and the importance of Employee Resource Groups in working environments.
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Mentioned resources: Coursera
FleishmanHillard
AI For Everyone – One of Angela’s favourite short digestible language course about AI and how it is going to transform the world
Learning How to Learn – Another favourite short course at Coursera with powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects
You Tube Red (You Tube Premium) – watch and listen without announcements 
Duolingo
Hola, Latino ERG (Employee Resource Group) – Diversity and inclusion group
USP, FIA, UNICAMP, and Insper – Coursera expanded in Brazil with 25 courses from these top universities 
Self-Driving Program from University of Toronto–  top program at Coursera launched by Angela
Show Notes: 01:43 – Welcoming Angela Romero
02:00 – About Angela and Coursera
02:53 – Angela’s favourite course or specialization 
03:52 – Angela’s favourite learning technique
05:25 – How Angela gets to Coursera
GETTING TO COURSERA and MAKING EDUCATION ACCESSIBLE At the age of 19, with not much english and almost no money, Angela was looking for the highest level in education in the US. The first  2 years learned english, then went to community college graduating with high academic achievements, and finally, after being mentored about how the education system works in the US and frustratingly applying to various colleges, applied and graduated at a state college with highest grades in her class. Having a big sense of how difficult and inaccessible for many education is in the US and a formative experience back at college, is what motivates her to make education accessible today at Coursera
07:55 – What is it like to work in a PR agency
08:41 – When Angela realized she wanted to switch into sales
10:38 – Role at Google in sales
ROLE AT GOOGLE At Google, Angela was not only finding the leads prospecting but also pitching them on the product and making sure contracts were signed, and managing partnerships
11:01 – Good at cold calling
13:35 –  How Angela would write a perfect pitch email
PERFECT PITCH EMAIL A pitch mail should be short, not be pretentious, have human components and be genuine. In sales and partnerships it is important to be genuine, clients can tell when you really care about doing the right thing for them.E.G. Hi, I am this person. I have done this research in your business, and I have noticed this is probably a problem you have. This is how my product can help you, do you have a few minutes to chat? 17:17 – What is the perfect phone call
20:10 – Switching from Google to Duolingo, a startup e-learning environment
23:04 – What Angela was most proud of at Duolingo
26:34 – Why Coursera?
WHY COURSERA? Back at Duolingo,  Angela had a friend called Giovanni Dubois who was her mentor and sponsor. Giovanni works for Courser, and at the time was launching “Coursera en Español”. He invited her to an important event to speak about Duolingo. She was amazed about Coursera and their people, and felt completely inspired about Daphne Koller, Co Founder of Coursera, and her speech about their mission. Soon after a Global Business Development role opportunity popped up to which she applied for and got the job.
32:10 – Principal Manager at Coursera. What does a Principal Manager do?
A PRINCIPAL MANAGER SHIFTED TO BUSINESS UNIT MANAGER A Principal Manager at Coursera is a business development manager that works with top universities to get their programs on Coursera’s platform, then sell those programs and monetized them in partnership with the universities. Now it is a role considered more like a Business Unit Manager, an internal coordinator putting together business strategy and making sure all the co functional teams are aligned towards it. As a Principal Manager she led Coursera’s expansion in Brazil with 25 courses from top universities and launched their Self-Driving Car Program from University of Toronto.
34:14 – Coursera’s challenges for the next two quarters
35:29 – Wanting to get into the e-learning industry… What kind of opportunities can I get at Coursera? Where will I be needed the most?
36:52 – What is an ERG(Employee Resource Group)?
42:06 – Angela’s last words

Key Takeaways: Cold calling > “Your pitch is not really done on the call, your pitch needs to be done before. The more resources you do about the person, and why whatever you are selling to that person makes sense for them and for their business, the easier your cold call is going to be.” Learned in PR.

It is recommended to do a lot of research about a person before tailoring the message to the business, function of the person and seniority.
Phone Calls and emails are done depending the culture. In Latin America phone calls are more popular. Phone calls should be genuine. Emails should be short and genuine too; when you care about doing the right thing for the client, they can tell.
Having another language gives people access to better jobs. Duolingo is an app that has personalized education through technology. It is practical and fun for learning another language. Expanded to Latin America with english for latinos!
In a startup: It is rewarding for anyone who builds useful things that have a high impact and help others. “In startups you can put together your own strategy, bring your own ideas and learn much more”.
For Latinos > The Latino group in the Bay Area is very tight, supportive, and latinos have authentic relationships “We are latinos first, identity is paramount!” 
ERG (Employee Resource Group) All about diversity and inclusion! A group created by employees for employees, a space to help people feel they belong, comfortable and proud about their identity; a group that provides support, enhances career development, and contributes to personal development in work environment.
At coursera > They want to create a group (HOLA ERG) that will foster family, friends, events and meetings with other ERGs, and will focus on ways to increase the pipeline of latino candidates
At Google > HOLA ERG  helped her bring her identity back. Back in FleishmanHillard’s PR environment, there were no latinas in role models and Angela struggled hard to try and fit in. “Non acceptance is not healthy; Tech in the Bay Area is a white dominated industry, so people feel they don’t belong” 
LatinosWhoTech is thought for people to listen and learn about others who have made their way up to Silicon Valley, and are trailblazing a way for them to get there. For Engineers: Figure out how to we work best with universities and how to create a platform for them to be able to put the credentials on the platform in a more streamlined way.
Who is Hugo Castellanos? Find out about him on linkedin Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you want to know more about this or comment on the show, please join us on LatinosWhoTech or go to Conexiones 
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