Laura Leftwich, MBA

Product Manager & Project Manager

My diverse background includes stage managing for Bill Nye the Science Guy to building product roadmaps that help make education accessible.


Experience

Product Operations Manager/Project Manager

Clorox

Intercompany liaison leading push for on-time launch for critical B2C initiatives for multiple Clorox brands.

Responsible for project roadmapping, timeline creation across all aspects of project, from initiation and product features to logistics and marketing plans.

June 2020 - Present

Product Manager

Unibuddy

Product Manager leading engineering team on product initiatives crucial to company growth. Interfaced with front end, back end, design, & full stack within team.

Led product-facing feature development response effort to COVID-19 crisis with cross-functional input from sales, customer success, engineering, and strategy culminating in new platform launch within a couple of sprints.

January 2020 - June 2020

Product Owner & Lead Content Strategist

Study.com

Product Owner leading business-critical college credit content line of online education subscription platform. Experience leading several different teams, practiced at merging multiple business functions into successful high-functioning teams. Responsible for building product roadmaps for future direction with input from cross-functional teams.

Scrum Master for additional team including ceremony facilitation, coordination, and retro planning each sprint. Content creation, editing, and oversight for site with millions of visitors.

September 2015 - January 2020

Regional Learning Administrator

Clariant Corporation

Department expert and knowledge leader for rollout of new learning management system — Success Factors from SAP. Implemented new training platform for entire North American user population of over 2,000 employees. Experience leading trainings virtually and in-person for all levels of company.

2013 - 2015

Video Editor

WCCB TV

Daily editing for 2 hours of a live television broadcast viewed by 10,500 people every weekday morning. Work with CNN footage for international & national stories, editing of raw footage for local breaking news. Experience working under extreme deadlines and around all aspects of television news and in high-pressure situations.

2013 - 2014

Production Supervisor

Carolina Performing Arts

Stage management and supervision of live performances, set design, running audio & light consoles. Excellent at running sold-out shows and making quick decisions under pressure with high stakes.

2010 - 2013

Education

Santa Clara University

Master of Business Administration
June 2018

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

B.A. Communication
B.A. Political Science
December 2012

Skills

Professional
  • Product Management
  • Project Management
  • Content creation
  • Adobe Photoshop, After Effects & Premiere
  • Agile Development & Scrum
  • Microsoft Office Suite
  • Final Cut Pro

Personal
  • Speed walking
  • Low-stakes pool
  • Car karaoke

Interests

Between halfhearted attempts to learn to cook well in quaratine, I'm outside running, somewhere around the San Francisco Bay to avoid exercising indoors. To get through long runs, I'm probably listening to the Hamilton soundtrack.

I'm also passionate about women in tech and am always learning how to best support that interest with education and dialogue.