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Rachel Friedman (Shatkin)
Design Program Manager | DesignOps | Ex-Meta
Professional Background
Rachel Friedman is an innovative Design Program Manager with a wealth of experience in creating impactful and organized working environments tailored for designers and their cross-functional partners. Her expertise lies within hybrid agile and scrum methodologies, enabling her to lead programs that are both flexible and efficient. Over the years, Rachel has developed a keen ability to identify and drive significant project initiatives, successfully guiding teams to consistently meet critical deadlines in various fast-paced and creative environments.
Rachel's career trajectory has taken her through several prominent roles within the design and technology sectors. Her role as a Design Program Manager at Meta allowed her to leverage her skills to enhance project delivery and improve team dynamics. She has also served as a Design and Development Program Manager for Howard Schwartz Design LLC, where her innovative approaches to program management led to enhanced productivity and collaboration among team members. Additionally, she was a Project Leadership member at Ruca, further solidifying her reputation as a leader who can drive project success through structured processes and effective communication.
Her diverse experience includes positions such as Ad Product Engineer at Thrillist, where she combined her technical skills with her design expertise, and Front-end Engineer at Refinery29, Inc., where she delivered creative solutions that resonated with users. Rachel has made substantial contributions to education as well, instructing both web design and front-end development at the Startup Institute, helping pave the way for the next generation of designers and developers.
Education and Achievements
Rachel's educational foundation is rooted in both design and leadership. She obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Graphic Design with a minor in Business from Northeastern University, equipping her with a unique blend of creative and business acumen that informs her project management style today. To further hone her leadership skills, Rachel pursued a Certificate in Women in Leadership and Management at Cornell University, where she engaged with programs designed to empower women in the workplace and enhance organizational effectiveness.
In high school, she attended Williamsville South H.S., laying the groundwork for her passion for design and leadership early in her educational journey. This broad spectrum of educational experiences has not only enriched Rachel's professional abilities but has also provided her with a comprehensive understanding of how to lead teams effectively in various organizational contexts.
Achievements
Throughout her distinguished career, Rachel Friedman has achieved numerous milestones that demonstrate her commitment to innovation and excellence in design program management. Her remarkable ability to improve team efficiency through effective collaboration with cross-functional teams and multiple stakeholders stands out as one of her most notable contributions.
Rachel's exceptional communication skills have been a vital factor in facilitating meetings that drive program goals and address challenges that may impede project progress. Whether working on high-stakes projects at Meta or mentoring aspiring designers at the Startup Institute, she consistently advocates for best practices that foster engagement and creativity. Her reputation as a dedicated leader and innovator continues to grow, making her a well-respected figure within her industry.
tags':['Design Program Manager','Project Leadership','Agile Methodologies','Scrum','Team Collaboration','Communication Skills','Graphic Design','Women in Leadership','Higher Education','Creative Solutions','Cross-Functional Teams','Product Design','Technology Sector'],
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.