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10 Questions With Michele Herzog

Written by Mole Street | Feb 12, 2024 5:40:34 PM

Meet Michele, our Director of Technology at Mole Street, a seasoned expert in bridging the gap between technical intricacies and personal connections. With a rich background in HubSpot support, product development, and partner engagement, Michele brings a unique blend of technical prowess and empathetic understanding to every project.

1. How would you sum up your expertise?

I’ve always been a bridge between the personal and the technical.. I was a HubSpot support representative early in my career, and it was my launchpad. While it did a lot for my technical skills (troubleshooting, logic, and even learning to code), it did even more for my personal skills - when you talk to 30+ HubSpot customers a day, you end up with a pretty good understanding of how technical problems impact someone’s livelihood.

Since then, I’ve been lucky to be involved in a lot of HubSpot’s ecosystem. I worked on the CMS Developer Documentation heavily, and I got to troubleshoot bugs and advocate for customers on the CMS product team. I was then on HubSpot’s marketing team, supporting and developing hubspot.com, and diving deep into providing a more accessible experience for visitors. It’s been deeply satisfying work, and I’m always learning something new.

I’ve loved joining the partner world - it brings me back to working directly with customers, and seeing how HubSpot solves for each of them. When I’m presented with a problem, I still hear the support mantra in my head to “SFTC” - solve for the customer - and keep them at the center of my work.

2. What type of work do you lead at Mole Street?

As the Director of Technology, my role is all helping my department execute. Our team handles core HubSpot implementation (shoutout to our Implementation Specialists, the workflow wizards), custom integrations, and custom website builds. We’re active members of your project and make all the bells and whistles come together.

Some highlighted projects I’ve loved include:

But, most of all, I lead, support, and grow technical people. I like to think that developers or technical people can respect you as their leader for two reasons - 1) because you’re a better developer than them, or 2) because you’re a good leader for them. Option 1 is a trap.

3. What types of clients do you support the most?

I love discovering how HubSpot fits into a wide array of businesses, from national landscaping companies to credit unions to pharmaceutical developers. I’m mostly involved late in the sales process or early in post-sale discovery to shape project plans, pull in the right resources, and help the team succeed along the way.

4. What is a current project you’re working on?

Currently, I’m playing Solution Architect for a large-scale Practice Management & HubSpot integration rebuild. It’s a classic integration problem - there’s always the instinct to throw a bidirectional integration together and assume the process will follow. However, the best integrations are led by internal processes, whether it's sales, marketing, or service, and directly support the individuals in those roles.

5. What do you enjoy most about your work?

I love helping others learn new things. It’s been a surprise to me - I always loved delivering great work, and it turns out helping 3, or 5, or 10 people deliver great work is 10 times more rewarding. My favorite is the moment when something “clicks”. Sometimes it’s the precise moment where a concept lands. Other times, it’s seeing someone take something they once struggled with and implement it with ease. These moments are my favorite part of the week.

6. What is your superpower?

I am a master puzzle solver. That applies to your traditional, 5000-piece puzzles, but also data puzzles, coding puzzles, and scheduling puzzles. I love knowing how things fit together, and I can’t resist an opportunity to figure it out.

7. What’s one Mole Street value that has special meaning to you? Why?

Clarity. I know I truly understand something when I can explain it to someone else.

8. What’s inspiring you now?

I’m lucky to be friends with a lot of “modern creatives” - folks with 9 to 5s who still find time for their creative passions. My husband is a musician on the side, putting himself out there on tiktok. My friends are stand-up comedians, writers, actors, and jewelry designers pushing themselves and their comfort zones. We have a good mix of support and accountability, and it’s a community I’m lucky to be a part of.

9. What is one fun fact about you?

I’m learning to play the violin! I’ve only been playing for a few months, and I’m quite bad at it - I find that to be part of the charm. Dedicating part of my day to incremental progress, especially in something creative, pays dividends in my overall wellbeing.

10. Where can we catch more of your expertise?

You can catch me in our website migration webinar with HubSpot, on LinkedIn, or in the HubSpot Developer slack channel (I’m @zog!)