RevGenius Member Spotlight: Rosalyn Santa Elena
Each week, we’ll be featuring a member of the RevGenius community who is making waves, not only in the community but in their industry. Those chosen are people who live and breathe their craft while lifting others up with them.
When we asked ourselves who we should feature first, there was no question in our minds. It had to be Rosalyn.
If we only had one word to describe Rosalyn, it’d be: tireless.
Rosalyn is one of those people who is so personable and kind; you wouldn’t even realize she’s an executive and an advisor of multiple high-growth companies. As the leader of our RevOps community, she brings a nurturing and collaborative approach, inviting anyone to join in the conversation and fostering a place of growth and camaraderie.
Below is our interview with Rosalyn Santa Elena:
Introduce yourself to our audience. Tell us who you are and what you are currently focused on.
Hello! I am Rosalyn Santa Elena, and I am currently the Head of Revenue Operations at Clari. In addition, I am an Advisor at Sendoso and CaptivateIQ. I have held a number of leadership roles leading GTM and Revenue Operations for the past 20 years at large organizations such as Exodus/ Cable and Wireless, Brocade, Synopsys, and Western Digital. I have also been at 4 SaaS startups, including Elementum, Signifyd, DataStax, and now Clari.
Having worked for both enterprise companies as well as high growth start-ups, I really enjoy an organization where the pace is fast, the ability to impact is significant, and where I can leverage my experience to build scalability long term. I love the cross-functional nature of being in Revenue Operations, where you inevitably have a chance to touch every area of the business.
What am I focused on? Well, I am on a personal mission this year to help elevate Revenue Operations, both from the perspective of the function itself, as well as the people who are currently operational professionals. In addition to driving awareness of what RevOps is and the value that it can bring to organizations, I would love to help grow the Operations community.
What 3 words come to mind when you think of RevOps?
Three words that come to mind? Can I do phrases? How about –
- Revenue Engine (the infrastructure that makes Revenue run)
- Strategic Differentiator
- Business Partner and Enabler
How did your journey lead you to RevOps?
I have always been drawn to the GTM side of the business, although more from an operational perspective than as a seller, per se. It is an exciting place to be as you are at the forefront of what is happening in the business, and you have the ability to make a real impact.
In addition, I enjoy making sense of the chaos – whether that is from the perspective of people, systems, data, processes, communication, or otherwise – which is a large part of what Revenue Operations does for the organization.
What’s your prediction for the future of RevOps?
As more businesses move to a recurring revenue model and buyers continue to be more informed, there will continue to be a shift to a more holistic, end-to-end view of the customer journey from prospect to repeat, and retained, customer.
With this focus, I believe the importance of having a cohesive operational structure that will support this customer journey will become increasingly critical to the customer experience and success of the customer — which will, in turn, drive more revenue and better outcomes for businesses.
To this end, my prediction is that we will continue to see a rise in Revenue Operations, if not from an organizational perspective, at least from a philosophical and alignment perspective.
What gets you out of bed every morning?
Each day can be a bit different, especially in this “new normal” environment, but for me, the real driver is to make a difference – a difference to my family, my friends, my company, my colleagues, and my community – no matter how small or how big, every day.
What would you say your personal superpower is?
Superpower? I’m going to have to say communication, especially as it relates to building relationships and influencing others. In my opinion, the ability to communicate effectively is probably the single most critical skill for being successful. And this communication obviously is not only about speaking or writing well, or even about being clear and concise, or a good listener, but it’s also about being empathetic and having a high EQ when engaging others.
What is one piece of advice you’d offer working moms?
This is a great question. When I was promoted to my first people manager role, I had a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old, and it was a struggle to balance work, family, and life in general. Fast forward 20 years, and one more child, later, it is still a struggle to balance work, family, and life in general. 🙂
My one piece of advice is to be kind to yourself (i.e., cut yourself some slack!) and don’t be afraid to lean on others for support, mentally and emotionally. Don’t feel like you are alone in this struggle — there are literally millions of us going through the same thing — at different stages and different times — so reach out and lean on others. We’re all in this together.
What made you dive headfirst into the RevGenius community?
When Jared invited me to join the community in mid-June this year, I joined to explore and learn. I was actually surprised at how the community was in the very early stages, with less than 100 people at the time, but was impressed by how welcoming and open everyone was. And I was pleasantly surprised to see many familiar names and faces already.
Soon after I joined, Jared and Aneesh reached out to me about leading RevOps for the community with the goal of building a larger presence of RevOps professionals and non-Ops folks who wanted to learn more about RevOps in general.
This initiative was perfectly aligned with my mission (shared above!) and the overall goal of helping to elevate – and educate – on all things Revenue Operations.
Why should other RevOps professionals join RevGenius?
For RevOps professionals specifically, there are fewer resources overall than say, for Sales, or Marketing, and there are also less Ops professionals proportionally to other revenue roles. For example, in a company where you may have 20-25 sellers, it’s not uncommon to have only 1 ops person.
The RevGenius community has been a great place to help bring together like-minded revenue professionals to share, learn, and grow.
If you are a person in an Operations role, I would love for you to join me and help build out our RevOps community!