Hi, I'm Beth Vanderkolk.
Leadership | Community | Remote Work
Building relationships and community is in my DNA, and I love to connect people with one another to do amazing things.
I also love to organize knowledge management systems to help customers learn products and deflect support issues.
I'm best at creating and connecting new dots. I've spent the last 15 years creating new content and communities, forming
advocacy and ambassador programs, and building customer-facing knowledge systems.
I thrive in the gray and believe that the relationships that we have and the communities that we build
around the work that we do is the key to how we sustain them.
I've been working remote and managing fully distributed teams since 2014.
EXPERIENCE |
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2021 - present, MURAL, Remote
As Director of Community, I lead a team that focuses on building and growing the community, creating community program strategy, measuring the success of the community, and more! 2020 - 2020, GitLab, Remote At GitLab, I lead and developed a remote and globally distributed team of 5 engaged Community Advocates. I defined and executed the strategy with which all GitLab team members can actively engage with the wider social community across 15+ platforms as the company scales. 2014 - 2020, InVision App, Remote My work played a critical role in educating and supporting customers and harnessing the power of community at InVision as the fully distributed company grew and raised a total of $235.2M in funding over 7 rounds. 2008 - 2014, VRBO, Austin, TX I rose quickly through the ranks at VRBO/HomeAway from a copywriter to launching and managing 5 global Help Centers for different VRBO/HomeAway brands, then managed a global upgrade and relaunch of their existing customer Community forums. View my resume and recommendations, and connect with me on LinkedIn. |
Authentic Leadership panel at the Within Retreat for women leaders in design
PORTFOLIO
InVision Knowledge Base
InVision Getting Started Guide
InVision Community
InVision Global Ambassador Program
InVision Getting Started Guide
InVision Community
InVision Global Ambassador Program
VRBO.com Help portal
HomeAway Community
HomeAway.com Help portal
VacationRentals.com Help portal
HomeAway.co.uk Help portal
OwnersDirect.co.uk Help portal
HomeAway Community
HomeAway.com Help portal
VacationRentals.com Help portal
HomeAway.co.uk Help portal
OwnersDirect.co.uk Help portal
Beth is incredibly open and a joy to work with. She is highly empathetic and can sense when someone on her team is having an off day. Because of Beth's genuine openness, her reports feel comfortable sharing feedback, accepting responsibilities, and communicating deadlines. Beth has great intuitions and a bias toward action, allowing her teams to be highly productive. She always works at a lightning pace to get her reports the resources they need. As quick as she is to action, she's even quicker to admit mistakes and change course when necessary. In short—if you're thinking about hiring Beth, do it before someone else does!
- JJ Galipeau, Senior Technical Writer at InVision
Such a team player, and an incredible ally. Beth is everything I could ask for from a teammate. She's timely. Articulate. Passionate. And most importantly, she never forgets about placing the human at the center of every problem we're solving for. If you're looking for a curious manager and a strategic thinker, look no further. She's right here.
- Adam Fry-Pierce, Director of Customer Experience Programs at InVision
Beth is the most effective boss I’ve ever had. I’m regularly impressed by her ability to motivate our team through both positive feedback and candid conversations. Beth expects excellent results, and she positions our team to succeed by defining clear KPIs for bigger initiatives. She then gives us the freedom to meet and exceed those expectations (rather than micromanaging our individual methods). She’s also quick to jump in if anyone needs extra help to hit the mark. Oh yeah—she’s also really funny and supportive, both of which set the tone for a terrific work environment.
- Joe Donohue, Senior Technical Document Writer at InVision
Her calm demeanor, positive attitude, and teamwork helped to build the VRBO owner community as the community site grew to be the leading community for vacation rental owners, travelers, and property managers. She's got great community chops, and would be an asset to any marketing or community team.
- Tom Hale, President at Survey Monkey
During my time at eBay, I was always looking for the "secret sauce" to why it became such a phenomenon - what I discovered was focused leadership & passionate teams of people who communicated with customers as human beings and empathized with their questions or issues. Beth is a key part of the "secret sauce" for VRBO.
- Kevin Embree, Founder and CEO of Level Seven
Beth worked very well with her teammates globally, and was particularly appreciated for her intelligence and ability to build relationships across the company. Her ability to multi-task, provide strong leadership, and simultaneously see the big picture and track daily tasks is truly astounding.
- Rob Medina, Director of User Support at Backpack Health
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