Employee Spotlight: Elena

When Elena joined Dataprise in April 2021, she couldn’t have imagined the exciting journey ahead. Starting as a Sales Enablement Manager, she focused on driving success through training and enablement initiatives. Within months, an opportunity arose to expand her impact across the entire organization. With the support of her leadership, she transitioned to a newly created role as Manager of Learning & Development. Since then, she’s been dedicated to fostering a culture of growth and continuous learning, embracing the challenges and opportunities that come with helping employees unlock their full potential.

When did you start at Dataprise?

I started in April 2021.

What different roles have you had at Dataprise?

I was originally hired to join the Sales Operations team as their Sales Enablement Manager where I was responsible for identifying ways to support the Go-to-Market team’s sales efforts via training and other enablement initiatives. About 8 months into that role, I was approached about a new opportunity to take the enablement and training ideas I was implementing in my role as Sales Enablement Manager and translate that for all of Dataprise, not just the Go-to-Market team. I received immense support from my leadership team in this process, and I was afforded the amazing opportunity to join the HR team as their first Manager of Learning & Development.

What’s a day in the life look like for your current role?

I’m sure most people will say this, but every day is different! I’m currently the primary learning and development (L&D) resource for Dataprise, so my main focus every day is supporting all of our employees’ unique training and development needs any way that I can, whether that’s through 1:1 conversations, researching and providing training resources, and building out developmental programs.

What’s been your biggest success or accomplishment at Dataprise so far?

It’s been incredibly rewarding to be the first person in the Manager of Learning & Development role and be able to build a culture of learning at Dataprise from the ground up. In creating that foundation, one key thing that I’m very proud of is developing and standing up our HiPo Leadership Program, which provides some of our high-potential employees additional learning opportunities and stretch assignments to help them grow in their careers. Many of the HiPos have been promoted since completing the program, which has been wonderful to see!

Do you have any advice for someone who is interested in a role like yours?

Spend some time learning about learning. 😊 If you want to get into the L&D space, it’s important that you dedicate some time to your own professional development so that you can model by example and understand the amount of time and effort it takes to complete different courses or certifications. Having this perspective of both sides of the learning experience helps you become a stronger candidate for this role because you can better tailor your training content to more effectively meet your employees’ needs and bring more impactful ideas forward.