10 standout moments in 2018 from #teamasana
In 2018, Asana achieved numerous milestones, from being named a Top 5 Best Place to Work for the second year in a row and launching exciting new products that help our customers to growing the team internationally and unveiling our vision for the future of work.
We asked a few Asanas from our offices in San Francisco, New York, and Dublin about their favorite personal and professional achievements at Asana this year, plus what they’re most excited about next. While 2018 has certainly been a banner year for Asana, we’re just getting started. Check out some highlights from this past year below!
1. Being recognized with the Traveling Unicorn
Scott Carleton, NYC Site Lead, New York
What was your standout moment of 2018?
“In June when I was only a few weeks in, I had already gotten the opportunity to resolve a hairy management issue. I was in the SF office and Bella Kazwell (Web Engineering Lead) walked over to me holding a unicorn stuffed animal. She asked, ‘Do you know what this is?’ I did not. To my delight, Bella explained that the unicorn was part of the Traveling Narwhals and Unicorns project in Asana, which is a way of expressing gratitude to our fellow teammates in passing the mythical beast on to someone and sharing a few words of appreciation. It was an incredible moment for me and reinforced that I had joined a truly special company.”
What are you most excited for in 2019?
“Up to this point the NYC office has been in ‘explore’ mode: Exploring what it’s like to be the first product development office outside of SF, and kicking butt at delivering some great features like Dependencies, Boards and, of course, Timeline. 2019 will be ‘expand’ mode for Asana NYC as we move into a brand new office; it’s going to be a phenomenal ride and a chance for Asana to really cement itself as an NYC tech powerhouse.”
2. Going all-in from day 1
Philina Fan, Product Designer, San Francisco
What was your standout moment of 2018?
“Jumping into the deep end when I first joined in September and helping to ship out Project Creation. It was also so fun to bond with the lovely First Experience (FX) team while working on this!”
What are you most excited for in 2019?
“I’m excited to see how fast Asana expands in the world in 2019 and I’m also looking forward to designing more products that our users will use and love. As our company’s growth accelerates, we are going to have to design for many types of new customers and use cases. I’m looking forward to working on some new features that will help our different customers optimize Asana for their specific, unique needs.”
3. Bringing your whole self to work with Pride
Michael Armstrong, User Operations Specialist, San Francisco
What was your standout moment of 2018?
“A personal highlight for me has been my time on Team Rainbow (one of Asana’s Employee Resource Groups) and the Pride subcommittee. I came to Asana seeking an inclusive workspace with a positive office culture. Team Rainbow has not only empowered me to take part in helping to plan out our events for the year, but also afforded me the pleasure of being able to DJ some of my favorite records at our Pride happy hour in June. This allowed me to truly bring my whole self to work in a celebration of our community, while being a part of Asana’s cultural fabric in all facets of my truth; a full circle moment personally.”
What are you most excited for in 2019?
“I can’t wait to see the evolution of the Asana Nonprofit Discount! Whether it’s by expanding the program’s reach or potential organizations who can benefit from it, I can’t wait to see how these nonprofit teams scale their positive impact in ways they weren’t able to before.”
4. Growing our understanding of customers
Christa Simon, User Experience Researcher, San Francisco
What was your standout moment of 2018?
“Hiring two awesome new User Experience Researchers, Krista Plano and Abi Kelly! Both have unique backgrounds and really round out our team wonderfully. By having more folks gathering feedback from our customers and finding product opportunities, we are able to speed up velocity for our teams to create and build a better product that can serve more and more teams around the world.”
What are you most excited for in 2019?
“I’m most excited for what’s in store for our customers in 2019. I’ve been at Asana for 3 years and truly believe we are on the cusp of really great workflow improvements for all of our customers. The fact that I’m taking my sabbatical in 2019, and I’m still most excited about our product roadmap, is saying something about the work we do and the customers we have at Asana!”
5. Moving into a new, growing office in Dublin
Marie Tomasi, Online Community Manager, Dublin
What was your standout moment of 2018?
“My stand out moment was definitely moving to our new Dublin office! It’s inspiring to see where the Dublin office was at when we opened it back in 2015 (with only 3 employees!), and where it is now, hosting over 35 of us!”
What are you most excited for in 2019?
“We’re at a key stage of our growth for the company and the product. With tons of new features and updates to come in 2019, I’m excited to share these moments with our community members and help them achieve their goals with Asana.”
6. Increasing efficiency and reducing waste in our Culinary Program
Kim Pak, Culinary Director, San Francisco
What was your standout moment of 2018?
“With the new service underway, the culinary team can prepare for new and engaging menu options and services for 2019. We are so stoked that we have been able to reduce our waste by 18% just in November! Being more mindful and adjusting the food program to make it possible for us reduce waste has been so rewarding! I am looking forward to creating more ways to keep Asana’s engaged and connect with each other as we grow as a company & as a work family.”
What are you most excited for in 2019?
“I’m so proud of the way we’ve grown our Culinary team maintaining a diverse, mission-driven group of individuals who are excited about preparing healthy and delicious food. This past month, we hired: Medhi Bengal, a Pastry Chef from NYC who can speak seven different languages; Uchenna Akonobi, Prep Cook from Nigeria with a BS in Zoology; Scott Handinger, butcher of all trades and writer; and Fredy Alvarez and Bonnie Berry, Prep Cook extraordinaires. With these strong members of our team, Culinary will be unstoppable in 2019!”
7. Expanding into APAC with a new Sydney office
Hiro Yamada, Software Engineer, San Francisco
What was your standout moment of 2018?
“We completed not just one but two rounds of funding this year. I am really excited that the company is growing so fast!”
What are you most excited for in 2019?
“I’m super excited to see Asana expand into the APAC region, including Japan, as we just opened our new Sydney office! We have a global mission of enabling all teams to work together effortlessly, and we are one step closer to achieving this goal by extending our reach into these regions”
8. Creating new products in New York
Crystal Li, Software Engineer – Product, New York
What was your standout moment of 2018?
“My standout moment was being in a room with the team that built Timeline after months and months of hard work to launch our feature (we even made a launch button and had champagne!) and watching it become a wildly successful feature that our users love!”
What are you most excited for in 2019?
“I’m super excited to see the NY office grow! When I started we were fewer than 10 people. Now we’re 20 and gearing up for bigger space to accommodate all the new people we’ll bring in next year. I’m looking forward to all the new opportunities and challenges we’ll take on.”
9. Bringing customers together on the Asana Together World Tour
Logan LeVan, Community Manager: Social Media & Events, San Francisco
What was your standout moment of 2018?
“My stand out moment was planning 29 community events and 2 customer dinners for the Asana Together World Tour—all within 3 months! This was an incredible opportunity to execute on the mission of the Community team to bring customers and Asana together to deepen their connection, engagement, and advocacy. I loved meeting so many of our wonderful customers out in the world!”
What are you most excited for in 2019?
“It will be amazing to interact with customers with such a variety of use cases and new coworkers in different time zones as we grow internationally!”
10. Driving business growth in EMEA
Corentin Rosado, Enterprise Account Executive EMEA, Dublin
What was your standout moment of 2018?
“Our international business now represents around half our revenue, and Asana is now available in six languages—it’s great to see the Dublin team leading the charge on our growth in EMEA. This year we moved to a super stylish office, Asana style, and it’s been very exciting to see new Asanas jumping onboard with us and share the passion for our company mission.”
What are you most excited for in 2019?
“Next year, a big focus is on international expansion and enterprise scale, and I couldn’t be more excited about the new customers we bring onboard!”
We’d love for you to be a part of Asana’s journey in 2019! Check out our open roles and apply today.
