Cytiva Associate Stories - Part 4

Hello and welcome back to our associate stories blog!

First up, preview Fernando Polanco ’s video, as he explains how his role is dedicated to improving the sustainability of our processes.  

Then, Maria Ong discusses how she values the professional growth received in her role as Pricing Leader, Asia.

Finally, Nisha Sinha , Commercial Marketing Project Manager, shares her experience of relaunching her career in a new industry and country. 

“Dad what do you do at work?” Hear Fernando’s answer. 

‘You can’t put a price on professional growth’ – how Cytiva has added value to my career

Published on August 11, 2022 – by Maria Ong

I live my life in the fast lane – both professionally and socially. I keep an active lifestyle, enjoying boxing and pursuing my passion for speed. I’m guilty of driving fast and, of course, I love Formula 1. In my professional career, I have the same fast-paced drive, constantly pushing myself to evolve, learn more, and take on new challenges.

Before Cytiva I was working in the IT industry. When I joined a biopharma company, I found a different company purpose which focused on helping improving people’s health and save lives. This resonates with who I am. My dad had brain cancer, so I have personally seen the impact of the work our industry and company does. This is just one of the areas that are supported by the industry I work in, and this is something I never forget. Work can be busy but the purpose of what we do drives me to keep going.

I have an engineering background but don’t consider myself a scientist. So, when I joined Cytiva I had a lot of questions about the products we sell and the terms we use. Instead of worrying about this, I saw it as a huge learning opportunity and found that as my interest grew, so did my understanding. The support of colleagues was critical. When I reached out to product managers, they were all very open and never too busy to teach me about the business. Everyone at Cytiva has a different perspective but they all share one attribute: everyone is willing to help and support.

In 2021, I felt that I needed a breakthrough in my career and to try something new. In my role as Commercial Excellence Leader, my focus was to serve internal customers, but I wanted to feel a better connection to our external customers. I wanted to see the direct impact of my work in customer operations, revenue, and driving profitability in Cytiva. I knew that I needed to develop my skillset to achieve this and so that is what I did.

Now in my current role as Pricing Leader, I love what I do. I love working with numbers, pricing products using a value-based methodology and ultimately making profit. Every day in my new role, I believe I am achieving my goal and feel closer to the business and the customer.

Many different colleagues have inspired me during my time at Cytiva, however, working with female leaders has proved particularly motivational to me. Seeing the career opportunities that women have had here encourages me to strive for the same. I have also reached out to some of the female leaders at Cytiva and they have all been very kind to coach me when I needed help.

Throughout my career at Cytiva I feel fortunate to have worked on projects that are truly unique. I was selected to be a Cytiva brand ambassador in the early stages of creating the brand. It was eye-opening for me, working at the time as a Commercial Excellence Leader, seeing the brand come to life. Seeing first-hand the contemporary style of Cytiva, I saw how the brand reflected a company with a forward-thinking and innovative mindset. I believe the Cytiva brand is personal and relatable, and this is something that everyone is aligned on.

Never being afraid to ask for help and support has really been the key to my growth and career development so far at Cytiva. I learned very quickly that people want to help, but if they don’t know you want help, they can’t help you. It is so important to articulate your goals to achieve them. I’m really excited to see how I can grow alongside Cytiva in the future. Looking back now, I question myself, why didn’t I study bioengineering at school? In my opinion, the life sciences industry is the best place to be.

Relaunching and redefining my career with Cytiva

Published on September 26, 2022 – by Nisha Sinha 

I came to the USA in 2013, putting my career in India on hold. Raising my two sons became my priority and I invested my time in volunteering activities for local non-profit organizations in my town as an independent writer and publicist. Fast forward to 2020, I wanted to return to work but the COVID-19 pandemic derailed me. When I looked again for work opportunities, I found Cytiva. My professional background is in journalism and communications, so applying for a role in commercial marketing was a big step into the unknown for me - but I am so glad that I took that step! I joined Cytiva in Jan 2022.

Looking back when I was interviewing for Cytiva, I saw a challenge in learning about the life sciences industry, with a lot of passion. The passion to create value in human life drives me personally. I could see my personal life goals blending with my professional ones. Cytiva’s vision and mission struck a chord with me, and I saw a path forward. Fortunately, things worked out at the right time. My hiring manager, David Rubin recognized my willingness to learn, drive for growth, collaborative skills, and my readiness for a challenging work.

During my onboarding, I received huge support from David and my mentor, Radhika Jayakar, MBA who helped me understand the organization and the work that we are doing. My manager’s role has been imperative in helping me align my personal development with my professional goals. And my mentor has been a strong guiding force in my learning journey. She has been in the industry for more than 20 years and has faced similar challenges of being a woman in business. Working predominantly from home, I relied on my mentor to help me navigate the organization and manage the balancing act of a full-time employee and working mother with ease.

As a mother returning to work with a big career gap, I recognized Cytiva as a company that was willing to accept diversity of culture, invest in me and to transition my skills to the role. I love what I do because Cytiva embraces me as a working mother with flexible hours whilst offering learning and professional development opportunities. Attending virtual meetings with industry experts and leadership teams seemed intimidating initially, but with the support of my team and peers, I always felt included. Just three months into my role I was involved in the Enterprise Solution and Automation and Digital Summit for 2022. The purpose of this three-day remote event was to create awareness across our sales and commercial organization about our current Automation and Digital and Enterprise Solution offerings.

The agenda focused  on sharing how we can understand, differentiate, and sell our solutions. What are the challenges customers have with our implementations and how we can best address them? This event brought together 300+ associates including global account executives, account managers, modality specialists, enterprise solution business development managers, product managers, and other stakeholders who benefited from the event.

This project massively fast tracked my learning. In preparation and during the event I was virtually meeting with experienced individuals, seeing the behind-the-scenes work and actively participating in the entire process. In terms of success of the Summit, the attendance stats speak for itself. We wanted the teams to have greater confidence and feel energized after the meetings and the feedback showed just that. The Summit organizing team was proud of the event’s success.

Working at Cytiva is an empowering experience for me, as each day brings a new challenge. What I love best is that I have the freedom to advance my career, and work in a diverse culture that fosters inclusivity in terms of culture, industry experience, skills and many more. Working in a respectful environment is important and fulfilling for me.

I challenge myself the way I do things and try to continuously improve myself. With no biotech background, I am enjoying my development journey of how a Life-Science business like Cytiva works, besides its products and processes. And I know that somewhere I am playing a crucial part for our customers and their patients.

Impressive? Exciting? Inspirational? We think so, too.

If this sounds like a place you can see yourself working at, take a look at our career website and come join a team full of passionate people creating innovative solutions for now and the future of the life sciences.

Thank you for reading our fourth quarterly blog post.