Women of HubSpot | Sarah Medilo: Be Fearless, Do Good On Purpose

Welcome to the Women of HubSpot Podcast. The show that celebrates the voices shaping marketing, technology, and the ever-evolving HubSpot ecosystem. Hosted by George B. Thomas from Sidekick Strategies, each episode brings you the stories, strategies and superpowers of the women driving this industry forward. It's their time. It's their mic. This is Women of HubSpot. Hey, listen, ladies and gentlemen, viewers, humans. Welcome back to another episode of Women of HubSpot. I want you to get your notepad ready because today's guest is going to add some ripples to your world. Now, here's the thing. It's been a while, but I don't know two years ago. It was a football game. My daughter started talking about the quarterback and all of a sudden, this podcast was born. If you're like, what are you talking about? Go back and listen to some of the historical episodes where I actually tell the story. But I'm excited because I'm not here alone. Join me today is Sarah Medelio Revops lead at Foundry for Good. And before we even get rolling, let me give you the runway here because it is Wild Apple, Adobe, Autodesk, like two decades across some of the biggest names in tech. And then she goes on to lead the top HubSpot Diamond partner in the Philippines. Some of you like may even know this human because she has been inbound now formally known inbound and will be unbound moving forward. Help stand up the HubSpot partner user group for South and Southeast Asia serves on the HubSpot partner advisory council. Little is goes on ladies and gentlemen now from her home base in the Philippines. She is doing her thing again for the company out of Atlanta and helping mission driven organizations nonprofits health care education faith based the humans who serve other humans actually grow. Listen, let's go ahead and get into this. I want to just start to have the conversation Sarah. Welcome to women of HubSpot podcast. I'm pumped that you're here. How are you doing today? Very well George. It's it's such an honor to have a voice for your Asian audience. I believe this is the first time you have a guest from Asia. So like 12 hours apart. Yeah, it might be it might be I know I think one of the other places was Africa, which I was like, oh my gosh. When we did that, but yeah, you're right. I think this might be the first Asian opportunity for the podcast. So that's that's going to be fun. And also to be honest with you and the audience that is watching your listeners. I'm excited because I get to know a little bit more about you than I know now. And I know I know a good amount because we've known each other for years. I'll never forget the first time we met. I think it was like a guitar key chain and like a couple of the things that you brought from the Philippines. When we met it inbound, but let's let's get into this. Sarah, if we could go back in time, let's pretend we have a Delorean or something, a time machine. Maybe it's a phone booth thing, whatever. Yeah, I'm throwing all the references for time travel here. Sarah, if we could go back in time and see young Sarah just starting out one, what would we see? And two, what would she be most surprised by about where you are now in life? This is something you don't know George, but I actually graduated with a BA in political science from at the end of the vanilla here in the Philippines. So I never thought that I would be in tech. I always thought that I would, you know, go and build my own law firm. And you know, life happens. I actually had my first child right off college. So I wanted to get a job. And surprisingly, I selling myself, I don't want to be in sales. I don't want to be in sales because it's it's all this hard sell back in the 90s. That's what people do. And like, you know, the electro locksman knack on your door, but I found myself actually starting my career working for one of the leading IT companies in the Philippines, IT distribution company. Well, I do a selling company in the Philippines and I was I actually sold come back computers. Do you remember the. Oh, wow. I did. So I sold come back computers and then went on to sell compact servers and then it wasn't HP then yet. But you know, I was doing well selling and I found out that I was actually good at selling and my secret sauce was really just the charm building the relationship listening to people trying to understand like what made them tick? But what are their motivations and oftentimes I would close deals big deals actually was the account executive for one of the fast food chains in the Philippines. You know this because it they're already in in in the US their global jolly bee jolly bee was my client. And I would sell to them and every time I would get their purchase orders, you know, the facts machines will be unusable for like two hours because they send me so many peos. So surprisingly, I thought I didn't like sales, but I love sales. But that wasn't enough for me, George. After after doing so much sales, I wanted to understand how products work. So I wanted I wanted to product marketing. So when I left that company, I actually took a job as a product manager for this is how old I am for a dial up card. I was doing internet, which is a it was the top internet card in the Philippines. So I was doing marketing for that. So when I look back at my the old Sarah, I saw how like things change things shift and the shift that was happening to me when I was younger was of course things came because I wanted to do to learn more to see a different picture. I went from sales to product marketing. I became a product manager. And then after you know the dot com era when it all fell down, I actually moved to a distributor that sold Apple compute Apple computers. I was the Apple product manager for the IT distributor here in the Philippines. That was my big opportunity. Apple saw promise I guess in me and I went and worked for Apple Southeast Asia where I was with the team that handled the rest of Southeast Asia or Rosa. I was selling Apple computers and doing strategic accounts for 16 countries in the region. Surprisingly, George, I was actually in war rooms with them. Cook. He's on my eye chat. Oh wow. Okay. So so that was a total flex right there. Just let me drop this in there. So it's funny because you literally did take us back in time. We talked about compact. You mentioned facts machines dial up but but what's fun is amongst all of that I heard. So I'm really looking at relationships listening growth mindset being able to pivot like there's just some kind of hidden secrets even in the beginning of what we're talking about. And so it's been a very interesting journey that you've had. I'm super curious along this journey like who have you said Tim Cook but I'm still going to ask the question along this journey who have been some of the biggest inspirations or mentors along the way and what did you learn from those folks? George talking about career. There are two people in my life that I felt really helped me become me in this professional space. I would say my first boss when I was selling compact computer computers. Her name is Mona Chua. She's not in the industry anymore. In fact, I saw her recently and she runs a Chinese store selling food now but working with her she really thought me the foundation. She taught me work ethic being you know on time when you have commitments. I started work when I was like 20 because back then we graduate at 90 and you start working 20 so I wasn't very disciplined then there were times when she would say where Sarah and her friends did they go billion since last night because they're late. So I was in like the perfect employee then but I learned hard work with her too. She taught me a lot of things about being consistent and just getting the calls in you know back then you would do cold calling you go through yellow pages. Oh my gosh. A building and look at the director and decide who you're going to talk to. So you know it was it it's not like how people sell now right it was very manual. So she taught me that. And then the second person that really motivated and inspired me was my boss at Apple. His name is Gerard Chua. He's now with Microsoft. He you know I really wait for him for giving me that chance because that was my first 40 in two. like the global space or at least the regional space. He gave me autonomy to create the relationships that I needed to build the right accounts for the countries that we serve. And in fact, at 26, 27, he nominated me to speak at one of our sales rallies. And at 27, your old, everyone was like, in the region was wondering, who's this 27, your old talking about? The lighthouse companies that we're doing in Apple. So I really happy that he saw that spark in me and he allowed me to shine at such a young age. - It's interesting because again, the ability as leaders to be able to give humans autonomy, to be able to see their worth maybe even before they do. And you mentioned this like spark. I love that. Sometimes there's the exact opposite of that. So I'm super curious, Sarah, 'cause by the way, so far this journey has been absolutely amazing. You are dropping some major organizational and human names. But along your journey along the way, have there been any hurdles or biases that you've had to overcome in your career? And if so, how did you navigate those in those moments? - I guess the biggest one would be the shift from, 'cause you mentioned earlier, I led the top agency in the Philippines. We were diamond in less than two years. But you, my friend, you know, I did have to give that up two years ago. And it was something for personal, of course. At personal decision, I had to make for family. So my mom has Alzheimer's and she's in her late stage. And while that company was doing very well and I met so many people, helped so many people. I had employees who were happy, but I kind of like, you know, running that company talked so much from me. It was a 24/7 job. And at my age, I felt, you know, Sarah's in the entrepreneurial space already, in that career point. And I was there. And you know, it was my husband who told me, you know, your mom's not gonna be here for so long and you're not even there. You're not even there. You can't even carve the time. I felt, at that time, I felt like I didn't have time to do things, you know. So I was actually activating other family members to cover for what I needed to do. So giving that company up and talking to my partner and having her takeover was a big thing. It was hard for me to let go, actually. It was a big hit on my ego, because I felt like I had to stop everything. But I knew I was doing it for something that was very important to me. So I let go, focused on my mom, focused on ensuring that everything is stable with her. I was ready to take a break and just be with my mom. But I also realized that I'm not the type of person who just wanna do, who won't do things. So there was an opportunity for me to actually lead DevOps for a local bank here in the Philippines at top, trade in well bank here in the Philippines security bank. So I talked that job, it was a hybrid job. So I would go to the office, but also could work from home. However, the role was focused on helping our the wholesale banking segment sales team, which was your nationwide. So I was also doing some traveling there. So I thought I was gonna be a banker, you know. I had the best setup. It was hybrid, I could still be with my mom. I had the best benefits. And then this opportunity when Founder for Good came. So when the founder found different good, actually called me, I flat out told him, I'm not interested, I'm okay with the back. But for some reason, I don't know if it's serendipity or God's hand, George, but during the Holy Week of last year. First, I was looking through LinkedIn and I found that message again. It showed up again or the founder of Founder for Good showed up again. And I said, I wonder what this is, what Founder for Good is. So I went and looked. And when I saw that it was a venture capitalist supporting businesses that sell to the mission driven sector and nonprofits, I said, oh my God, this is like perfect for me. Because I actually are director for several nonprofits and the Philippines myself. So three nonprofits that I support. One for peace building, teach peace, build peace movement, one for photography, one portrait, which where we teach kids how to take pictures in Parflong areas. And then we hold exhibits in their communities. And it's amazing the pictures that these kids do. And then a third one called classroom sampagasa, where we build classrooms in the remote areas in the Philippines. So yes, Sarah is an activator, likes doing more many things. But I feel like this is my heart, like doing nonprofit work. So when I saw the opportunity, you found it for good. I had to have a pause and think about it. And I ended up taking the job, which is a great set of for me. Work from home, I have a split shift. Mornings in Manila is for building where people in Atlanta are sleeping or in the US are sleeping. And then in the evenings I get to talk to people, which is something that I really enjoy. Sarah, it sounds like you are a busy gal. And you are doing all sorts of things in all sorts of places, which means that you are running into talking to humans. And you have been on a fantastic journey. I'm super curious, talk to me through a moment that you may have faced where you felt maybe underestimated, maybe even felt overlooked, maybe kind of out of place. And how did you handle that when you maybe ran into that situation in life? I'm a nation. So it's very different the way people see. When you work for a global firm or you work for people in different countries, there are certain cultures that you see in the workplace. And typically when I first come into a conversation and they hear, oh, she's from the Philippines, there's a bias there. Or she's Asian, there's a bias there. And when I think about it, I feel the grace behind it is because when I actually started working in the global space, I had already started my journey to really understand who I am. So I was very clear about who I am, what I brought. So when I started working with Apple, I worked with different people from the United States of Beneton. So I saw the culture differences. I saw how people behaved, how they reacted to things. So I learned how to not make judgment and actually wait to see where they're coming from. So there are going to be biases around, but it is very important for us to give another person a chance, allow the story of that person to show up so that we could understand them better and so that we can relate to them better and we can communicate to them better. So that's a lesson that took me decades to learn, took me decades to not even going to call it perfect because I know I'll meet other people that might be difficult, but it's really just being able to see where they're coming from and where those energies are influenced. First of all, that's probably a rewind spot, ladies and gentlemen, because there were just some golden nuggets right there as far as the idea of holding judgment, waiting. But I even want to back up a little bit further where Sarah, you're like, I'm knowing who I am and what I bring. And there is an undertone in the beginning of your story and what you're just sharing of the importance of identity. And your identity as a human and what you believe about yourself, what you invest in yourself, how you grow yourself, how you present yourself, it's absolutely fabulous. The other place that we've arrived other than a rewind spot for the audiences, we officially got past the canyon questions. And Sarah, this is one of the reasons that I love you so much is that it didn't even feel like a canyon. But those were the questions that usually are like the hardest parts of life. And so now we get to crest up the hill. And so I get to ask you the question that I'm very curious about when it comes to you and who you are and who you've made yourself into be. And that is for you, Sarah, what does empowerment mean to you? And how do you pass that empowerment on to others in your field? In this job, I'm actually like mentoring and coaching people and skilling up people because that's the work of Revops, really, working to be able to help people understand their systems data processes. And the people behind it and allow them to use technology to be able to do it. grow their businesses. So when I think about like how do you empower someone, it's very important to listen. Listen first and be able to give space for people to be clear about where they want to go and be clear about what impact they want to bring. When you're working with younger folks or older folks, you know, that hierarchy and career, it's oftentimes people are directed. That was like the old way. People are directed, you know, even as a mother, I find myself directing my kids towards a path. But I realized that the better approach and the more effective approach is actually to be able to listen and allow people to see how they see themselves to grow. And listening allows us to be able to guide also. I love the fact that I spend an investment to learn how to coach. I'm actually a Gallup certified French coach. And I'm also a positive intelligence coach. And I practice non-violent communication. So all these coaching frameworks actually helped me be able to like create a chicken soup for the people that I'm serving. And the first part there is really listening with our ears and listening with our whole body. And being able to give that space and provide empathy for people that we are creating relationships with. It's funny. You're like, I'm a certified this coach and that coach and my crazy weird brain was like, man, if I get to the end of this podcast and she tells me that she's been an astronaut at some point in time in her life, I'm going to lose my mind. But let's get serious for a second because you just shared kind of your thoughts around empowerment and empowering other people. And so I want to take us back in the way back machine for a second again, because I'm curious. Now that we have this shared understanding of what you consider empowerment, can you share a moment in your career where you felt especially empowered or proud of something that you had achieved? You know, it's funny because when I shifted to working for Foundry for Good, it was a very different network, different environment. So here in the Philippines, people know me. So I have, you know, I've been here for most of my life. So in my career, I've built relationships with CEOs, CEOs, actually the people who I was selling to in my 20s, you know, they became a sea sweet people. And it was easy for me to like create opportunities for my business then. But now I actually work with people who don't know me. And there is an instance where in I was actually guided by, you know, I got feedback from one of the presidents of the companies that we serve at Foundry for Good and said that he said that, you know, you need to learn how to like be stronger with your introduction Sarah. You know, that made me think and maybe pause. I haven't really thought about like, you know, bragging about all of the things that I do. I never really do that. Unless, you know, it comes in a conversation, but I don't bleed with this is my acolyte. And I've always felt the reason behind that is because I'd like to be able to, I'd like to be more approachable to people in terms of them seeing that I'm here to listen. And I think that's that's super power that I'd like to bring always that openness and that ability to be able to always help. That's why I love what you say, all they say, George, to be the happy humble humans and help for humans. That's what I want to be. And I, you know, that's why I'm in your tribe. I listen to you all the time. And that's what we need in this world. There's so many things happening. And there are a lot of stresses and a lot of things that distract us from the good. And that's what I want to do intentionally. So when I think about that, you know, you really just have to give yourself that space so that you can be present to people that you just do. I love this idea of intention. And you just named it, but being present. It's funny because I have not shared two things that come to mind. One, I haven't really ever shared publicly. Whenever I go speak, I will get asked like by some person who has been deemed to be in a room to introduce me who they have no clue who I am. And they'll need to read a script of like all of this cool stuff that I've supposedly done. And usually one of the things I do when I walk into that room and meet that person, I'm like, did they give you a sheet to read? And they're like, yeah. And I'm like, good. Throw it away. And they're like, what do you mean? And like the only thing I want you to do is step on stage and say, ladies and gentlemen, welcome George B. Thomas. That's all I need you to say because anything that happened before I step on this stage has no bearing on what's going to happen once I step on the stage. And what's funny is you'll see people just relax and be like, I can say the guy's name. That's easy. The other thing to say that comes on mind because you brought up the whole, and remember, don't forget to be a happy, helpful humble human and do some happy, hub spotting along the way. Like the reason that that came about is yes, I wanted the community to show up that way. But it was a constant reminder after every video podcast episode is that like that's how I should show up. Things will work out if I can be that guy. And if the if the people out there guys and gals can embrace that, then it's just making a better world every time that I say it. And so it's fun to kind of hear you navigate into that and agree with this idea of we just need more of that in the world. So speaking of that, needing more of something in the world, Sarah, if I gave you a magic wand, it might be like Harry Potter, it might be like Disney. I don't know which kind of wand you would want to use. But if I could give you a magic wand and you could change one thing about how women are supported in this industry, what would be that one thing? This is a hot fake judge. I'd like our viewers to be fearless because things will happen in our lives. Shifts will happen in our lives. My own experience, you've seen me shift. I've talked about my shifts in my life. But the one thing that you can draw, that the one thing that you that can give you can make you courageous and brave is the fact that only you can look at things so that whatever comes into your life, you look at it in a lens that this can be a gift or an opportunity. Whether it's a bad thing, whether it's a good thing, things happen, but you can drive your journey, your path. So when you're thinking about success, it's not like the end journey, it's not an endpoint. It's often something that you're journeying towards. And I've always, what always has allowed me to be stronger and braver is the fact that I always believe that there's something bigger than me. And that something bigger than me, I actually speak to George every morning, I start my day with prayer, I meditate and tell myself, "Sir, your goal today is to intentionally do good." That has been my mantra. So whatever challenges comes, whatever stresses comes, I always just take a pause and remind myself, "Your purpose today is to intentionally do good." And even if things become tough, we have deadlines. Just a few days ago, I realized I'm going to miss a deadline because I didn't do anything about this, but I took a breath and I said, "You can do this. You still have time." And I think that was the greatest because I remember it, right? Because you have to allow yourself and forgive yourself if you make a mistake. Your mistakes actually make you even stronger. Take that mindset that everything will be a good, will be a gift or opportunity. I love that beefierless, positive outcome, positive intent. It's so much good in there. Again, hopefully people have their notepads out, their jottony sings down because we're talking about stuff that can literally help you from a foundational point of life, which makes this next question feel weird to pivot into, but hey, it is literally the question that we've got to ask because this is called the Women of Hubsbot podcast. And so I have to at least ask one Hubsbot question. And so Sarah, I am curious if there's a particular tool, strategy trend in Hubsbot or inbound the ecosystem in general that you're just currently excited about right now. Oh, George, you know, when I took that career break in between jobs and I wasn't doing Hubsbot at all. In the bank, I was doing Salesforce. So I was doing Hubsbot. When I came back last year in June, I was like, oh my god, this is a different world. And the buzz was AI. So the companies that are serving were thinking about about how do you become an AI first company and all of that. But last year, it was AI wasn't in the space that it is in now. And not a lot of people understood how to use AI, how you needed to give AI context, how you needed to be able to give AI guardrails. We didn't know that before. And now people are learning that AI is garbage in garbage out. So it's important that you set foundations. And I've been geeking out on what breeze assistance could do, breeze agents could do. I work with minimum 10 to 15 portal right now. So I can't do my work if I had, I didn't set up my assistants or I didn't set up my agents accordingly. We're hiring in Foundry for Good also now. So if there are students in the Philippines from Ataneu, UP Lasal, those top schools, or graduating, we have openings in Foundry for Good. So if I didn't have those AI agents or an assistants ready, I wouldn't be able to do things. And it's exciting what's happening now. And just earlier, I was listening to Kasey's another orange morning. And she was talking about agentec workflows. I was like, oh my god, that's another thing I have to look at. But these things don't make me scared because I know technology at the end of the day is created so that we could have better lives. You could have-- you could do more things. So I hope that people think about it that way too. They don't get scared of technology. And technology will always shift. It's our presence as humans that will make the difference when we're thinking about how do I intentionally do use these systems, these technologies. Then we can actually turn them to amplifiers for the good for us. Yeah, agentec workflows. Hot off the press, ladies and gentlemen. Just so you know, if you haven't checked it out, you need to go check it out. I'm pretty sure it's beta right now. I'm sure we'll also talk about it on the latest update show on Friday, which you might be watching or listening to this way after what I'm talking about. So just ignore that and go find the show. But here is the thing. But I have to ask something very specific to you. So go out of the Sarah Mentor mode, fully embrace that you're allowed to talk about yourself right now. And what has been-- because by the way, this has been one heck of a journey. And this conversation has been one heck of a conversation. But what has been the most rewarding aspect of your career so far? You know, for me, George, it's being able to do the things that I love and I love deck. And at the same time, being present with family, that was the unlock when I decided to let go of that entrepreneurial hot hat for me. I thought I would lead onto my career being an entrepreneur. And I'm not putting a dot on that or a period on that. Things can change. But I really enjoy the fact that I am an individual contributor right now, because it allows me to start my day and do things, and end my day and just focus on family. So having that time with my mom, being present with my mom, seeing my kids-- you know, Sam is getting married this year. So I'm going to-- I'm so happy about that. That's my eldest daughter who goes to inbound with me. And then my second daughter is graduating from college with education degrees. She's going to be a teacher. And then my young one, of course, is helping his dad with all his artwork. So we have a family that we enjoy being together and learning together. And I am so grateful that I have that now. I have that time with the family now. I don't like the term work-life balance, but I do like life integration. And it sounds like-- Working at the people. Yeah, you have it very integrated, which is amazing to hear. And hopefully an inspiration for others who want to get there. And the idea is becoming a pivot or transition specialist and allowing yourself to actually do that. OK, so as we land the plane, I've got three questions for you. You are where you are right now. And knowing you, there's always been something driving you. So, Sarah, I'm curious, like, what are-- from where you're at now, like, what are a few long-term goals from here that Sarah's trying to head towards? We just acquired land here in our second home. So we're actually building our retirement place. Where I'm calling you from, George, is in Kalatagan, which is a place near a fishing village overlooking the South China Sea. So that's the long-term goal to build out that place where we will retire. Yeah, that's really what I'm-- that's my north star right now. OK, actually, no, not moving on. I'm getting emotional to hear you talk about that one because just the visual that I got of a fishing village and overlooking the-- it's just like the word peace comes to mind. And so, Sarah, when I asked you what's your long-term goal, it wasn't like this hamster wheel or that hamster wheel or it was like, my goal, George, is peace. That's how I interpreted that, which I love because we, too, are on a journey of looking for the next, what will be the forever home and being able to build that into the sanctuary of what we want to have as we grow old and kids and all that good stuff grow old. So that's why I got emotional at that part. OK, now, back on with the regular schedule program. Sarah, what is-- we've learned a lot about you, by the way. But what is a surprising or little-known fact-- this is where the astronaut thing probably comes-- what's the surprising or little-known fact about you that people might not know or expect other than that Tim Cook is in your phone. But-- This is a curve ball again. But, George, when I was in high school, I actually was a ballerina and danced for the ballet Philippines. So-- So what I'm saying here really is, you know, and this is how I raise my kids. I allow them to have as many experiences as they can. And really discover where their talent is and really discover where they can grow. So I just wanted to drop that there. And that's like, you know, something no one knows actually in our HubSpot network. I mean, literally drop the mic because ladies and gentlemen, quit trying to escape life and just go experience it is where my brain goes when I hear that. And like, just embrace it and run with it and do all the things that you want to do. And don't let fear getting your way. OK, Sarah, as we get out of here, finish this sentence for me. Sarah, success to you means blank. The future is always going towards the future. And the future is always bright. When you see things as a gift or opportunity, you know, it's not an endpoint. You'll get it. You'll have happy moments. You'll have sad moments. But at the end of the day, when you're living your life to the fullest and you're enjoying everything that you experience, people that you meet, learnings that you get, you know, you are successful. And that's something that you can bring when you're present with others.