Kate Coney W'09

What did you study at Penn and when did you graduate? 

I studied Marketing and Retail and graduated in 2009. 

What were you involved with as an undergraduate?

I was involved in the Penn Running Club, Wharton Women, volunteer groups such as West Philly Tutoring, and I was a TA for one of the introductory Finance courses. 

What was your favorite part of Penn/Wharton?

The people at Penn and Wharton are some of the best and brightest, coming from all over the world to learn and teach. I loved the opportunity to learn alongside and from students and teachers all over the world. And of course this led to some great lifelong friends.  

The pre-professional nature of Wharton also very much suited my academic interests, as I was focused on taking only practical courses that I could see myself using after school. I know this can be a criticism of Penn, but for me this was an ideal fit.  

That said, I loved the opportunity to take classes outside of Wharton. I studied abroad in Athens at a Classics program and learned about ancient Greek athletics and culture.  Not something many business students get to experience!  I also took many classes in the school of Nursing as I considered minoring in Nutrition but fell a class short (couldn’t handle advanced biology!).  

And lastly, the number of opportunities to get involved outside of academics is incredible. I remember walking down Locust Walk early during Freshman year and being shocked by the hundreds of different student interest groups - truly something for everyone.

What has your career journey looked like?

I graduated in 2009, which was clearly not the easiest time to find a job, so I applied to everything and anything that fell within consulting and marketing. My only requirement was that I could live in Chicago. I ended up in a strategy group at a large consulting firm. It was a great first job as I got exposure to a variety of industries through the nature of the project-based work and I met a ton of awesome people. That said, the lifestyle was draining and unsustainable for me.

I applied to a million things in marketing and brand management but finally realized that I needed to focus my search and decided that I wanted to work for Google and made a concentrated effort to find a role in Chicago. At Google I moved between various sales and product specialist roles before landing in my current role, as a Global Product Lead focusing on growing our ads business in emerging markets. I sit between the product management team and global sales team and act as a conduit between the two to make recommendations on formats/features based on unique user/advertiser needs in these markets. It’s an incredibly dynamic role involving many stakeholder teams and I really enjoy the variety of work.  

What drew you to Google?

I had heard a lot of great things about working at Google and I was really looking for a positive work environment. I loved the diversity of what they do, their brand name, and how they really are one of the companies changing the world right now. 

How do you balance your personal life with your professional development?

This was definitely a challenge for me right out of college as I was in consulting and on the road, working insane hours 4 days a week. I found myself unhappy with the lack of personal time and quickly realized this was an unsustainable lifestyle for me. As much as travel sounds cool in theory when you’re a senior in college, the reality for me was I really loved being in Chicago with family and friends and no salary nor airline status was worth that tradeoff.  

When I was looking for my next job, I knew that this was a non-negotiable. During interviews, I asked my interviewers about how they managed work vs. personal life to get a sense for the lifestyle. It was clear to me that Google very much values employees having time outside of work to pursue their passions and spend time with family/friends. That’s not to say I don’t have late nights, especially given the global nature of my role, but these are generally balanced out by quieter times. As with most things in life, the workflow ebbs and flows and I’ve gotten better at getting ahead in the quieter times to make the busier times more manageable.    

What advice do you have for our members as they begin exploring careers and internships? 

Don’t feel like you need to know what you want to do with your career on day one, year one, or even when you graduate. Take courses that interest you and not those that you feel like you should from a networking perspective. There is no one path fits all and you can always change course if you don’t feel a fit.  

Take advantage of the many opportunities that Penn offers - from study abroad to the many clubs and interest groups. Personally, I think it is more valuable and impactful to focus on a few extracurriculars and go deep, but to each their own! 

In terms of the job search process, take advantage of learning about all the companies that come on campus, even those that might not have the biggest names, but also don’t limit yourself to just exploring companies that visit Penn. Think about networking not just during the moments you are looking for a job. And when you do network, think about what you can offer back.

Questions for Kate? Feel free to contact her at coneyk@gmail.com.