Anna Stetsovskaya Hamilton W'07

LinkedIn: Feel free to reach out to Anna on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/astetsov/

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

I graduated from Wharton in 2007. I concentrated in Management and received a Minor in Psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences.

What do you do now and where are you based?

Currently, I'm based in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm leading the Central Strategy and Operations team for Google's Devices and Services business. In this role, my team and I help our executives make better decisions as we grow. I really enjoy the variety of topics and different functions that I get to interact with.

What has your career journey looked like?

After graduating from Penn, I started my career as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where I primarily worked on healthcare projects. I learned so much about problem-solving and navigating ambiguity, and I was ultimately exposed to a lot of different industries and functions.

After 3 years of consulting, I attended Harvard Business School for my MBA. My goal was to take a step back and explore my interests in the medium term. I spent my summer interning at Google during my MBA, and that experience gave me a lot to think about.

I returned to Google in 2014, and spent my first couple of years working on consumer marketing in Google Fiber, Google's Internet service provider business in the United States. I got to do marketing day-to-day, thinking about what's important to the consumer and figuring out how to communicate with them. I also became a people manager there, leading a team for the first time. Then, a couple of years ago, I started to miss my strategy roots. I wanted to stay with Google, and I was fortunate to join Google's new hardware business. That's where I've been for the past 3 years.

What has been the biggest challenge of your career?

The most challenging time for me was a few years ago, when the team that I was part of was going through a tremendous change. Our leadership team, mission, and the direction of the business were changing, and at the same time, I was facing a really challenging period in my personal life. Both of those things happening simultaneously created this environment that I found was the most challenging part of my career. Looking back, I felt like I had a loss of control. I was trying to navigate the changes at work with the changes that were happening in my personal life. So, I came to the conclusion that I had to make a change at work. I spent an entire year networking and looking for a new position internally. What I described earlier about going from my marketing role with Google Fiber to a strategy role in the hardware business was a year-long transition. I was really trying to find a position that aligned with my goals. Thankfully now, when I look back at it, I feel like I've come out stronger on the other side.

What was your favorite part of Penn/Wharton?

I had an incredible time at Penn and Wharton. It's difficult for me to just pick one thing. I think my favorite part ultimately was being able to meet other students from all over the country and all over the world. I really value the relationships that I continue to this day. I love the beautiful campus – I loved walking on Locust Walk! Also, I loved the incredible guest speakers that came to visit. I highly encourage you to participate in these guest speaker events.

What advice do you wish you had known when you were an undergraduate?

I wish I had known just how much opportunity there is in your 20s and, frankly, in your 30s to try different career paths, to be able to work abroad, and to figure out what you like and what you don't. As an undergrad, seeing business leaders coming to campus and oftentimes telling us to find our passion seemed overwhelming to me. I used to question whether every person was supposed to have a singular passion. At this point, I've been exposed to enough different industries and functions to have a sense of what feels right for me and what I'm excited to work on. This helps inform each of my career steps as I go along. So, I wish I just understood how true it was that you really have the space and time to try different things in your 20s and 30s.

Something else I wish I had known is to lean into my strengths more. Focusing on our development areas, which are the things that we need to get better at, is important. However, the reality is that each of us has unique natural strengths, and we should always try to lean into those strengths as we make our choices or as we decide about projects at work. It's a cycle; if you're good at something, you then have some success in it, and you get more excited about it. It's positive reinforcement versus always focusing on the things you need to get better at.

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

Just expose yourself to variety, because you don't know what you'll end up liking – maybe you'll get really excited about a function that you didn't anticipate. When I graduated, consulting was one of those environments that gave me variety. However, I think you can also accomplish that in rotational programs or even by going into a small company and just wearing a lot of different hats. I think it's something that is really important in the beginning of a career.

How has being a woman affected your career trajectory, if it has?

I feel like the most influential factors on my career trajectory have been the choices of the company, the stage of growth the business is in, my managers, and luck. I've had as many experiences in my professional life where I worked for female leaders as male leaders. I couldn't perceive how being a woman has positively or negatively impacted my career trajectory, but I started thinking about being a parent and the impact of that on my career. It's something I'm still in the early stages of understanding. I took 6 months off work with my first child, and I'm currently taking another 6 months of maternity leave with my second. Looking back at the first time, I'm always going to value these times with my kids because time is not something I can ever get back. I think in the span of a long career, 6 months is not much time at all. However, since I'm new to parenting, I'm still trying to sort out what kind of impact this is going to have on my career trajectory.

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

My answer to this has shifted now that I have kids. Before you have kids, it's not as hard to do this because you have more control over your time; for me, it was more about my own prioritization, like what was important for me at that time and making my own independent choices. Now with kids, I feel like it's really difficult to balance these things, especially during the pandemic. There's an extra layer of complexity that you've never had to think about before.

What helps with the balance is that my husband and I share caretaking as much as possible and that the team that I'm part of at Google has been incredibly supportive throughout my pregnancies and parenting journey. This support system helps me to be able to maintain some balance, and I’m so grateful for this. When it comes to professional development, especially at this stage, I have some longer-term goals in mind that I'm working toward, but I try not to be too hard on myself when I evaluate progress toward them.

What's your favorite place you've ever been to?

I love Australia! I studied abroad there when I was an undergrad – I did an exchange program with the University of Melbourne. It's just an incredible place, and I've been able to return a few times. The nature is so beautiful, and there are so many different environments – beaches, mountains, the outback. It's just lovely! I wish I could go back there now!