Stephanie Nour Prince is a Community Manager at Wamda, a platform designed to empower entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa region. Stephanie is an avid reader, a big fan of music, and loves discovering startups and testing new apps and platforms. Connect with her on Twitter at @stephanienour or by e-mail at stephanie@wamda.com.
Stephanie’s Agenda:
7:30 – 9:00 AM
I wake up pretty early, so by 7:30 AM I’m either walking my dogs or catching up on some reading before heading out to work. Starting from last year, I’ve added a morning workout routine that I try to stick to. It helps keep stress at bay and prepares me for the day. I’ve also quit driving about two years ago, so I use taxis and more recently, heavily depend on Uber and Careem. On my commute, you’ll find me catching up on some reading (I have a big appetite for news on everything ‘startup’: launches, investments, emerging markets, etc.), and going through emails – all while listening to music.
9:00 – 10:30 AM
The Editorial team at Wamda, who is also based in Beirut, usually gets to the office between 8:30 and 10:00 AM, and that’s when we usually have quick huddles to sync up on what is coming up during the day, and discuss feedback and questions from the community. I also reserve that timeslot for sifting through emails and responding to them. This way, I can dedicate the larger chunk of my day to focusing on other tasks. Generally, that is followed by checking on replies, comments, and any type of outreach from or to members of the Wamda community, before settling in for some research. This also is, in part, my ‘listening’ time.
10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
I manage Wamda’s online presence and relationship with our audience. Recently, I’ve also been spending some time understanding how our audience consumes articles. As an ecosystem accelerator, Wamda operates through various arms, namely: the Media site, the Wamda Capital fund, the Research Lab, and the Advisory and Community Programs. These arms are mostly run by separate teams that operate in sync with one another; as someone who works on the community front, my responsibilities aren’t exactly limited to one of these arms. So between 10:00 AM and 12:30 PM, I’m usually updating the week’s social content matrix.
12:30 – 1:30 PM
Time for lunch! During the work week, my lunch is usually spent at the desk, while going through recent Wamda content and regional news, and catching up on activity on different social media channels. But on Fridays, the team has developed a tradition of having lunch together, and we try to stick to it no matter what.
1:30 - 4:30 PM
That is mostly dedicated to the projects we’re currently working on, but it also involves more data, research, and planning. For example, we’ve recently built custom Google Analytics dashboards that heavily rely on data pulled from our platform, so I’ve been spending a good amount of time testing them to make sure we are able to derive actionable insights.
I also spend a significant time to help out the Research Lab when it comes to launching a new report or gathering returns from a Wamda ‘Mix N’ Mentor’ event. And that keeps my tasks varied. The most challenging aspect of my work is context-switching. Working across teams often requires jumping from one context to the next. It’s not as much a challenge as it is a process that we’re trying to streamline. I think it’s extremely important to understand how each ‘pod’ within Wamda functions, and it helps me better explain what we do. As mentioned, our activities span across different arms and we often get questions around that.
As the Media site is trilingual, we also get feedback on translation as some words or expressions are used quite differently by the various dialects of the region. It is not a problem per se, but it does come up quite often. So we’re in the process of developing a tool that will help keep a centralized bank of terms and their translations. A more pertinent problem is the speed of the internet. Everything I do and all the tools that I use require a connection to the internet, so when for whatever reason the internet is slow, I could be set back a good few hours.
4:30 - 5:30 PM
I try to tie up any loose ends before leaving the office, so that means checking up on scheduled content for the next day to come, answering any pending emails or requests, but it also involves getting feedback and updates from entrepreneurs. Those chats are my favorites. When interaction is offline, it is often during Mix N’ Mentor events where we get to network with startup founders and listen to what they’ve been up to since the last Mix N’ Mentor in their city. It’s quite inspirational. Another one of my favorite aspects of the job is sharing our content with members of the community who want to launch their own ventures and are looking for advice of any kind. With the introduction of the Wamda Research Lab, I also have tangible research data to share. Working across different teams, and in a very fast-paced industry, also allows for constant learning and I don’t think I’d ever be able to work in an environment that doesn’t promote that.
5:30 - 8:30 PM
My afternoons are reserved for a young student I mentor. I started supporting her when she was still a tiny Minnie, so it is only natural that we’ve developed an interesting bond. She’s a brilliant child, a very promising writer, and I find that she keeps me grounded and helps me keep a healthy, balanced outlook on things.
9:00PM – 11:00 PM
My days are pretty busy, so by the time the so-to-speak ‘working day’ is over, it takes me some time to absorb the day’s events, analyze, and be ready to interact with people on a social level. I mostly go back to music and browsing the internet for light content. I have to add that disconnecting is also quite challenging – and my friends and family can attest to that – I’m often the one with her buried in her phone. Call it ‘Fear Of Missing Out’ (FOMO), but I like to stay updated on all kinds of news, so I may check or send that one last email while in the middle of dinner. Worth it, though, it is something I’m actively working on keeping at a healthy level.
A piece of advice if you too want to work as a Community Manager: You need to be hungry, and care like crazy. If you’re not data-driven and are not the type to hustle, you will find it difficult to put yourself in the end user’s shoes. You need to go out, get to know your community, test new things (even if you’re not totally convinced at first), iterate and adapt, and never be afraid of making mistakes (who doesn’t make mistakes?). Another very important lesson that you must learn is how to make the difference between information and noise. Learn how to curate early on, and you’ll avoid losing focus and burning out!
