Product & Program Manager,
Product Operations Manager | Project Manager
Innovative product and team leader with 6+ years of experience driving digital initiatives, high-value product launches, building strong agile teams to deliver meaningful results.
Leverages a data-driven, customer-centric mindset with expertise in strategy, design, and problem-solving to build impactful solutions and empowered organizations.
My Story
I fell into Product Management in 2017 and am grateful to find a role that challenged me to continue learning quite early on. My first job was a Product Owner intern for a startup during college, that led into a full-time role while I completed the rest of my college courses in the evenings. Every PM role is unique, portfolio to portfolio, company to company.
What gets me up in the morning, is the problem-solving in different domains - be it, leadership, team cohesion, communication, strategic storytelling, product operations, etc. We have the opportunity to show up to a role that goes through mountains and valleys of change - if one feels supported, trusted and empowered by those around them, they get to make the choice every day to have an impact and influence on that change.
My journey in product has had chapters of delivery-focused roles, strategic-portfolio building, and operational efficiency focuses. Additional to my product experience, I had 2 years of startup experience building a new product category in the market, through an operational and finance lens. I truly believe in servant leadership, a bottom up grassroots approach. To create the psychological safety and conditions for teams to feel empowered to do their best work. To create the frameworks and conditions for teams to be self-organizing, autonomous, and empowered in their daily decision making.
I have had the opportunities to work in large product teams with multiple POs and PMs, a team of fullstack PMs, to being the only product person on the team. I have managed projects across various industries, including Transit, Learning & Development, E-comm Supportive Apparel Manufacturing, HR Information Systems, Health Technology, Asset Management Technology, Electronics & Manufacturing, and Utilities Mobile Workforce Management.
Throughout my journey in product, the most rewarding experiences has been building something that positively impacts the customers’ business growth. I truly love seeing and contributing to small business growth.
Portfolio Coming Soon….
Words From Others…
Brian Dwyer
Head of Product | Building Customer-Focused Products and High-Impact Teams
“Merina is an exceptionally talented professional whose impact on our team has been profoundly positive. Merina's strengths are numerous and diverse, but what truly sets her apart is her compassionate approach towards her teammates, and her deep empathy for our customers and stakeholders.
Her innate ability to drive impactful outcomes, coupled with her knack for bringing structure and clarity to complex situations, has been instrumental in our team's recent success. Merina possesses a rare combination of skills - from asking the most critical questions that get to the heart of any problem, to showcasing exceptional creativity in her solutions. Her communication skills are top-notch, evident in her compelling presentations and effective facilitation during team discussions.
Having Merina on our team has been a stroke of luck. Despite being early in her career, her potential is unmistakable, and it's exciting to imagine the heights she will undoubtedly reach. Her blend of talent and unwavering determination makes me confident that she will continue to achieve extraordinary things, and I wouldn't be surprised if one day I find myself "name-dropping" her name to impress others.
As a manager, Merina was a cornerstone of my team, consistently lightening my workload and bringing clarity without the need for any prompting. Her proactive approach and ability to anticipate needs made my job significantly easier, which I deeply appreciate.
In summary, Merina is a rare find in the professional world - someone who combines exceptional talent with a genuine desire to make a difference. I wholeheartedly recommend her and am excited to see where her career takes her. Any organization would be lucky to have her on their team.”
Software Developer | Tech Enthusiast | User-Centric Solutions Creator | Mentor and Educator at BrainStation
Merina and I worked on the same team at Sycle, for the last couple of months and I must say she is one of the best Product Owner I have come across. She is super detailed oriented and very well planned. She can adapt to changing situations and her technical knowledge is a great advantage for devs, since it makes it easy to coordinate with her on product related technical challenges. She is fun to work with and always open for feedback and looking for ways to improve the process.
Alden Salgado
Program Manager, Global Payments at Lululemon
I worked with Merina for the past year as part of the Sycle Product Development team. Merina has been an amazing culture shaper on the team. In a very traditional feature factory environment, she has been a successful champion for customer centricity and a “product mindset”. Being the go-getter she is, Merina even setup a Product Community of Practice as a forum for product people in the company to learn and grow! Merina is always a pleasure to work with and would strongly recommend her!
Dave Kruzeniski
Senior Product Manager
I've worked with Merina for nearly a year at Sycle. We’ve worked closely within the same team. In this time she has displayed a level of professionalism that I’ve never seen in someone so early on in their career. She has shown a passion for all things Product and often brings in new ideas, initiatives and insights into how the product team at Sycle can continuously improve. She is hyper organized and is known to follow through on the tasks that she undertakes. Merina has always tried to better understand the ‘why’ behind any project and make sure the needs of the customer are a core tenet in the solutions. She has garnered respect from the Sycle team through her hard work, strong written and verbal communication and ability to help solve problems. It has been a pleasure working with Merina over this past year and I am certain she has a bright future in Product!
Kenneth Li
Product Director - Technical Platform, Digital Migrations / Transformations, Coach and Lead
Merina came to MediaValet as an intern product owner/manager, a first for the company. I recall an abundance of enthusiasm and courage to tackle the various topics assigned to her. She has a personality that draws others to her, and was able to build and form great relationships with her peers and stakeholders to accomplish the task at a hand, whether it was a business requirement case or a breakdown of technical work for each sprint. She would be a great addition to any team.
Chief Marketing Officer (Teramind, Built with Science), Advisor (DosLados)
Merina brings process, commitment, focus and intensity to any deliverable she takes on. She works at a level, years above her experience, with the commitment and maturity of a senior team member, taking on complex projects, providing leadership within her team and exceeding expectations in her deliverables. I was lucky to work with Merina early on in her career, and I know that her tenacity, business acumen, and ambition will take her to the top leadership positions - the combination of ambition and capacity to deliver is next to none
Where I Learn
As the industry grows, we need to continue growing too! Here are some of my go-to sources to learn about the latest product methodologies and philosophies.