Creators are the heart and soul of Tealfeed. As they continuously work towards feeding us more information every day, it's only fitting to bring out their journey for the world to know.

In this series “Creators Spotlight”, we are asking our creators about their journey. Watch out for them sharing their journey and getting candid with us. Today we have with us Connie Kwan

Connie Kwan, Chief Product Officer at Product Maestro, talks about some important life lessons and shares what drives her to create content!

Continue reading to find out more!

Who has been the biggest influence in your life? What lessons did that person or those people teach you?

Many people gifted me the lessons that shape who I am today.  I will call out just two lessons here.

• My mom drops things and bumps corners, she has been partner dancing for years but sometimes still steps on her partner. But she’s not afraid to laugh about it. She’s almost always happy and has a positive outlook. She taught me the most valuable lesson to be a proper human, which is to not take myself too seriously and to enjoy the present.
• When I started at Atlassian, my manager Nick Wade told me a Yoda truth, which is “you must unlearn what you have learned.” I had come freshly from Microsoft with all its heavyweight processes, and I had to quickly unlearn some habits that no longer served me. Indeed, I walk around with many assumptions, and life is a never ending series of unlearning and relearning.

How important a role does content play in your life? Are you a full-time content creator? Why did you start creating content?

I am the creator of a Storytelling Class for Product Leaders, a Storytelling Type system, and I write about Storytelling and Product Strategy part-time. The road to product leadership is rough and uneven, especially so for women and minorities.

By sharing my knowledge on storytelling and influence, I want to smooth the path for those who wish to walk this path with me. 

What’s that one aspect of being a content creator no one talks about?

I think content creators do talk about this aspect, but I did not fully comprehend it until I started creating. It is the Fear of Rejection. Before I hit publish these questions always go through my head:

“What if nobody cares? What if what I’m creating is irrelevant? What if I’m irrelevant?”

My work never feels ready for prime time. But the trap is to withhold publication indefinitely, and never letting my work see the light of day. I can’t say it gets easier yet, maybe in time.

What’s the most satisfying part of being a content creator?

To see my students build confidence. To have one of them, a CEO of a startup, come back recently to me and say, and this is an exact quote: 

“I’m giving a talk at an upcoming developer conference. Really glad I took this course! 😆🤞”  

What are you up to currently and what are your long-term career goals?

I teach Storytelling to Product Leaders, and I consult as a Fractional Chief Product Officer for seed to Series B companies in B2B SaaS.

What drives you to create content regularly?

Folks pointed out to me that my superpower is structuring information into relevant stories. I summarize their vision or provide a metaphor that they can connect with. I hope to share content that helps people see information in a new light.

What’s the most challenging part of being a content creator?

To create and publish without knowing if it’ll resonate. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t, and I have to be ok with it.

How do you make sure that you aren’t affected by nasty comments and negative things said about you?

Constructive criticism is welcome and useful.  For unconstructive negative feedback, the ‘haters’, I keep a positive feedback journal that I can reference to offset the bad mojo.

What's success for you and when you would consider yourself to be successful?

Having a community of people who benefited from my creations.

To every individual who’s planning to start out as a content creator, what would you like to advise them?

Your creation, it’s never ready, just ship it and iterate.