Originally published on GoDaddy Resource Library
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your career journey to date.
My career started out in traditional accounting with a focus on financial reporting, auditing, and the full CPA preparation route. It gave me a really solid base, but I pretty quickly figured out that I was more interested in using numbers to shape decisions than reporting out on what had already happened. That’s when I made the jump into Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) at HelloFresh, and that’s where everything finally clicked. I got to work directly with senior leadership on things like customer acquisitions and marketing ROI. I learned how to take data and tell a story with it, one that helps with strategic decision making.
GoDaddy has been a really great experience.
The scope of what I get to work on keeps me engaged and there’s always something new to dig into.
The partnerships I’ve built across the business and the depth of analysis the role demands are what I enjoy most. I also work with some brilliant individuals! The finance team is full of super talented, driven, and helpful people.
What tools, systems, or methods do you rely on most in your day-to-day work, and how have they changed the way you analyze information?
Excel is still the primary tool I rely on day-to-day. I know there are a lot of shiny new tools out there, but when it comes to financial analysis, nothing really replaces it. What I’ve focused on more over time is how I build in Excel rather than just what I build. I try to make sure our models are repeatable, easy for someone else to pick up, and actually useful for making a decision rather than just answering a question. More recently, I’ve been leaning on GoCaaS (GoDaddy’s own internal centralized platform that provides generative AI for GoDaddy employees and products to consume) to help stress test narratives and think through different ways to frame an analysis. It’s still early days in terms of how I use it, but it’s been a helpful thinking partner when I’m trying to figure out how a story might land with different audiences.
How do you translate complex financial data into insights that non-finance folks can actually understand and use?
The first thing I always try to figure out is who’s in the room and what they already know. There’s a big difference between presenting to a VP versus a marketing lead or an operations team. The aim is to make sure people are not lost or feel as if their time could have been better spent elsewhere, so understanding the audience upfront is very important.
From there, I think about whether visuals can do the heavy lifting. For example, something like a waterfall chart is way more intuitive than a table full of numbers when you’re trying to show what drove a variance. The right visual can make a complex story click in seconds in a way that a spreadsheet simply cannot.
But honestly, the most important thing is the “so what?” People don’t need to understand every number, they just need to know what to do with the information. Therefore, it’s important to land on a clear takeaway: here’s what the data means, here’s the decision in front of us, and here’s what I would recommend. That’s the point where finance stops being a reporting function and starts driving the business.
What’s a skill or area of expertise you’ve developed at GoDaddy that you didn’t have when you started?
Honestly, a few things come to mind. When I joined GoDaddy, I could build a solid model and get to the right answer but translating that into a story that actually landed with stakeholders was something I had to work on. The scale of the business pushed me to get a lot sharper at that, and I think I’ve made good progress, though it’s something I’m always working to improve. At the end of the day, people need context and clarity, not just numbers, so I’ve been focusing more on getting to the point quickly and making sure the analysis connects directly to the decision being made. And lastly, my Excel skills have grown tremendously (special shoutout to Q, who is an absolute wizard and has taught me a lot)! The complexity of what I work on here basically forced that.
Are there any resources that you would recommend to others interested in personal development?
When it comes to personal development, I’ve always gravitated towards books about people I admire or individuals who have changed their industry. One of my all-time favourites is Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike. It really puts into perspective what it takes to build something from nothing and the rollercoaster that comes with it. I’d recommend it to anyone, not just those interested in business.
More recently, I started attending Toastmasters, the public speaking course, and it has been a genuinely eye-opening experience. I think anyone who wants to improve their ability to communicate, whether in front of a large crowd or just in everyday conversations, should give it a try. It can feel intimidating at first, but the development I’ve seen in myself and in the people around me has been remarkable.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Outside of work, I spend a lot of time on the tennis courts. I picked up the game during COVID, hitting against a wall, and quickly fell in love with the game. I attended the US Open final and got to watch Carlos Alcaraz win his first, which was incredible. I’ve since made it a goal to attend every Grand Slam. Beyond tennis, I stay active and love to travel when I get the chance. My fiancée and I are actually in the middle of planning a trip to Europe, so that’s keeping us busy. And lastly, I love spending time with my 23 nieces and nephews. They’re spread across the globe from San Francisco to London to Dubai, but when we manage to get everyone together, the house absolutely goes crazy.
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