Black Epics

Kasha Stewart is currently Head of Product at The Walt Disney Company where she’s focused on their Movies Anywhere product.  Kasha studied fine arts at Howard University and has a MFA from Chapman’s film program. She began her career working in Post Production but later transitioned into Product. We discuss overcoming imposter syndrome in the midst of career transitions, how she developed her career roadmap, and reshaping struggling product teams.

Jammal Dorsey is currently working on the Covid-19 response for a nonprofit organization, Resolve to Save Lives. Jammal has many years of healthcare experience so we discuss what it’s like to be a PM working in healthcare, some of his favorite product experiences, and the different tracks available to people interested in being a PM in healthcare. If you would like to chat with Jammal online, you can reach out to him at Jammal H. Dorsey on Linkedin or on Twitter at @JammalD_06.

Quadri Oshibotu is currently a Senior Product Manager at eCompliance. In today’s episode, we discuss how his martial arts background has helped him as a Product Manager and his teaching experience at General Assembly and the Bootcamp he developed, Product Hall. In addition, we chat about the launch of his book, Product Management - A complete guide on creating products that people love. If you would like to spark a conversation with Quadri online, you can reach out to him at [email protected] and you can check out his products here:

Product Management - A complete guide on creating products that people love

Product Hall

Jeremy Browning is a Product Manager focused on the Notifications experience at Twitter. We discuss his path from Pre-law to Product and walk through a problem his team is currently tackling. In addition, we chat about some of the skills that are fundamental to working in Product and potential pathways into Product. If you would like to spark a conversation with Jeremy online, you can reach out to him on Twitter at @jeremyabrowning.

Sefunmi Osinaike is a Product Manager, author of How to Product, and Co-founder of Co.Lab. We discuss how aspiring PMs can overcome the challenge of getting that first role in Product. We also chat about writing and successfully launching his first book on Product Hunt and building a community where PMs, Designers, and Developers can collaborate on building a product to grow their skills together. If you would like to spark a conversation online, you can reach out to Sefunmi on twitter at SefunmiOshy and you can check out his products here:

How to Product

Co.Lab

Here are 5 of my favorite resources that I used to prepare for recent Product Management (PM) interviews. In this episode, I wanted to experiment with a different format. This is a mini episode where I’ll quickly cover a single PM topic. The topic for this episode is PM interview resources. You can access links to all of the PM interview resources mentioned in the episode at https://bit.ly/be-interview.

Adam Thomas is a Product leader based in Harlem, New York with a passion for social justice. Adam has founded several companies, worked as a director of product, and writes and speaks about Product. In this episode, we read an excerpt from his article, “Identifying and Addressing Common Biases in Product Management” and chat about three biases that play a huge role in Product Management. To dig deeper into this topic, make sure you check out Identifying and Addressing Common Biases in Product Management and another piece Adam recently wrote, Great Product Manager’s Leverage Cognitive Bias. If you would like to spark a conversation online, you can reach out to Adam on twitter at @TheHonorableAT or via email at [email protected].

David Hooker is a transplant in a lot of ways. He’s from the east coast and has a background in Theater Arts and Education. He transitioned to working in QA for Disney’s mobile games and is now working as an Associate Product Manager for Disney’s Web and Fan Branded Products.  We discuss how his background comes to play in Product Management, how Disney approaches privacy, and the work he’s doing in his company's Business Employee Resource Groups. Follow us on Twitter at @blackepics and send us a voice message at https://anchor.fm/blackepics/message.

Breana Jones is currently a Director of Product, Web at VICE Media. We discuss how Breana prepared for Product leadership, learning how to lead people when you don’t yet have direct reports, and how working in Product Leadership is different from working as an individual contributor.  Follow us on twitter @blackepics and send us a voice message at https://anchor.fm/blackepics/message.

Sherika is currently a Manager of Product and Strategy at Covalent Solutions, a Product Management instructor, and the CoFounder and Managing Partner of Thomas & Wynter R&D. We discuss how Sherika got into Product Management, cofounding an R&D company that manufactures physical products, and what lessons from Product Management have carried over into her business.  Follow us on twitter @blackepics and send us a voice message at https://anchor.fm/blackepics/message.