Spotlight: Susan Njenga, director of product
Sharecare’s product team optimizes our digital offerings to improve the health of our members by taking measures to maximize engagement and ensure that our solutions layer together flawlessly for a smooth and seamless digital experience; and that’s no small feat, especially as all the moving parts evolve and expand into new growth areas. Their cross-divisional coordination for the oversight, implementation, and maintenance of our flagship platform ensure that the Sharecare experience aligns with our company’s mission to empower individuals as they navigate their personal health and well-being journeys.
For December’s Employee Spotlight, we’re introducing Susan Njenga, a director of product who oversees Sharecare’s coaching programs. Based in Grand Prairie, Texas, she joined Sharecare earlier this year as a certified project management professional (PMP), coming to us from Teladoc Health.
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Tell us about your role, Susan.
As director of product, I’m responsible for all things on the coaching side of the house and I work closely with the clinical operations team on our offerings for lifestyle management, disease management, and tobacco cessation.
In addition to managing the programs and building the clinical components, another part of the equation is also looking at the metrics – how we are performing, how are members engaging? After identifying members who are eligible for Sharecare programs, it’s also critical to understand how many we’ve been able to target out of those that are eligible, and the conversion rate that we are seeing together with what outcomes the members experience. So in addition to the product, there’s an important analytics piece of it as well that I’m working on behind the scenes. Understanding those figures helps us identify and target areas for improvement and opportunities.
What are you currently working on with your team?
Right now, our team is focused on optimizing and increasing engagement and enrollment into our coaching programs, as well as anticipating and strategizing on opportunities for growth – not only for the business, but also to better serve the members who come to us for help. We try to identify other focus areas within our coaching programs to yield additional opportunities – whether that’s expanding the conditions we treat or demographics that we cater to.
A big focus is improving our clinical outcomes by coordinating closely with operations and ensuring our members are getting the guidance and support they need. So, if a member comes into our stewardship who’s been identified as at-risk, or with a condition, we must ask and assess: are we meeting that member at the forefront? Are we helping them manage their existing health to prevent, treat, or slow down the development of their adverse health condition?
What would you say the best part about your job is?
No day is the same. And it’s a meaningful challenge to constantly push myself and my team to think outside the box to create space for different ideas, and to find solutions. It’s important to consider what more we could be doing for our members. So, for me, the best part of my job is just knowing that no day is the same, and operating in the exciting and challenging space that I’m in.
What’s one thing you’ve learned in your career?
I always assume positive intent during my interactions with everybody I meet. During our interactions, I assume that they’re here for the benefit of Sharecare and want the best for the company. So, for every bit of feedback or piece of information they share with me, I remind myself to frame it positively, because that’s how I can derive the most out of every conversation. There’s always something to learn.
What was your first job?
When I was 18 and had just completed high school, I got a job as a software programs instructor. Believe it or not, I wasn’t just teaching students – I got to teach top-tier professionals including a General Motors executive and ambassadors of Kenya and Zambia. The ambassador of Zambia even offered me a job to help open a computer software school ! It wasn’t anything that I had planned on and the whole time it was happening I felt just like, “wow…Who, me!?”
How do you keep your RealAge down?
I try to walk every day for an hour at least, and I love sports, dance, and activities with my four kids; one is my niece, but I like to say that I have four kids and count her. I don’t often get the opportunity to go out and dance, but I always know that on Friday evenings with my kids, it’s dance time.
What’s your favorite holiday tradition?
I’m originally from Kenya, and I love to go back home to spend time with my family there; although I recently returned from a visit, so I wasn’t able to go for the holidays this year. We’re not big on gifts, but we like to go big on holiday meals and I like to keep our tradition of sharing dinner as an entire extended family with close friends.
What’s the best career advice you’ve been given?
I hold this very dear to me, and it’s this: always stay principled; stay disciplined. Always tell the truth, no matter what. And always do more than you’re tasked to do.
