“Our work is like one big puzzle,” said Emily. “And everybody has to be a different piece to complete the puzzle. If everyone had the same skill sets, the same educational background, the same work experience, the pieces would be identical, and you wouldn’t be able to solve the puzzle. So you don’t want all the same piece.”
The puzzle piece Emily brings to Goalbook includes the vast majority of her work experience being in educational publishing, mostly in Content, Editorial, and Production. At one publishing company, Emily worked on Higher Ed, and at a different publishing company, she worked on textbooks in a variety of subject areas in the K–12 division. She also spent some time as a Director of Production at a small company that opens and runs primary schools in Asia, Africa, and India.
In this Q&A, Emily shares about the rewarding work the Content team does to support educators and students.
“Supporting and improving our education system and our educators is one of the most impactful things we can do to help improve individuals’ lives and our collective future.”
1. What inspired you to go into educational publishing and EdTech?
Very few things feel as important as how we’re educating the youth in our country, be it what books they’re reading, what materials and resources they have access to, or what supports, accommodations, and services are available to them.
I had a pretty good educational experience growing up. I lived in a small town and went to public school, and I had some amazing teachers. I ended up at a big university, and what led me to that was the education I received, the teachers I had, and the paths that were opened to me through those educational experiences.
Coming out of college and having an English background, I asked myself what direction I could go in. It seemed educational publishing aligned well with my skillset. Educational publishing, of course, focused on profit for the company, but there was also the mission alignment that I was looking for in terms of thinking of the end user and about where all the work you’re doing in a day is going. It’s going to a student, a professor, or an educator. The content you created is helping someone to become more educated, which, of course, opens more doors.
Then when I became a parent, I started to look at education from another perspective. I have two kids in public school, and I ask myself: What are their experiences? Who are their teachers? What roadblocks are they experiencing? What things are being opened to them through education? How are their individual needs being met to ensure they are engaged and successful?
Supporting and improving our education system and our educators is one of the most impactful things we can do to help improve individuals’ lives and our collective future.
2. What attracted you to Goalbook’s mission?
I’ve spent my entire career supporting educators in one way or another.
On a logistical level, the role checked a lot of boxes as an opportunity to leverage my background in production, editorial, content management, systems management, and people management. I had been developing these skills because I was already in the education arena, but it was stepping up the mission alignment as well.
The job description itself drew me in, and after I had my screening interview, I thought, “Wow. This does seem like an amazing place to work.” I started peeling back the layers of: What is Goalbook? What is the mission? What impact are they having? And I became more and more excited about Goalbook.
I’ve never worked anywhere where I have felt more mission-aligned than at Goalbook. Our mission is infused into every meeting we have. It doesn’t feel like a perfunctory statement that you read on a website and is never mentioned again.
3. In your eyes, how does your work support Goalbook’s mission?
Every person who works for Goalbook supports the mission in different and important ways. Without every team and every individual, none of it works.
I think we’re especially lucky on the Content team because the connection between the work and the mission is so straightforward. We create the content that our users use. It’s incredibly motivating, but it’s also a tremendous responsibility.
The Content team decides what subject areas we’re focusing on next, what product features are getting supported, and how much content to release in various areas. It’s also motivating that what we make is immediately impactful; as soon as we release content, educators are using it.
One of my favorite experiences is to get feedback from educators who are using Goalbook Toolkit. We’re constantly vetting user feedback and trying to figure out how our content releases can be the most impactful and meet educators’ most urgent needs. One of the best feelings is being able to tell users that we are creating what they’ve asked for.
4. What have you learned in your role so far?
I’ve learned humility and the importance of collaboration and teamwork. I have never been a part of a team before where there was so much collaboration in all directions. There’s a lack of ego, and the entire team understands the skills and expertise of other team members.
Another thing I’ve gotten better about is thinking about content from the educator’s perspective. Something may be well-written and meet our style guide, but it may not be practical to use in the classroom. If content isn’t easily transferrable to the classroom, it’s not useful to our users. For example, if we have created a progress monitoring assessment that calls for a certain item that may not often be in classrooms, do we give alternative ideas? Or do we suggest a 1:1 activity between student and teacher that isn’t easily implemented in a class of 22 kids?
I’m learning to put on the user’s hat and try to think of our content from their perspective. I’ve learned to do this from my colleagues.
“Goalbook encourages employees to show up as our authentic selves and gives room and accommodation to work that way.”
5. What are one or two things you love here?
The Goalbook company culture encourages us to be our genuine selves and allows for different approaches to meetings, learning, and interacting. This flexibility allows people to be who they are, rather than trying to fit into some sort of norm.
At Goalbook, we have designated times for connections during which we make room to learn about one another, our hobbies, passions, families, and who we are as individuals.
Goalbook encourages employees to show up as our authentic selves and gives room and accommodation to work that way. My Goalbook colleagues truly value relationships. I’ve never worked at a company where I felt so connected, supported, and accepted.
6. What’s something that has made you laugh while at Goalbook?
During our Winter Team Week in 2024 in San Francisco, the Content team took a sushi-making class. In the class, I was not rolling my sushi rolls as tightly as we’d been instructed to do. We had a fantastic but no-nonsense instructor who kept pointing out how well everyone else was doing rolling their maki, and then using mine as the negative example because my roll was getting messier and messier. The instructor would say, “Not like this!”, pointing to my sad, falling-apart maki rolls. She said it a few more times, and eventually we were all hysterically laughing.
7. What are you reading/listening to/watching right now?
Reading: Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino. It’s about a child who is born but who is actually an alien observing humanity and sending facts back to her alien keepers about the human race. It’s very lyrical and beautiful and poetic, but also strange. I’m not finished yet, so I can’t fully endorse it, but it’s an interesting and unique read.
Listening to: I’ve curated a Spotify playlist that’s all duets. It’s my comfort listen. At first, the list was pretty traditional, mostly male and female harmonizing, and it included about 100 songs. But the definition has gotten very loose at this point, and I have a bunch of co-collaborators. It now includes anything that can be constituted as a duet. It’s currently over 1000 songs and includes everything from rap to opera.
Watching: The third season of Somebody, Somewhere, which is a show I absolutely love. It’s about a woman who goes back to the small town of Manhattan, Kansas and reconnects with family. But it’s also about found-family, friendship, and finding your place. She feels like a bit of a misfit but finds her people. It makes me cry all the time.
8. Early bird or night owl?
I’m an early bird. I don’t think I used to be, but now I am. I go to bed well before my husband, and I like eight hours of sleep, if at all possible.
