Inside Gaggle: Interview with Christina Nava

Christina Nava loves using software to solve problems. She has been working in the software space since college and specifically with Salesforce since 2014, giving her plenty of experience supporting SaaS and cloud computing environments. As our Senior Salesforce Administrator, Christina monitors, maintains, and enhances our CRM to make our jobs—and our lives—easier as we all work toward our shared goal of keeping students safe. 

Start date: December 7, 2020

We asked Christina five questions to get to know a little more about her and her time with Gaggle. Here’s what she had to say:

What are three words to describe Gaggle?

• Important: The work we do is so important. We save lives, full stop. Very few companies can say that. We also help students with their mental health, which is equally as important. Everyone here at Gaggle is aware of what we do and why, so it keeps us all working together and striving to get better. 
• Innovative: I love all of our core values because they really speak to me. I’ve never worked for a company where the core values spoke to me so much, and “innovation over perfection” hits home a little bit more. That phrase allows you a safe space to make mistakes. You can only grow as a person by learning from your mistakes, and a company can only grow by learning from its mistakes. If you don’t have that safety net—that safe space—you’re never going to get better. Having that core value helps us innovate more as a company—and helps me innovate as a person.
• Fun: At Gaggle, we work hard because we believe so passionately in what we do and why. But the nature of this work—what we have to see and deal with—can weigh on you mentally and emotionally. Because of this, we tend to have lighthearted fun with each other. That fun environment helps to counteract the negativity in the world. 

What drew you to Gaggle?
I was fairly content in my previous role—I wasn’t looking to move in the short term and wasn’t really searching for something new. Jeff reached out on LinkedIn and asked if I knew anyone who was interested in a Salesforce position. After doing some research on Gaggle, I was drawn in. I have never had a company’s mission speak to me like Gaggle’s mission did. While I enjoyed my role and was passionate about what I did, I wasn’t necessarily passionate about who I did it for. Gaggle really hit all the notes for me. Plus, if you read Jeff’s LinkedIn profile, you immediately want to work for him!

What have you gained from working at Gaggle?
Peace of mind. I love what I do. I love Salesforce—it speaks to me. At my last company, I was consulting, and I was very stressed. As a consultant, you have the mindset that everything needs to be perfect because you won’t be there in a month or two if something goes wrong. I didn’t realize how much it was affecting me until I came here, where I now have a safety net. At Gaggle, I don’t just enjoy what I do—I enjoy who I do it for and why I do it. I’m so much more peaceful here.

What is your proudest moment at Gaggle?
Hearing a success story at my first all-hands meeting. The first time I heard a story about the life of a child we saved, that was the first time it hit home that this is real. It’s not just a mission statement: It’s real, and we do it. It brought tears to my eyes, and it still brings tears to my eyes. It still affects me and makes me so proud. Even if we just saved one child, everything we do is worth it. And we save so many more. It was a proud moment knowing that I’m part of this. 

What is your favorite memory at Gaggle?
A few months ago, we had an all-hands tech meeting, and I noticed that there were a whole lot of men on my Zoom. I asked my team, “Where are the ladies?” And leadership listened. With a team of just 10% women, we were below the industry standard for tech, which is 25–30% women. For a company that’s innovative and progressive, we weren’t in this area. Leadership took action, and we began having regular meetings to tackle this issue. As a result, we’ve changed the way we approach our job postings, we’ve changed some of the questions we ask, and we’ve hired two additional women since then. And we now have more women applying to these jobs than we did previously. I’m proud that I had the guts to speak up and have these difficult conversations, and it’s my favorite memory because I was heard. Leadership truly listened. They didn’t just say they were working on it—they addressed the problem and immediately worked toward finding a solution. It was amazing. 

Christina sees software as a puzzle, which is why she likes what she does so much—and why she’s so good at it. Being able to see the pieces she has and how the complete picture should look, she’s able to put the pieces together to improve how things work within Salesforce. “Making an existing process faster and more efficient makes my day,” said Christina. “And that’s what I love to do. I love making things more efficient.”