My journey to motherhood began a year ago. I chose to take some time off from my career to plan and enjoy a series of both personal and professional life changes. On the personal part, we traveled to Spain, got engaged in Hawaii, I remained fit during pregnancy with daily Pure Barre, gave back through volunteering at New York Cares, and we welcomed our new son Parker on February 22nd, 2017.

As for professional changes, I attended the Dreamforce conference and became a certified Salesforce Administrator. I completed the implementation of Salesforce Service Cloud for Shake Shack, and continue to give back professionally by helping nonprofit, Hope Over Heroin connect with people more effectively through Salesforce.

Parker is now three months and my new consulting business is born, The Pukka Panda. The Pukka Panda started a few years ago as a blog to share stories of my personal customer experiences aligned to business.

Pŭkka is a British term for authentic or genuine - and what you get with me - a genuine smile and connection. Panda has always been a nickname of mine and a simple way for me to explain how to pronounce my name to the Starbucks barista, Randa: Panda with an ‘R’.

The Pŭkka Panda is a new step, with many more exciting events to occur in the next few months; I will marry my true love and amazing partner in life whom provides constant joy and encouragement to me with everything - reminds me to always live in the moment. We will move into a new home here in Brooklyn and together embark on our new life journey.

In our interactions with family, friends, co-workers and companies, we all go through similar daily changes and events. In the midst of Alexa, Siri, and the Internet of Things, The Pukka Panda will create an effective and authentic experience with the customer at the center.

Authentic Across Your Different Devices and Connections

As a working mom, professional, and soon to be step-mom and wife - we all have different personas of how we perceive the world and interact with others. What remains consistent is the desire for a personal and authentic connection.

Whether we are on our mobile phone dropping the kids off, waiting for a flight on a video conference call using our iPad, no matter the device - we want a simple way to connect for an effortless experience.

In the last 14 years, I have led teams in service delivery, customer service, network infrastructure, and product. I have a passion for improving the interactions with customers and the systems that support it - making them more efficient and consistent across all departments.

The Pukka Panda will provide an outside perspective to improve the processes and tools companies use to connect their business operations and customers. I will help fill the white spaces in the organizational structure when handing off between roles from sales through to customer service and billing.

The Pukka Panda brings technology and operations together to create a cohesive customer journey across all communication channels using cloud applications like Salesforce.com.

Read my professional story for more information on my past journey and experience. I look forward to helping companies improve customer interactions through a positive and authentic experience. If you know of any businesses that would benefit, please give me a call - 646.634.2114 or forward them to my contact page.

Smile #1 Scenario: Complete Stranger - Give a compliment to a complete stranger each day. It makes your commute to and from work more enjoyable than playing 2048.

I was shopping the other day at one of my favorite places for jeans, GStar. Imagine that... As I was waiting for an Uber to return to Brooklyn, this gentlemen passes by on his bike, smiles, and says 'nice trousers'. I returned the smile and had a little giggle to myself about the word trouser which I don’t hear often.

5 minutes goes by... The same gentlemen passes by me on his bike, smiles, and again says 'nice trousers'. I return the smile for the second time. My Uber arrived so I am not sure if he would have passed by a third time. While he may not remember it, I still smile when I think of this interaction. That simple act of kindness produced 4 smiles on that day and continues to increase.

Smile #2 Scenario: Colleague - Give positive feedback or a compliment about work to a colleague with whom you don't typically interact.

While it is generally nice to provide compliments about style, positive feedback regarding his/her work is well received. About a year and a half ago, for a large conference, there was a colleague whom executed planning the event brilliantly. At that time, I had only a few interactions with her; however, I really thought she should hear of mine and others appreciation for making it simple. I sent a nice email to express that appreciation. In person is the ideal and likely most impactful.

Over the past year and a half, we have become close friends and frequently interact. About a month ago, she told me that she still remembers that email I sent. She shared about the planning experience and that I made her day! Guess what, she made my day, too - and the thought that a simple gesture can make someone smile and continue to bring smiles to our days, is amazing.

I would love to hear your stories about how you feel after giving or receiving compliments. Are you up for the challenge to help make our days brighter?

Yours Truly

the pukka panda