This month, we are introducing a new blog post series called “Meet The EX.CO Expert” to spotlight various employees across our company. Our first EX.CO expert is Li-Or Ben Harosh, a member of our Media Operations Team. Li-Or shares information with us about her role, advice for other women in tech, how she balances the job with motherhood, and more.
1. How long have you been with EX.CO and what attracted you to the company?
I’ve been with EX.CO since the Cedato acquisition, and I’ve worked at Cedato since 2018. I was attracted to the company since it is one of the leading platforms in the martech industry, well known, and with a strong product that delivers great monetization results. As a user, I already had a few improvement ideas which I had the opportunity to execute.
2. Can you describe your specific role here and aspects of your job that you love?
As the director of SaaS monetization, I am constantly aiming to increase profits from the ad server activity, by leading the video server and player customers to success. I have a team of customer success managers, who are in daily communication with the ad server customers, aiming to increase their volumes and profits. I must admit, I enjoy the business development & sales aspects of the position. We are always aiming to bring in new and interesting customers to the unique ad server ecosystem, and in doing so, increase our customers’ current volume.
3. What inspires you the most to wake up in the morning and start your work day?
Probably the workload is what kicks me out of bed each morning. I start my days very early, wanting to take care of as many open matters as I can for our clients before they wake up and start their day. I believe that when a customer starts their day by receiving an email from us, they’ll focus on our solution first and foremost.
4. How would your friends or family describe you in 3 words?
5. As a woman who has been working in the technology space for many years, what do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities for women in tech?
The tech industry has come a long way yet not far enough. There are still gender inequalities and gaps. I believe that each one of us, regardless of our gender, can make a real difference, and the biggest challenge is for all of us to shift into a new and more advanced state of mind. If you interrupt a coworkers’ presentation, negotiate terms, or recruit a new employee – you should be aware of any unconscious bias. I always tell my daughters and other women I know that we should not strive to be better than men but rather, we should aim to be better than the best person in the room.
6. How do you balance work with family and do you have any words of wisdom for working mothers who may be reading this?
My 2 cents here are that there is no real constant balance; it comes in waves. In some periods, you get to spend more time at home with your family and in others, you dedicate more of your time to work projects and drive major changes and uplifts.
The COVID-19 years created a real change to many lives including my own. I got to be more present at home, yet not more available. This shift and understanding weren’t easy on my family, but with time, all settled down. Now my girls know to ask me each morning; how many meetings I have today, on which day will I drive to the office, and most importantly, they know that I will be the person picking them up from kindergarten and that if they are in need, I am always present for them.
7. If you could do anything else other than your current job, what career would you choose?
I would probably go back and study computer science and software engineering. I love business development and I wouldn’t give up on it so quickly, so I would look for an interesting career path that involves both biz dev and code.
8. What’s the best thing about Tel Aviv?
I am not a fan of TLV, and I wouldn’t choose to live here. I live in a beautiful city named Netanya, which is 20 minutes away from Tel Aviv, and it has the most beautiful shores and unlimited access to babysitting services in the form of grandparents! Highly recommended.
9. Who is the funniest person in your office?
The funniest person at the office is Metin Bilman! This will probably hit him by surprise, I absolutely love his unique cynical sense of humor.
10. What is your favorite meme or GIF?
I love GIFs! They are easy ways to express situations and feelings without verbal use. While the best GIFs obviously change depending on the context, the GIF above is my favorite and describes me the best. Assuming that you made it so far, allow me to devote this one to you:
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