Who's That Gal: Alexandria Byer, Senior Marketing Manager, SEO at Wayfair
Name: Alexandria (Alex!) Byer
Age: 31
Occupation: Senior Marketing Manager, SEO
Currently living in: Worcester
Hometown: Worcester (I did not intend for this to happen)
Currently reading: She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
Favorite workout: Running and spinning!
I never leave home without____: lip balm; I keep one in every bag and every coat pocket so I’m never without it.
Let’s start with the basics. What drew you to a career in digital marketing?
This was actually an accident! I got my degree in Journalism, and actually started out as a reporter. I realized I wasn’t quite as cut out for that life as I thought I was, so I did a quick pivot and started working in website editing. I learned a lot about marketing through this role, and really enjoyed helping businesses find new customers. I was hooked!
How did you go from a Social Media Manager in higher ed to Senior Marketing Manager at one of the world's largest online destinations for the home?
Working on social media was incredibly rewarding, but also emotionally taxing. We use social media as an outlet to express delight and distress to brands, and the act of always being “on” was doing quite a number on my mental health. I had a blog in my spare time that I used to learn about SEO, web design, etc… and a job at Wayfair opened up to work with bloggers. It seemed like fate! I decided to throw my hat in the ring, and charmed my way in! Just kidding, it turns out my knowledge of blogging was a huge asset, as well as my background in digital marketing. I started as a Blogger Relations Specialist, and eventually built out my own team of people working with bloggers and creating longform content for Wayfair.
What has been your experience working at Wayfair?
As with all companies, it’s had its ups and downs. Working at such a large company, it can feel hard sometimes to stand out from the crowd (of people trying to get up the escalators). But I’ve found great success in launching ideas and getting buy in for them from upper management, as long as I have strong data backing my hypothesis. In the last four and a half years, I’ve built out two teams that bring in millions of dollars in revenue each year, which is something I never thought I’d get to say.
What do you think has been your biggest contribution at Wayfair, so far?
Truthfully, I’m most proud of the teams I’ve built. By chance, I have two teams exclusively composed of women. They are among the strongest women I know, both personally and professionally. They are also the best in their fields, and I thank my lucky stars each day that we get to work together to build great things. They ask tough questions, have great ideas and make working at Wayfair the best. At the end of the day, seeing them succeed makes me so proud.
What does your typical day look like?
I wake up around 6, take out my two dogs and then start to get myself ready for work. I go into the office three days a week and work from home the other two days, but I try to keep my schedule as consistent as possible. On days I commute, I’ll aim to be mostly ready by 6:45, which is around the time my daughter wakes up. She’ll be one in April, and I like to spend as much time with her as possible. I’ll get her up, give her a bottle and then spend some time cozying with her before I have to finish packing my bag. I’m out the door by 7:35 for my 8am commuter rail train; thankfully we live very close to the train station! I take the express train into the city, so I’m usually at Back Bay by 9am. I like taking the commuter rail because I can actually get work done while I’m on it, so I’ll clean up my inbox, answer anything that’s come in overnight, get caught up on Slack, and work on any presentations I have coming up.
Once I’m in the office, my days are pretty meeting-heavy. Between meeting with my direct reports, the rest of the leadership team and cross-functional projects, I’m running around quite a bit! But my goal is always thinking of ways to make SEO at Wayfair bigger and better. I have a lot of fun! I try to catch the train at 4:30, but continue working while I commute, so I can spend the rest of my time at home playing with my daughter. She’s usually asleep by 7:30, then it’s exercise (we have a Peloton), dinner and prepping for the next day. Rinse and repeat!
What surprised you the most about balancing your career and being a new mom?
That you’re basically starting over after maternity leave. I am incredibly lucky that Wayfair offers primary caregivers 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave. However, when I returned, so much had changed in the almost 4 months I had been gone, it felt like I had to be re-onboarded. With a lot of new management shifts on my team, I felt in over my head for a while. Thankfully, I have a very supportive team and cross-functional partners who were very patient with me while I got back into the swing of things.
How have your two dogs Pongo and Toby adjusted to having a little human around?
Pretty well! They’re both rescue dogs, so we don’t know a lot about their pasts. Pongo frankly barely notices her existence, but is skiddish around her. Toby is extremely fond of June, but they haven’t quite figured out how to play well yet. June is very good at eye contact, but that is seen as threatening by dogs. We’re keeping them at a distance until June can understand how to interact with dogs respectfully.
What’s new and exciting for you?
Mike and I got engaged (finally) recently! Our relationship went backwards: we had June last April, bought our first home in September, and now we’re getting married. Since we’re also in the process of planning June’s first birthday party, we’re thinking something extremely low-key, and then a fun party with our friends and family later on. We’ll see!
update: the happy couple has gotten married since we conducted this interview - congratulations Alex & Mike!
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