Meet the Tallizen: Shaz

Shaz Karim is a Senior Technical Program Manager (TPM) at Tally based in Vancouver, Canada. As a TPM, she is responsible for making sure that technical teams are aligned on key decisions and company goals. This involves planning projects, spotting and resolving dependencies, identifying risks, and communicating with many different teams and stakeholders. During her time at Tally, Shaz has helped to transform the way projects are delivered. 

On her career path, Shaz shares more about how a career in the TPM space has allowed for her to maintain work-life balance without sacrificing in either space. Reflecting on her favourite Tally value, Shaz lands on Change Shoes Often, adding “our goal is to make people less stressed and better off financially. We can't do that without understanding the challenges our members are facing.” 

A Day in the Life of a Tallizen

Walk us through a day in your life. What does a typical workday look like for you?

Mornings begin with a six a.m. workout - the early start gives me time to wake up and get mentally prepared for the day. After that it's a bit chaotic until about eight a.m., between getting my seven year old daughter up (who only sleeps in on school days), ready and out the door for school, myself ready and walking the dog. My work day starts around eight thirty where I catch up on slack messages and emails. Meetings start around nine and run through for most of the day with breaks for lunch and time to take the dog out again. I like to schedule all meetings to end at around two in the afternoon so I can get some focus time in. My day ends between four thirty or five when I need to pick up my daughter from school.

What has been the highlight of your time here at Tally so far? 

I am super proud of running the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) program at Tally - It took over a year to complete but was one of the most exciting programs I have been involved in.

Why did you pick the career that you chose? What do you love most about your chosen field?

After having my daughter, I faced what many women do: finding the right balance of having a successful career (and feeling guilty for wanting this), and being a new mom. Program Management allowed me to remain in the technology space without sacrificing who I was before becoming a mother, my career, or time away from my daughter. Shifting to this field has been so rewarding - I learn so much from the amazingly talented and smart teams I work with, I get to start and finish something that adds value to the company, and I get to do this over and over again.

Which of Tally’s core values - Don’t Say Nothing, Own the Outcome, Change Shoes Often - resonates most with you and why?

Change Shoes Often resonates the most with me - Empathy is so key and can also be very difficult to practice. By putting ourselves in others' shoes, we are able to bring a different perspective not only to how we show up at work, but also in our personal lives. Our goal is to make people less stressed and better off financially. We can't do that without understanding the challenges our members are facing. 

Tallizens Offline

What do you like to do for fun outside of work?

Living in Vancouver we are lucky to have awesome beaches and amazing trails to hike. You can find me outside enjoying our beautiful province.

What’s the next item on your bucket list?

I would love to take a family trip to Greece.

Tell us about one of your favorite vacations.

My husband and I were supposed to go to Bali for our honeymoon. We stopped in Hong Kong for two nights before continuing on to our next destination. The day of our flight to Bali, we were told my husband couldn't board the plane because his passport didn't meet the six month validity from the date of departure (It was off by two weeks!). Needless to say we were disappointed, but this ended up being our most memorable trip. We spent two weeks in Hong Kong with nothing planned ! We got to sightsee, go to DisneyLand, spend time in Macau and meet some amazing people along the way who gave us recommendations about their favorite places to go. We still talk about how awesome and free we felt on this trip and would love to go back one day. 

Tell us something that people would be surprised to know about you. 

I love dancing! We have regular family dance parties.

What are three things you can’t live without?

My Family, hot sauce (I put hot sauce on everything, including popcorn), and coffee.

Lightning Round: This or That?

Sweet or Savory

Savory

Morning or Night

Night

Summer or Winter

Summer

Coffee or Tea

Coffee

Pizza or Tacos

Pizza

Beaches or Mountains

Beaches

iOS or Android

Android