I encountered Jessie while I was a mentor at Chic Geek when it was still operational. It's astonishing how individuals can transition from being Olympic-level athletes to seamlessly integrating into conventional careers, which sparked my curiosity. Jessie's dedication and enthusiasm were evident throughout the time of the mentoring.
I was compelled to feature her in this blog as she epitomizes the quintessence of a successful woman who skillfully balances many responsibilities - from sports and academics to professional life and entrepreneurship as a business co-founder.
Name: Jessie Niles Location: Calgary, AB, Canada & Germany LinkedIn Profile (feel free to connect with her): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessie-niles
Tell me about yourself, including your post-secondary studies and your current role: I have a real passion for data and technology and leveraging it to make an impact in areas of the world that are important to me. Right now, I've been working in the sports and entertainment industry and applying my passion for data and sports in my current role.
I recently took the position of Director of Product Impact at StellarAlgo. We're a technology company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and have technology that helps sports and entertainment properties leverage their fan data to create better fan experiences. My new position at StellarAlgo is focused on using a data-driven approach to support our customers to drive value from their fan data using our products. It's an area of passion for me to work in sports because of my history as an athlete. I was a professional volleyball player and played for the national team in Canada for seven years and played professionally for four. With my background in sports and as an athlete, it was a natural fit to move into the industry on the business side.
Regarding post-secondary education, I was at the University of Alberta for my undergraduate degree in biological sciences with a business minor while playing volleyball throughout my undergrad career. My curiosity during my studies set the foundation for my scientific methodology. For my next step in my education, I did a Master's degree in management analytics at Queens University. I graduated about 2 years ago and jumped into my role at StellarAlgo right after that.
What would you describe as your greatest accomplishment? Why was it so significant to you? I'm proud of many accomplishments, so I don't know if I can pick one, but I’ll share a few.
On the personal side, I would say that one of my greatest accomplishments that I'm most proud of is the relationship that I built with my husband, and I feel grateful to have a great partnership and somebody who can go through life with me. The relationships that I have built and continue to maintain with our families are also important to me.
From my time as an athlete, I’m proud to have represented Canada. It was something I did with great pride. Finally, professionally, I'm early in my career, and even though I have many things I’m proud of, there is still a long way to go. The current main one is working my way up to being a director at a young age.
Once I reach one accomplishment, I want to reach the next one.
How do you define a successful woman? Each of us has the opportunity and the ability to choose what success looks like. When I think about this question, it reminds me of some training I had as a volleyball player. It was a harsh truth, but there were things that our sports psychologist would share with us. One of which, she said, “You are not that important”. That saying takes a little bit of pressure off of you. If you release the expectations or your perceived expectations of the people around you or society. It releases this idea that people are paying close attention to what you're doing and opens up the space for you to design and go after goals you're truly passionate about instead of feeling like you should be doing it because it is expected. Leaning on that while training as an athlete has provided me the space to define what success looks like. Based on that psychology, I would say success is following your passions and dedicating your time and energy to doing something that you are interested in and love.
Success isn't a destination. It will always evolve and change as you go through your life, as you change and the world changes around you. Having that adaptability and growth mindset as you go through life is key to success.
To sum it up, success is a mindset and an approach as opposed to a destination.
What advice would you give your 15-year-old self?
In society, especially in sports, we have this phrase: “It's okay to make mistakes.” It's one thing to say, but it's another thing to have the space or to feel comfortable to try something and not know if you will succeed. A different approach I've taken to trying new things is treating things like an experiment, which follows the concept of taking a little pressure off and giving yourself room to explore. My dad would say to me often: “It's not a be-all and end-all decision. Treat it like an experiment and just try it out for X amount of time and see what happens and what you learn from it”. That approach gives you the permission to try and fail or test and learn.
So I would tell my 15-year-old self to approach things in that way, whether you're exploring your career or you're trying a new sport. Treat it as an experiment and see what happens.
What skills are essential to be successful? In addition to the ones I already mentioned around having a growth mindset and taking an experimental approach, I would add to this list to think about the small steps. To keep with the sports analogy, let’s use “building muscle” as an example where the first step is to put in the reps. If you keep getting your reps in, you’re going to build that strength and build muscle.
Sometimes, we look at a goal or something we want to achieve, and it just seems so giant that it's intimidating even to get started. Breaking things down into smaller pieces and sticking with it is similar to getting our reps in to build muscle. It is the commitment to the process and the little things that pay off in the long run, even though it might require some patience.
Another thing that I would add is if you have a vision for what success looks like for you, share that vision, dream or success you wish to accomplish with the people around you, whether it's your family, colleagues, or your boss. I've been lucky, and I found in my experience that the people around you will go out of their way or look for opportunities to help with that. We can rely on our communities and our networks to help each other be successful.
What things have you had to sacrifice to achieve success so far? As an athlete, we would sometimes talk about our sacrifices, especially when I was playing professionally and living in a foreign country overseas. I played in France and Austria and travelled to international competitions for most of my summers. Many sacrifices had to be made regarding not spending time with my family or putting off the next steps in my post-sports career. The concept of sacrifices was at the forefront of my mind as an athlete, but I attribute a lot of success to my time as an athlete. I think about sacrifices around prioritization and not thinking of it as a black-and-white concept, but more of what am I choosing to prioritize today and recognizing that something else is going to come a little bit later or not going to be able to do it to the degree I'd like to.
I had to sacrifice, as I mentioned, time with family, time with my husband, and time in Canada. But simultaneously, by prioritizing my sport, I travelled the world. I was able to be in a position many other young athletes would love to be in, and playing volleyball as my career. With those sacrifices also came immense benefits. Of course, there came to a point where those sacrifices and those priorities needed to change because I was ready to move something else up higher on the list. For me, that transition from being a professional athlete and moving into a career came with eagerness to learn new skills and to prioritize my financial health because, unfortunately, as a female volleyball player, unless you're in the top 1% in the world, you're working on the side to survive.
I don't see it as a sacrifice, but other folks might; I spend a lot of time working pretty hard and on my computer, so I have less time for some leisurely activities. I also spend time doing work that helps me achieve what I want, but I do it because I enjoy it. I don't see it as a sacrifice, but I do fewer hobbies or have less time with friends and my husband.
How do you find your work-life balance? I'm based in Germany but work for a company in Western Canada; therefore, I have some untraditional working hours. I'm not doing a 9 to 5. It's a hybrid, with some hours matching Germany and some matching Canada. I do a lot of deep work, tasks or executions during my mornings and then take a more extended lunch break to go to the gym, take my dog for a walk and go for lunch.
To the topic of sacrifice we covered earlier, I sacrifice a lot of my evenings in meetings online with my colleagues when other people would be having dinner with their partners and families.
As I've been thinking about work-life balance, a big foundation for me is to make sure that I'm taking care of myself because that investment in myself is also an investment that is important for my employer. If I'm in a good, positive headspace and healthy, I'm not taking time off, and my work will be of the highest quality possible. Many people feel that they don't have time to go for a walk or take a 15-minute break, but I constantly have to remind myself about taking care of myself and investing this time at the gym or outside. In the long run, it is an investment in the people around me and the things that I'm doing. Trying to maintain or build that work-life balance is healthy.
Bonus question: Tell me about the business you co-founded called "Ready in Five Inc." I'm part of a program called the International Olympic Committee Young Leaders Program, and through that, I've built a sports-oriented social business that I still run. It is my weekend passion project. At a high level, Ready in Five is an online platform that brings high-performance athletes and Olympians into online spaces, whether it's meetings or classrooms, where they lead 5-minute movement sessions. Those sessions help people feel energized and ready for the work ahead.
We've got a great team of athletes who are delivering sessions, and anybody can go on the website https://www.getreadyinfive.com/ and book an athlete into their online space.
A big thank you to Jessie for her time and for sharing her answers with us. She is a Successful Woman!