Alexandra Wong, Product Manager, Creator Team at YouTube

Meet Alexandra, who recently stepped into her new role as Product Manager at YouTube. She shares how the guidance and example of inspiring women leaders have shaped her journey. From rolling up her sleeves to help teams succeed to embracing her full, extroverted self, she shows that growth comes from curiosity, courage, and staying true to who you are.

1) What is the last thing you were curious about? 

I’m just coming from Vidcon, which is an industry and community event where fans meet some of their favorite content creators (If you’ve ever been to a con, you know it’s a lot of fun and a lot of chaos!) I spent a lot of these last few days asking creators about how they choose brands to partner with, and how they make money from these partnerships. I’m starting a new role as a Product Manager at YouTube, doing a year long rotation, and so I’m spending a lot of time meeting with creators, talent agencies, and industry partners plus reading up a ton on the craft of PM. I love to learn new things through reading, so literally have a huge stack of physical books on my desk! 

2) We’re a non-profit focused on empowering women. Could you share which significant female figures (role models, mentors, etc.) have impacted your career and how they’ve shaped who you are today?

During my early 20s at Google Singapore, I was lucky enough to work with three amazing women who shaped how I approach things today.

Sarita was my manager in Strategy and Operations, and she took a chance on me even though I didn't have much experience in her field. She saw something in my sales background and actually fought to get me a full-time job outside her team, even though I was technically "too junior." Talk about sponsorship! Sarita also made our work feel purposeful and just radiated joy and really knew how to bring out the strengths in her team

After Sarita, Janne became my manager, and her job was incredibly complex. She was like the central hub for everything going on across regions, teams, and all levels. When Janne spoke, people listened – even if she wasn't the loudest. That's because she was super informed and had this knack for floating through problems, getting hands-on when needed, pinpointing issues, getting everyone on board, and pushing our thinking. Years later, when I became a Chief of Staff, I often thought, "How would Janne handle this?

Mel, who led the whole APAC organization for a while and now heads up Google Australia and New Zealand, just led with this authentic warmth. She's got a wicked sense of humor. Even with a massive organization, she seemed to know everyone and what made them tick. I remember once she left an article on my desk about succeeding without an MBA, and I was shocked she even knew I was thinking about it! She was also open about when she was learning something new and said you could be a mentor at any level to anyone

The common thread between all three of them? They showed up as real humans and showed up authentically in different ways, which in turn helped to get the best out of their teams. 

3) Can you tell us what you do as a Chief of Staff, Creator Products at YouTube for those who are unfamiliar?

Yes! It has been my favorite job ever, and one I’ve been very lucky to have for the last 6 years. I am basically like a right hand to our VP of Product, which means that I work on everything from strategy projects to leading how our org runs, to working across functions to bring things together and over the finish line. If this sounds vague, it can be - each day is different and I can only predict 30% of any day since there is always a fire to fight. I get to work with tech and business teams across YouTube to make products that help creators on YouTube to tell their stories, find their audience, and build businesses. I feel very lucky. 

I am actually going to be starting a year long rotation as a Product Manager helping creators to drive brand deals on YouTube. After 6 years as Chief of Staff, I’m very proud of how our org has grown and operates, and I want to spend some time dedicating myself to this space and getting closer to the PM craft. I figure in a year, it’ll either make me a stronger Chief of Staff, or maybe new doors open - who knows! 

4) What advice would you give to someone looking to transition into a Chief of Staff role, and what key skills or experiences are essential for success in this position?

The title sounds cool, but really this is about bringing things together and being able to dig into what’s driving the deeper layer of people and the business. A few tips (which I know might sound contradictory): Be willing to get very hands on / roll your sleeves up, but also know how to leverage the inertia of the org - how do you help people do their jobs the best that they can? How do you help identify what is getting in the way (missing context? Misaligned objectives? Organizational issues? Lack of resourcing?), come up with a plan, get people on board, and then find the right long term owner. 

The leader you work for /with is everything. You need to be able to be an extension of their brain, but also complement them - this element is where I’ve found the COS role to be most impactful, when you augment the leader in new ways that can extend them/ accelerate the business and team. You need to be a trusted advisor and partner in crime. Some of this will come in the skills/ experience you bring - but at the end of the day, it will also be about the dynamics you have together. Ie, it is also about personality and style fit, because it is all about trust, both ways. You both will know when it is a match.

Lastly - you can find roles like this even if it is not titled Chief of Staff. Many folks find this title appealing, but I’ve also seen this title used in many ways. At the end of the day, you are looking for a role where you are bringing people and goals together to drive common goals, unblocking through high level influence, and working on behalf of a leader. If a Chief of Staff role isn’t available, explore Strategy and Operations roles - this often gives you a similar bedrock of skills you can use to ricochet into a COS role later. 

5) What prompted your shift from APAC Video Strategy & Ops Manager at Google to Chief of Staff, Creator Products at YouTube, and how would you compare the two roles in terms of challenges and focus?

I loved my job in APAC too! I basically helped drive S&O for our regional video ads business across APAC, and thoroughly enjoyed the variation in working with markets like China vs India vs South East Asia vs Australia - as you can imagine, they are wildly different, and so the solutions you launch and go to market vary too. Then as a regional arm, you find the balance between global and local deployment and how to bridge/ translate those strategies. 

While in APAC, a huge part of the ads business was YouTube ads. In my S&O role, I was exposed to the YouTube org in APAC (which is a different org at Alphabet) - and I could see this org from afar and found myself wanting to dive in headfirst. As much as I learned from the ads business, I wanted to be full time closer to creators, content, and creativity. The Chief of Staff job felt made for me! I loved that I could bring my S&O chops into this world. I would say the big difference for me was then getting to think from a product lens - how do you build at scale, but find the balance with pockets of success and allow for local differentiation? 

I’m grateful for time both in market and globally, sales and product, I think in general the more you can build your own ‘360 education’ the stronger you will be ! 

6) Can you walk us through how you transitioned from Toronto to Singapore? Was it part of an internal move or a result of pursuing new opportunities?

I was part of our sales team in Canada, working with large advertisers like the Government of Canada and learned a ton. However, as much as I enjoyed working with our partners externally, I was fascinated by how Google worked. I wanted to know - who was making the decisions for how the sales teams focused? How could I make my job more efficient? These questions ended up leading me to get interested and volunteering with our local Sales Operations org. A project there brought me to our India Google offices. While in APAC, I stopped by the Singapore office, and at one of the Friday afternoon office minglers ‘TGIFs’, I ran into someone from the local team who met me and said that I should meet their manager about a rotation in Singapore. That 6 month rotation turned into 4 years in Singapore :) 

7) How did you adapt to different work cultures while transitioning between locations like Singapore, Toronto, and Mountain View? And what's your favorite thing about working in each of those places?

I feel very fortunate that as a Chinese Canadian, I already felt I had many cultures from which to identify with and pull from. All of these places are actually relatively diverse in different ways, and it’s about really the shared experience you find with whoever you meet - which can take many forms. I loved Singapore for the familiarity of being in APAC and the regional variation I got in my work across markets. Toronto - I ended up meeting some of the best friends of my life in this little office! In fact, one of the friends I met there in that office is the reason I moved to LA at the tail end of COVID - and what was supposed to be a few months has turned into 3 years in LA! And as for California - there is nothing like working at global HQ in MTV. Now in LA, I feel grateful to be around creators all the time - it helps me ground why we are building the products that we are

8) Looking back, what advice would you give to your younger self as a woman entering your career, and how can that insight help women today?

I would tell myself that it will take some time to figure out who you are, and that’s ok. Just be where you are. I am very different in my mid 30s than when I was in my early 20s. When I was in my early 20s, I was painfully aware I was green in the workspace, and so I decided to lean in. I asked questions, tried hard to do the work until I needed help, and then asked for it. I decided I needed a self-education, which is part of the reason why I joined the S&O org out of sales - I didn’t think I’d be good at it, but I felt I needed to learn, and earlier is better than later. 

Then later when I entered Chief of Staff in my late 20s, I briefly decided to mute my natural extrovertedness / bubbliness, worried it would make me seem ‘too young’. This failed - I think people just thought I was shy! So I leaned into my full self and it turns out that’s what also made me better at my job - to just be my full self

9) What excites you most about working in the creator space, and how do you see your team's work helping creators of all sizes thrive?

Helping people tell their stories. YouTube is for everyone. Maybe you want to sing, or make art, or share experience, or you’re just passing time on your phone - but then someone else wants to watch that. Someone else wants to see what you made, and come back again and again. I can’t think of anything more fulfilling than realizing you have this community all over the world, people of all types, coming for you! And maybe it’s many people, or just a few that really care - either way, I want to be a part of the thing that helps people connect and share. 

10) Is there anything else you'd like to share—whether it's a personal insight, a lesson learned, or something you've experienced—that hasn't come up yet in the questions?

Careers are jungle gyms not ladders - you have to carve your own way and the path can be windy. Don’t be afraid to make moves that are ‘down or across’ so that you can end up in the part of the jungle gym you want to be in the long run - once you’re there you can make your way up, or keep exploring. Chase skills and people  - surround yourself with teammates smarter than you, work on problems you find interesting, and attract and be a mentor/sponsor!