Making magic and memories: Emma built her career by saying yes to opportunities

Emma Foley, wears two hats as Mobility General Manager in New Zealand and Director of Consumer Growth for Australia & New Zealand, which comes as no surprise when you find out she’s held 7 roles in 9 years with Uber. 

Emma’s journey at Uber has seen her grow from her early days in mobility operations spending Friday nights signing up drivers at local petrol stations to launching delivery in New Zealand and then taking her knowledge to Mexico as Head of Strategy, Planning and Growth, and further expanding her remit across LATAM (and having a baby!) before heading back down under to Australia to lead consumer growth for mobility.

We sat down with Emma to learn about the highlights of her career and what she has learned from all the moments in between.

“Moving to Mexico was definitely a highlight. I actually went on a student exchange in Mexico when I was at university which attracted me to the city and role in the first place. I joined the business at an exciting time, we grew from just 20 people to 75 only a year later. I got to bring my learnings from launching the business in New Zealand into a new market. I absolutely loved living in Mexico City, my son was born there, we had a really fun time.”

“Launching Uber Eats in NZ. We did it with such a small team and so relatively quickly. We were watching on computer screens when it launched and we were on the phone all day to delivery partners to get more of them on the road as the city literally lit up with orders. There was a sense of magic in that shift from one day having literally nothing to the next day having an entire new product in the market. It worked and we had the record for the biggest launch week for APAC at that point in time.”

“That would be the Red Cross clothing drive in NZ where we gave eligible customers the chance to book a free Uber Package pick-up for their pre-loved clothing to donate. Drivers started rolling in with bags of clothes, and piles for donations which far exceeded our expectations and meant that we were really going to be able to make a difference.”

“I am someone who keeps saying yes to opportunities and focuses on doing a great job, being open to different things and broadening my skill set. Taking the knowledge and expertise I have and applying it in new roles and new markets. I feel most lucky to have had the opportunity to support different markets. You can be so helpful and truly contribute because you know the business deeply, but there’s also so much that’s different in a new country such as the office, the regulatory environment, the consumers and earners in that market and what they need–which gives you so much scope to learn and grow.”

“The concept of the squiggly line. Careers are not perfectly linear and sometimes the best career journeys have the most waves and zigzags. So keeping that in mind, rather than obsessing about the next role, think about what is the best experience to add to your journey. And trust that if you do a great job and you have a great attitude, opportunities will keep opening.”

“How much it can still feel like a startup, in all the fun ways. It’s a feeling that I still have 9 years later, in a much bigger and more mature business. People would be surprised at how much opportunity there still is to lead new projects or launch new products and make an impact on the business and its performance. You can really see your work come to life quickly for customers and earners. It’s great to still feel like I’m able to impact the magic of the way things work at Uber.”

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