Karina Szmulewicz, a graduate of ORT’s Bachelor’s Degree in Management and Administration, is the mother of a young girl and is expecting her second child. Her greatest hope is that her children will see her as a responsible, hardworking, and independent woman. To that end, she has been working tirelessly every day for a long time.
Karina currently serves as YouTube Strategic Partner Manager at Google Argentina. However, her career at the company spans more than 10 years and has been marked by changes and challenges.
In this article, Karina talks about her experience at Google, her time at ORT, and her plans for the future.
You currently work as a YouTube Strategic Partner Manager at Google. What does this role entail, and what are your main responsibilities?
My main responsibilities within YouTube’s Strategic Partnerships team for the Southern Cone are to work with partners who create educational and children’s content on YouTube and YouTube Kids to help them develop their strategies and foster the growth of these creators’ ecosystems in the region.
To do my job, I need to collaborate internally with various cross-functional teams, such as Marketing, Legal, PR, Support, Product, and Sales, among others, which is extremely interesting.
You joined Google in 2010 and have held various positions since then. What has your journey at the company been like from when you started until now?
Yes, in November I celebrated my 10th anniversary with the company. The truth is that at Google, no two years are alike; it’s incredibly dynamic, and changes in roles and teams go hand in hand with evolving interests.
I started out as part of the Online Partnerships for Publishers team, which focuses on helping publishers monetize their digital content, primarily through Google AdSense.
After a few years, I felt the need to learn more about the other side of Google’s business: Google Ads. That’s when I found an opportunity on the Major Accounts team. On this team, I worked with various industries. There, I had my longest stint as an account manager for the automotive industry, working side by side with the digital and marketing teams of manufacturers such as VW, Peugeot-Citroën, Ford, Chevrolet, and Renault, among others.
After having my first daughter, I looked for a new challenge within the company, hoping to learn more about other areas. That’s when a wonderful opportunity came up: working with YouTube content creators for YouTube Kids and the education vertical. Two topics I love. I’ve been in this role for a year now… Time flies!
What are the opportunities and challenges of working at Google?
At Google, you never stop learning: from your role, your peers, your leaders, the industry, and the company culture. On the one hand, the industry is incredibly dynamic, and so are the products we work on. On the other hand, those of us who work at Google—or “Googlers,” as we call ourselves—are curious, eager to learn, open to change, and committed to teamwork.
How did the opportunity to pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Management and Administration at Universidad ORT Uruguay come about?
When I moved to Uruguay with my family in 2003, I had already completed my first year of college in Buenos Aires. Before the move, we researched the different universities available, the programs they offered, and the possibility of having the courses I had already taken transferred, and Universidad ORT Uruguay the Universidad ORT Uruguay that seemed to have the best program and also accepted most of the courses I had already taken.
What skills you gained through the Bachelor's Degree in Management and Administration have helped you advance in your career?
The study methodology, teamwork, and the opportunity to complete part of my degree abroad—all of these factors have been and continue to be vital to my professional development.
Where do you see yourself professionally in five years?
I think I'd like to have an experience outside of a dependent relationship, even though I'm afraid and I also have a family to take care of (I have a daughter and I'm expecting my second child).
What kind of legacy would you like to leave through your work?
These days, I find myself thinking that I’d love for my children to be proud of their mom—to see me as a hardworking, responsible, independent woman who “keeps moving forward.” In my professional life, if I can inspire even one person through what I’ve learned, that’s enough for me.