The hoodies behind Zerocopter

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Welcome back to one of our favourite blog series, where a different member of the team is introduced on the second Monday of each month. In these posts, you can find out more about the hoodies behind Zerocopter!

Our next conversation is with Tanya Fomina, Head of Customer Success at Zerocopter. Tanya takes care of the success and happiness of our customers by helping them achieve their goals!

Please tell us a bit about yourself, who is Tanya Fomina?

I am Tanya, Head of Customer Success. My biggest passion is helping people and improving the world around myself, and I am somebody who always looks for challenges and new experiences. I am a naturally curious person and reading, traveling, learning and practicing new languages are amongst the things I enjoy the most. A special place in my heart is reserved for dancing, a unique non-verbal way of communication.

How would you describe your job title in a couple of words?

My job varies quite a bit: from operational tasks to project management to strategic planning. In essence, I help our customers achieve their goals and make sure they are successful and happy with our cooperation.

What do you like about working in Customer Success at Zerocopter? 

Every day my job shows me how important it is to actually listen. By finding out the true wishes, challenges and goals of our customers and helping them, I contribute to safer cyberspace and make a difference in the world. I really enjoy that.

If you could trade positions with anyone in Zerocopter for a day, who would it be and why? 

I am very curious about how things are built and what makes a system work if you strip it down to its core. So, I would love to trade the positions with one of our backend developers.

What have you learned from working at Zerocopter? 

I have been learning since day one, especially about technical and cybersecurity aspects as I have a non-technical background. The level of complexity and the amount of possibilities of the Internet does not stop fascinating me. Also, it has become more apparent to me than ever before that communication is key.

When was the first time that you heard about the term “Bug Bounty” or “Responsible Disclosure/Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure”?

I came across it on the Zerocopter website when I was preparing for my interview. Quite trivial :).

What resources (books/podcasts/courses etc) would you recommend to someone (new) in this industry?

“Customer Success: How Innovative Companies Are Reducing Churn and Growing Recurring Revenue” is a very nice introduction to the principles of the relatively new function that customer success is. Generally, communication is a big part of my job and I found “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It” by Chris Voss absolutely great!

What is your favourite stereotype about the hacking industry and why? 

“Favourite” might not be the right word but it is definitely the one I try to fight. Up until today in lots of peoples’ minds the term “hackers” equals criminals. I find it very unfair and always emphasize to our customers and people that want to join our team that a hacker is merely a person that finds a way to use a system/device in a way it was not designed for - non-conventionally, alternatively. To me, this is creativity and resourcefulness, not a crime.

We hope you enjoyed getting to know Tanya a little better! Stay tuned for our next post in May!

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