A journey of resilience, curiosity, and growth
From a curious village girl to a global operations leader
From a young age, I was drawn to problem-solving 🧩, structure 📊, and the pursuit of knowledge 📚. Whether it was tackling complex math puzzles, analyzing world maps with my father, or losing myself in books filled with endless possibilities, my curiosity knew no bounds. These early passions shaped my mindset—one that thrives on learning, challenges, and finding clarity in complexity.
But the journey wasn’t always smooth. Growing up in a small village 🌾, the expectations for my future were modest. When I set my sights on a top-tier high school 🎓, many doubted my chances. The odds were stacked against me, but I believed that effort and resilience could bridge the gap. I pushed forward, proving to myself that limitations exist only if you accept them.
That belief was tested in 2008, when I moved to Saudi Arabia 🌍. A new culture, a new language, and an unfinished education left me at a crossroads. I had no roadmap, no certainty about what was next. But one thing was clear: I wasn’t ready to give up. What followed was a decade-long journey of reinvention 🔄, online education 💻, and building a career that would eventually lead me to operations leadership 🚀.
Table of Contents
- A journey of resilience, curiosity, and growth
- A passion for learning: once upon a time…
- Navigating high school challenges: hold on!
- A new chapter in Saudi Arabia: reset?
- Discovering online education: a new way forward
- Pivoting to cybersecurity: connecting the dots
- Scaling operations, leading teams, and driving impact
A passion for learning: once upon a time…
✨ I’ve always been curious and determined to figure things out. Math was my first love; the kind that made me lose track of time solving problems just for fun. I wasn’t just good at it; I thrived on the challenge. If there was a tricky problem, I had to crack it. My teacher even made extra-hard bonus problems just to stump me, but I refused to let him win. Numbers, logic, patterns? It all clicked. What I didn’t realize then was that I wasn’t just learning math. I was learning how to break down problems, think critically, and push through challenges, a mindset that would shape everything I did later. 📚
🌍 Geography was another obsession, probably because of my dad. We had this game where he’d randomly name to a spot on the globe, and I’d have to find it. What started as a fun challenge turned into a fascination with how everything is connected: places, people, history. I wanted to know more, understand how things worked, and see beyond what was right in front of me.
📖 And then, there were books. My mother’s mini library was my personal treasure chest: Jules Verne, 1001 Arabian Nights, and every story that could transport me somewhere new. At school, I was the only one stubborn enough to keep asking the librarian for more books. I read anything I could get my hands on, not just for fun but because I wanted to know more, see more, and imagine more. That hunger for knowledge became a part of me, shaping the way I approached every challenge that came next. 🌌
Navigating high school challenges: hold on!
Getting into one of Romania’s top high schools wasn’t something people thought I could do. Coming from a small village 🌾, I kept hearing the same thing: You don’t stand a chance. But I had nothing to lose, so I went for it. And I got in. 👀
But getting in was just the first challenge. Staying there was another story. My first year was a wake-up call. I went from being a top student to barely passing 📉. My classmates had tutors, better resources, and years of preparation that I didn’t. I felt like I had been dropped into a world where everyone spoke a language I didn’t understand. 🤯
For two years, I struggled to keep up. Then, I changed my approach. Instead of focusing on homework, I broke everything down step by step 🔎. I made sure I understood the logic behind every problem, retracing my mistakes until I got it right. I taught myself programming from scratch 💻, not because it was fun, but because I refused to continue that way.😤
Slowly, everything started making sense again. By the time I finished high school, I wasn’t just keeping up…I was back to top marks. 🚀 But the biggest lesson wasn’t in the textbooks. I realized that if I wanted to grow, it was up to me. No shortcuts, no waiting for someone else to guide me. I had to be the one to figure things out, find solutions, and take full ownership of my learning. 💡
A new chapter in Saudi Arabia: reset?
In 2008, I found myself at a crossroads—a now-or-never moment that would change everything. I had fought so hard to rise back to the top in high school, only to leave it all behind with just 25% left to complete. Moving from Romania to Saudi Arabia wasn’t just a shift in geography; it was a leap into the unknown. 🌍
The challenges were immediate. A new country, a new culture, a new language, and, as a non-Saudi woman, an entirely different way of life. I wasn’t just stepping into unfamiliar territory; I was navigating a world where the rules were different, and I wasn’t sure where I fit.
At first, I felt lost, isolated, and uncertain about my future. I had no roadmap, no clear direction, just the overwhelming reality of starting over. But deep down, I knew one thing: giving up wasn’t an option. I had already proven to myself that I could overcome challenges, and this time would be no different. 🌟
Discovering online education: a new way forward
💻 With my high school education incomplete, I needed a way to move forward. Online learning became my lifeline. I enrolled in Penn Foster to finish my diploma, but before committing, I tested the waters with something more exciting: a Private Investigator course.🕵️♀️ It wasn’t just about curiosity; I needed to be sure this path was real and that I could trust the system.
That one course turned into a 13-year journey of self-paced education. I explored forensic computer examination, deepened my knowledge, and eventually earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. 🎓
More than just certifications, these experiences taught me something far more valuable: how to take ownership of my own learning. I figured out how to structure my education, manage my time, and adapt to new challenges—skills that would shape everything I did from that point forward.
Pivoting to cybersecurity: connecting the dots
As I explored cybersecurity, I realized that breaking into the field required expensive certifications. I needed a way to fund my education while building relevant skills, so I turned to startup environments where I could learn fast and earn at the same time.
- 🌟 Education consultant at iTeach: I helped students with final projects and quickly became the go-to consultant for quality work. But many didn’t want guidance—they wanted me to do the work for them. I walked away due to ethical concerns.
- 📊 Assistant project coordinator at ProScene: A media startup where I developed a budget tracking system to streamline operations. The role was impactful, but the owner shut down the company because he didn’t want to manage the business side.
To gain real-world cybersecurity insights, I attended the Cybersecurity Leadership Summit 2021, organized by KuppingerCole. 🎙️ I didn’t just listen. I engaged, asked tough questions, and explored the field beyond theory. By the end of the event, I was recognized as a top participant, proving that I could step into a new field and make an impact.
🚀 Cybersecurity wasn’t just a career pivot. It was a decision to bet on myself. But certifications still came with a price, and I needed a new role to finance them. That search would lead me to my next challenge.
Scaling operations, leading teams, and driving impact
When I joined Codeless in 2022, I started at the entry level as an account manager. By 2025, I was Director of Production. In just 2.5 years, I moved through five roles, each step driven by my ability to see inefficiencies, build scalable solutions, and lead teams through growth and change.
Codeless was a fast-growing, remote-first content production agency, but it lacked the structure to scale efficiently. Processes were undocumented, training was nonexistent, and workflows had no clear ownership. Instead of waiting for solutions, I built them—documenting workflows, creating SOPs, and designing processes that transformed the way the team operated.
As I optimized operations, my role evolved—from Account Manager to Director of Production—each transition fueled by my proactive mindset, problem-solving skills, and ability to lead teams through change. 🚀
Codeless beginnings: bringing structure to the chaos
🌐 In 2022, I joined Codeless as an account manager, stepping into a team with no formal training, no documented workflows, and no structured onboarding. There were no SOPs, no training materials, and my manager (who was in a different time zone) rarely had time to answer questions. If I wanted to succeed, I had to figure it out myself.
I reverse-engineered the processes by digging through ClickUp card histories, retracing past tasks, and analyzing how things were done. I repeated steps, compared results, and refined my approach until I could fully handle my responsibilities within just two weeks—without any formal guidance. To make my work faster, I started documenting checklists for each process, ensuring I never had to start from scratch again.
When it came time to train new hires, I shared my checklists with them, explaining how I had figured things out. I recorded Loom videos showing my exact steps, giving them the clarity I never had.
💡 As I continued training new team members, I saw the potential for greater efficiency if all processes were standardized. Instead of repeating the same explanations, I proposed stepping away from account management temporarily to focus entirely on building SOPs and training materials. Leadership agreed, and I transitioned into an operations-focused role, setting the stage for my next move.
Operations strategist: building scalable systems
As Operations Strategist, I systemized everything, creating over 50 SOPs, standardizing workflows, and implementing key operational improvements, including PTO tracking and topic approval processes.
🔄 But as I was deep in process-building, I noticed something alarming: workflow backlogs were piling up. Previously, while account managing, I had been the one proactively making sure tasks moved forward, even though it wasn’t officially my responsibility. With me stepping away, there was no one overseeing the entire production process. Each team focused on their own piece, but no one had a bird’s-eye view of the full workflow.
I recognized that the team needed a new role: someone responsible for making sure nothing stalled in production. I proposed a position that would later become Content Production Specialist—a role focused entirely on workflow management, ensuring tasks moved efficiently from one stage to the next.
Leadership agreed with the need for this role and restructured responsibilities, transferring writer assignments from the SEO team to this position. They decided to hire four content production specialists to own this function, and given my background, knowledge, and deep understanding of the workflow, I was promoted to manage the new team.
Production manager: leading through growth and change
🚀 Stepping into the Production Manager role meant leading a team of four in a rapidly scaling company. Codeless had grown to 45+ employees and over 30 clients and the demands on our production process were higher than ever. But just as we were stabilizing, budget cuts hit, and I had to restructure the team while keeping operations running at full capacity.
Instead of treating this as a loss, I saw an opportunity to optimize, align people with their strengths, and streamline hiring and onboarding.
Strategic budget reductions without layoffs
📉Leadership determined that three out of four team members were earning salaries higher than what was sustainable for their roles. Instead of letting people go, I worked with leadership to create internal career moves that benefited both the employees and the company:
- 🔹Promoted one team member to Head of Contractor Management, aligning with their skills and aspirations while fulfilling a company need.
- 🔹Transitioned another into a Content Strategist role to support the SEO team, based on their interests and company goals.
- 🔹The third team member received an exciting external offer and decided to leave for a new opportunity.
📈This meant that I now had to rebuild the team from scratch (hiring, onboarding, and training three new people) all while ensuring production didn’t slow down.
Building a hiring & onboarding system from the ground up
🛠️I had never handled end-to-end hiring before, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me. I took full ownership of the recruitment process, partnering with Simera and The Virtual Hub agencies to source candidates, conducting interviews, making hiring decisions, and handling everything from extending offers to getting contracts signed.
But I didn’t just go through the motions! I optimized every step.
- 📩Templatized the hiring process: created standardized email templates for interview invites, offer extensions, and watercooler introductions.
- 📝Structured the interview process: developed pre-set interview questions, a system for recording interviews, and a transparent decision-making framework so my manager could easily track the process.
- 🔄Created a repeatable hiring workflow: ensuring that future hires across the company could benefit from a structured, efficient process.
✨At the end of this, my manager was impressed by the efficiency and transparency I had built. What I designed was set to become the company-wide hiring standard (though it was never formally implemented).
Empowering my team: leadership, ownership, and visibility
Beyond hiring, I focused on developing my team by empowering them to lead, take ownership, and become more visible across the company. I introduced:
- 🚀OKRs for the team, making sure each member took the lead on one of them. Their OKRs were broken down into actionable steps that aligned with their strengths and interests. This wasn’t just about improving operations. It was about teaching them leadership, accountability, and ownership.
- 🔗Cross-team collaboration opportunities, ensuring that my team was introduced across departments and given the chance to collaborate with different teams. Since one of our key KPIs was completing articles within a certain number of days, it was critical that my team had strong relationships with every department. I facilitated these interactions to improve cooperation and visibility.
- 📅Rotational leadership in team meetings, where each team member got the chance to lead our meetings and prepare the agenda. This gave them a voice, a sense of responsibility, and practical leadership experience.
- 🛠️Full transparency into my work, ensuring that everyone was trained to handle my responsibilities. I documented everything, making sure the team could cover for me if needed. I did this not just for efficiency, but to build trust and empower them to take ownership.
- 📴Work-life balance by example. The hardest part of leading by example wasn’t just always learning, improving, and being reliable. It was showcasing true work-life balance. I made the conscious decision to disconnect fully during off-hours and vacations, knowing that if I didn’t, my team wouldn’t either. I had trained them well, given them clear SOPs, and trusted them to handle things. So, I stepped back to ensure they felt empowered to do the same.
- 🌍 Team-building activities to strengthen collaboration: To boost morale and teamwork in our fully remote team, I organized activities that helped us bond beyond daily tasks:
- 🏆 Online escape rooms to encourage problem-solving together.
- ✏️ Skribbl (drawing games) for fun and creativity.
- ❓ Q&A sessions to explore different cultures, share personal stories, and build deeper connections.
Building a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement
Another key aspect of my leadership was fostering a culture of collaboration, feedback, and shared responsibility.
- 🔄Team support system: If a team member finished their work early, they were expected to check in and help others. We even created PTO handoff templates to ensure smooth transitions when someone was out, so no one came back to chaos.
- 🎓Peer training & collaboration: I encouraged team members to train each other, giving them the chance to develop new skills and support one another.
- 🗂️Structured feedback system: I kept track of standout moments and areas for improvement, providing concrete, constructive feedback to help them grow. I didn’t just tell them what needed improvement. I helped them discover their strengths and aligned their responsibilities with their goals.
Difficult decisions: performance management & growth
A critical part of leadership is knowing when to guide someone and when to make tough calls. I had to manage two performance improvement plans, with very different outcomes:
📌 One team member struggled with performance despite multiple coaching sessions. I created a structured performance improvement plan, offering guidance and opportunities for improvement. But when it became clear that there was nothing more I could do, I made the difficult decision to let them go.
⭐ Another team member started off struggling but turned into the star of the team. Through structured coaching, clear expectations, and ongoing support, they transformed their performance, ultimately becoming a top contributor.
💡 This experience reinforced my belief that great leadership isn’t just about making things work—it’s about empowering people to thrive, whether that means coaching them to success or knowing when to let go.
Head of Production: merging teams and driving innovation
🚀As Head of Production, I led the integration of the Delivery and Production teams. Instead of simply reducing headcount, I retained the best talent and upskilled them, ensuring that those who remained were fully equipped to handle all responsibilities that had previously been divided between two teams.
🔄 I introduced a cross-training strategy to develop Production Coordinators, ensuring they had specialized knowledge of each client’s preferences. With a deeper understanding of expectations, they improved both content quality and client satisfaction without slowing execution.
💡 Beyond restructuring, I led several key improvements:
- Client journey process in ClickUp: I designed and implemented a structured workflow system that combined templates and automations, improving visibility, accountability, and collaboration across departments.
- Strike policy implementation: I developed and enforced a strike policy to hold writers accountable, ensuring quality, consistency, and deadlines were met.
- Optimizing the writer pool: I designed a trialing system to test writers on different topics, allowing us to quickly assess and onboard specialized talent instead of relying on slow hiring cycles.
🤖 I also explored AI’s potential—analyzing how it could enhance production workflows and strengthen our positioning against AI-generated content.
🚀 These initiatives didn’t just improve daily operations—they built a more agile, scalable, and resilient production system. By restructuring teams, optimizing talent, and streamlining workflows, I helped Codeless deliver high-quality content while staying adaptable to industry shifts.
Director of Production: strategic leadership amid challenges
🎖️ My promotion to Director of Production wasn’t just a title change: It recognized my impact. I had successfully restructured teams, optimized workflows, and built scalable systems. But with that came one of the toughest challenges yet: another round of budget cuts.
💡 With only one team member left, I had to rethink everything. Instead of letting production stall, I trained individuals from other departments to step in. I restructured workflows, cross-trained employees, and optimized handoffs. The goal was simple: keep production running, no matter what.
🚀 Beyond just keeping things afloat, I pushed for more efficiency
- Refined processes so every step was structured and repeatable
- Expanded automation to cut down manual work
- Strengthened interdepartmental collaboration to improve workflow between production, SEO, and client specialists
🌟 But the financial situation worsened. I had to let go of my last team member. Then, it was my turn. When I walked away, I knew I had done everything possible. The systems were in place, SOPs were clear, and automation had reduced repetitive tasks. But I also left wondering: what else could I have done? Could I have moved faster? Optimized more? Prevented so many layoffs?
💡 This experience reinforced a hard truth: leadership isn’t just about keeping things running. It’s about building systems that can outlast you, even when things don’t go as planned.
A passion for lifelong learning
📚 Curiosity has always been my driving force. Whether it was solving complex math problems as a child, teaching myself programming in high school, or pivoting into cybersecurity as an adult, I’ve always seen learning as the key to unlocking new possibilities.
💡 This relentless pursuit of knowledge hasn’t just shaped my career—it’s shaped how I lead. I believe that growth comes from embracing challenges, asking the right questions, and constantly seeking to improve. More than just learning for myself, I’m passionate about empowering others to do the same by encouraging curiosity, fostering adaptability, and creating an environment where people can thrive.
🔥 For me, learning isn’t just a tool. It’s a mindset. One that transforms individuals, strengthens teams, and drives lasting impact.
💭 For years, I struggled to answer the question: “What is your passion?” I searched for something specific, something tangible. But the truth was always there: my passion is knowledge.
Looking ahead
🔮 Every challenge I’ve faced has been a stepping stone. Moving to Saudi Arabia wasn’t just a reset…it was a launchpad. From navigating online education to leading through uncertainty, each experience has shaped me into a leader who thrives in complexity, embraces change, and empowers others to do the same.
🚀 I look ahead with the same mindset that has driven me forward: adaptability, problem-solving, and impact. My goal is simple: to keep building systems that enable people and organizations to thrive. Because when operations run smoothly, teams grow stronger, and businesses unlock their full potential.
🌟 The journey continues. And I’m just getting started.
Alex Gita | Driving Efficiency, Empowering Teams 