Today’s “Meet the Trulian” features the General Manager of Trulia Rentals, Yardley Ip. Yardley had years of experience as an engineer and product manager before taking on the role of GM of Trulia Rentals in the fall of 2015. Read on to learn a bit more about Yardley and how she got started in her career.
What’s your role at Trulia?
I’m the general manager of Trulia Rentals, meaning I manage both product and marketing for Trulia’s Rentals business. I work with an amazing team that I enjoy collaborating with every day. We are a lean team with an appetite for continual A/B testing and a focus on user empathy. I am consistently impressed with everyone’s agility to deliver user-driven solutions. (Fun fact: Yardley is a second round Trulian. She was a senior product manager and director of product management during her first employment with Trulia.)
What inspired you to get into your role?
I got into engineering back in high school, when my favorite math teacher – shout out to Mrs. Steinberg! – sent me off to UC Davis for the day to shadow electrical engineering students. I was blown away by watching the students build their own radios in the labs. It was so cool and it inspired me to get into the tech world.
Fast forward a few years and I found the perfect cross-section of my love for all things tech and wanting to solve a problem that directly impacted me, rentals. I know first-hand that there’s tremendous stress in finding the right place to call home, and I strongly believe that Trulia can empower renters to easily find the place they’re looking for thanks to its breakthroughs in personalization, providing insightful information, and building useful products. So, when this opportunity crossed my path, I couldn’t pass it up.
What was your dream job growing up and why?
I always wanted to be a teacher. I believe life is about learning, and I love academia, and I was tickled with the idea that I could always stay in school if I was a teacher. I also enjoy mentoring and teaching others, so it seemed like a natural fit, but then I found engineering and started making products with my own hands. After I learned about resistors and capacitors, it was a whole other kind of love and teaching was simply no longer an option.
If you could have drinks with one tech luminary – dead or alive – whom would it be and why? And, what would your first question be?
While maybe not exactly a tech luminary, I would like to have drinks with Sheryl Sandberg. Sheryl’s goal of making Facebook profitable changed the company’s mindset from focusing simply on building cool products to becoming a sustainable long-term business. More than that, she is a role model for professional women and an advocate for workplace equality, and I really appreciate that. The first question I would ask her is, “What has been the hardest challenge in your career since joining Facebook and how did you overcome it?”
What’s the one gadget or personal tech item you cannot live without and why?
My coffee maker is my lifeline. I can’t live without it and I hate to admit it, but I must have a cup of coffee before anyone talks to me in the morning.
What was the last movie you saw or book you read and what – if anything – would you change about the ending?
I prefer sci-fi and action movies, so the last movie I saw was actually “Lucy.” I must say though that I was disappointed in the ending. Given that she had all the power, I would have liked to see her do something better for the world.
What’s your proudest accomplishment and why?
Transitioning to a new job, running a business unit, and being a new mom all at the same time. It sounds cliche, but my prioritization and time management skills were truly put to the test when I joined Trulia to run the Rentals team. I’m fortunate to have an awesome support network in and outside of work and that’s really what made it all possible.
If you could have one superpower what would it be and why?
To fly. I don’t like driving and I’m constantly trying to be efficient with my time. It’d be great to quickly travel anywhere I want, and I think I would enjoy the fresh air during the flight as well (I mean, who wouldn’t?)!
If you could time travel, would you go into the future or past and why?
Future. I would love to get a glimpse of what life and tech is like 100 years from now. I’m sure that it’ll be beyond our imagination.
