At Roblox, we’re committed to building an inclusive organization that is as diverse as its community of players and creators. Whether it’s working behind the scenes with engineering, spearheading our education efforts, being involved with marketing and product, working on our finance team, or being part of our people team, these professions are all crucial in helping Roblox function as the Imagination Platform.
In honor of Women’s History Month, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the accomplishments of some of the trailblazing women at Roblox and share how they’re helping to build a better platform for the millions of players all over the world. We spoke with Kelly Mayes, Jessica Kung, Priyanka Girase, Genevieve Johnson, Maria Silvanskaya, Jianan Duan, Kat Junus, and Tracie Waecker about their passion and love of their work here at Roblox!
In case you missed it, we also interviewed Mimi_Dev, GrottyPuff, and PixelatedCandy for International Women’s Day! Check out what they had to say by clicking here.
Why Roblox?
Our company culture is defined by the people who work here. Everyone may come from different backgrounds, cultures, and interests, but we all share a common belief in the product and our mission to power the imagination of people around the world.
Kelly Mayes, Director of Project Management and one of the singers in the Roblox band, always enjoyed the field of creative arts. She studied computer programming in high school and went on to get a degree in Computer Science. Over time, she became more attached to the challenges of designing good products and leading cross-disciplinary teams. “Product management lets me combine all these interests every single day,” said Mayes. “Being a company that focuses on kids, the work culture is great for a working mom like me. The people I work with at Roblox take the time to know each other and care about each other. Our CEO, David Baszucki, has a super bold vision for the company and invests for the long term.”
Kelly isn’t the only one who has been creating for a long time. Jessica Kung, Product Manager on the social team, mentioned, “I’ve always loved creating, and being a product manager allows me to create features that deliver the best experience for our users.”
Priyanka Girase, Senior Software Development Engineer, chose her profession because she loves solving problems while making an impact in people’s lives. “The values at Roblox are very user-centric, ensuring the best-of-the-best experience is offered to the users and user needs are kept at the foremost of the priorities,” she said. “Roblox is constantly challenging the technical norms and making its steady rise towards excellence in user-experience. That is how my year, month, and every day at Roblox has been—constantly challenging me technically and giving me the opportunity to make a change in the world one update at a time.”
Before joining Roblox, Genevieve Johnson, Senior Instructional Designer, worked at a summer tech camp developing courses on how to create mods for various games and how to use animation software. Eventually, she ended up running a large team that created content on a multitude of STEM topics including coding, electrical engineering, game design, and cryptography. Now she works with educators to develop coding and design programs using Roblox. “I wanted to create curriculum on how to code with Lua and Roblox long before I got here,” she said. “Game creation is a great way to engage a student’s intrinsic drive to learn while teaching them computational and design thinking.”
Passion and Inspiration
Roblox is a source of inspiration for millions of users, empowering them to embrace their creativity and do whatever they enjoy. We’ve established a similar-minded culture for our employees as well.
Maria Silvanskaya, Director of Marketing, always had a passion for storytelling. She made her transition into the world of Silicon Valley after building several innovative marketing programs for top entertainment companies throughout her career. Roblox was a natural fit. “Imagination has always been the driving force behind Roblox,” she said. “I enjoy working here because it gives me the opportunity to re-contextualize big, Hollywood-style storytelling with an emerging technology platform that’s powered entirely by user-generated content.”
And as for Jianan Duan, Big Data Engineer, and Kat Junus, Financial Planning and Analysis Manager, working at Roblox simply gives them the opportunity to do what they love to do. What could be better than that?
“I like coding and working with data,” said Duan. “That combination is most exciting to me.”
Junus added, “I enjoy working with numbers, analyzing data, problem-solving, and partnering with people within the company to get stuff done. I get to do all of this in my job.”
Tracie Waecker, Talent Acquisition Lead, works at Roblox because she enjoys meeting people, learning their stories, and assisting them to do what they love. “Do what you love, and do it well,” stated Waecker.
Looking to the Future
As Roblox continues to grow, more and more people come to be part of our collaborative team each and every week. These diverse minds coming together are what help make Roblox such a unique platform, powering the imagination of our community across the globe. All these amazing women have worked hard to follow their dreams and make Roblox a better place for everybody. Thank you, ladies, for all your incredible contributions. You’re an inspiration to many young women who strive to be part of the next generation of leading innovators.
Interested in working at Roblox? We’re always searching for top talent to help us power the imagination of millions of kids and teens all over the world. Be sure to check our corporate website for current openings: https://corp.roblox.com/careers/.