Teaching Strategies Employee Spotlight: Hilda, Senior Product Manager

From early in her career, Hilda was drawn to work rooted in education, first as an educator and later as a professional committed to supporting meaningful learning experiences. Those experiences shaped her belief in the power of teachers and the importance of nurturing curiosity in young children.

At the time she was introduced to Teaching Strategies, Hilda was in a role she genuinely enjoyed and wasn’t actively seeking a change. But an unexpected conversation with a recruiter sparked her interest, and the more she learned about the organization’s mission and values, the more it resonated. As both a parent of a young child and a former educator, she felt a strong connection to the commitment to championing teachers and meeting every child where they are.

The opportunity to contribute to products designed to empower educators and support early learning felt like a natural next step. It was a chance to align her professional path with her personal values in a meaningful way.

Recently, we asked Hilda to share more about what led her to Teaching Strategies and her experience since joining the team.

Tell us about your role at Teaching Strategies. How does your day-to-day work connect to our values or help drive meaningful outcomes for educators, children, and families?

As the product manager running the day-to-day work on the Teach team, my whole job is about making teacher’s lives easier by smoothing workflows, adding new value, and reducing obstacles so that they can focus their time and efforts on what really matters—the children in their classrooms.

What has motivated you to work in educational technology?

Though I put my whole heart into my work as a higher education professional, I realized after a few years that my role then wasn’t what I wanted to do for my career. I wanted to stay in education, and at Teaching Strategies I found a lot of good people who care so much about educators and students. Working in EdTech still allows me to stay connected to education but in a less direct way that benefits my work-life balance greatly!

As technology continues to evolve, how do you think our products will be improved by these changes?

It’s hard not to bring AI into these conversations, and I think that it will (and already is!) help us improve in so many ways. Not only by increasing efficiency, but also by putting the information educators need in that moment directly into their hands. There are a lot of opportunities there, for sure!

What are you excited to contribute to as you continue to grow with Teaching Strategies?

I really want to focus more time and effort on ease of use—understanding exactly what contexts teachers are in when using SmartTeach (for example, are they planning ahead of time or in the classroom?) and making sure the technology meets them where they are.