Gabrielle Bufrem
TRANSFORMED
"The purpose of our lives is to be happy"
- Dalai Lama
About Me
Journey to Coaching
During her time at Pivotal, and then Little Otter, Gabrielle realized how much she enjoyed helping others, and she began teaching product management, speaking at industry conferences, and unofficially coaching people beyond her direct reports. She had incredible mentors and managers that shaped her view on product and on what was possible for her career.
Gabrielle soon realized that what she loved most and did best in her previous roles was coaching and developing the people who led these product organizations, which inspired her to move into product coaching full time.
While Gabrielle’s specialty is coaching and developing product leaders, her superpower is quickly establishing a strong personal relationship and building trust. Trust is what allows Gabrielle to deliver the frank, honest, and critical feedback that helps people truly break past old limits to reach their full potential.
Gabrielle is known both for her kindness and her toughness. She is able to be truly candid because the people she coaches know that Gabrielle genuinely cares and is there explicitly to help them succeed.
Much of this derives from her personality and life experiences. People can easily relate to her, and they see that she understands both product and people, and genuinely wants to help them meet their goals.
Gabrielle is truly a citizen of the world. She was born and raised in Brazil, then went to study in the US. She speaks four languages fluently. She has lived and worked in 10 different countries spanning Europe, North and South America, and Asia, and she has built products across nine major industries.
Gabrielle fell in love with product during her internship at Google. The internship was in marketing, but she asked so many product-related questions that her manager said she sounded like a born product manager and that she really should explore that role. Gabrielle was immediately taken with the role and adjusted her final course load at Brown University to incorporate computer science and design.
After her studies, she joined Education First in Boston and then Switzerland as their first product manager, then spent five years—first as a product manager, and then a product leader—at Pivotal Labs, mostly in Silicon Valley, but also working in the Paris and Singapore offices.
As she quickly moved up the product leadership ladder at Pivotal, Gabrielle focused increasingly on her coaching responsibilities to her team. She established a strong reputation as a product leader who knows how to develop strong product people and is willing to put in the time and effort to do so.
After Pivotal, Gabrielle joined Little Otter Health, a mission-based startup in the mental health field as their first head of product and design, then proceeded to build a modern product team as well as significantly improving the product offering.
About Gabrielle is truly a citizen of the world.
Gabrielle is truly a citizen of the world. She was born and raised in Brazil, then went to study in the US. She speaks four languages fluently. She has lived and worked in 10 different countries spanning Europe, North and South America, and Asia, and she has built products across nine major industries.
Gabrielle fell in love with product during her internship at Google. The internship was in marketing, but she asked so many product-related questions that her manager said she sounded like a born product manager and that she really should explore that role. Gabrielle was immediately taken with the role and adjusted her final course load at Brown University to incorporate computer science and design.
After her studies, she joined Education First in Boston and then Switzerland as their first product manager, then spent five years—first as a product manager, and then a product leader—at Pivotal Labs, mostly in Silicon Valley, but also working in the Paris and Singapore offices.
As she quickly moved up the product leadership ladder at Pivotal, Gabrielle focused increasingly on her coaching responsibilities to her team. She established a strong reputation as a product leader who knows how to develop strong product people and is willing to put in the time and effort to do so.
After Pivotal, Gabrielle joined Little Otter Health, a mission-based startup in the mental health field as their first head of product and design, then proceeded to build a modern product team as well as significantly improving the product offering.
Journey to Coaching
During her time at Pivotal, and then Little Otter, Gabrielle realized how much she enjoyed helping others, and she began teaching product management, speaking at industry conferences, and unofficially coaching people beyond her direct reports. She had incredible mentors and managers that shaped her view on product and on what was possible for her career.
Gabrielle soon realized that what she loved most and did best in her previous roles was coaching and developing the people who led these product organizations, which inspired her to move into product coaching full time.
While Gabrielle’s specialty is coaching and developing product leaders, her superpower is quickly establishing a strong personal relationship and building trust. Trust is what allows Gabrielle to deliver the frank, honest, and critical feedback that helps people truly break past old limits to reach their full potential.
Gabrielle is known both for her kindness and her toughness. She is able to be truly candid because the people she coaches know that Gabrielle genuinely cares and is there explicitly to help them succeed.
Much of this derives from her personality and life experiences. People can easily relate to her, and they see that she understands both product and people, and genuinely wants to help them meet their goals.
