Q&A with Rouella Mendonca, Principal Product Manager, Audere
Tell me a little bit about your background and what led you to work at Audere.
My parents are both Indian and were working in Kuwait where me and my siblings were born. I lived there for the first 17 years of my life before heading to the US to pursue my Bachelor’s and Master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
During my Master’s, I did an internship with Microsoft that converted to a full time position. I worked on a few products during my career there - Windows user experiences, software for surface devices, language modeling, etc. I then found my passion for healthcare technology in an incubation team built around health products.
After spending 9 years at Microsoft, I took time to travel (a longtime passion), volunteer, and learn new skills. I jumped back into being a PM at Promethean where I built software for classrooms, followed by three years at Adaptive Biotechnologies. At Adaptive, I worked on software for products intended to diagnose and better understand immune related diseases.
Before joining Audere, I launched Spin a Tale (won second place in the Go Vertical workshop in 2021) - a startup that brings diversity to children’s books by putting kids and who they love into the stories they love. I deeply care about diversity and the benefits of having it in our everyday lives. I bring my passion for diversity and user empathy to Audere as I deliver products for users with varying backgrounds and needs.
In your own words, what are your core responsibilities at Audere?
I work with partners and organizations in low- and middle-income countries that truly benefit from what Audere offers.
I work with a smart and talented engineering, QA, and design team who are all here because they care about the problems we are trying to solve.
I love spending time on vision, strategy, planning, and problem solving. I also make sure plans are put in place and executed on.
What is your Why?
I work at Audere for the impact I can have on the world and global health. You know you are making a difference with Healthcare technology. With global health, that is taken further - you know you are making a difference and having an impact in places where it matters most. As I work at Audere, I often think that it isn’t about how complicated the problem is, but about solving the right problem that will have the most positive impact on global health.
How do you like to spend your off-work hours (mornings, evenings, weekends)?
I wake up in the morning and after early morning meetings try to make some time for breakfast and a peaceful cup of coffee before diving into the rest of my day.
In the evenings, I love cooking meals with my husband and spending time with close friends or on one of my million hobbies. I love to crochet, do origami, knit, embroider, do amateur painting, and have recently taken up sewing. I also admit that I feel guilty if I don’t get a workout or a yoga practice every day. I also talk to my parents in India and siblings everyday (a habit picked up during the pandemic).
On weekends, if the weather is good, I head out on a hike or spend the days indoors, relaxing and reading a good book or watching movies that do not require a lot of thinking.
Share three facts that your colleagues would be surprised to learn about you.
I am an introvert and often need to just spend time with myself.
I acted in dramas in school and danced at the Seattle Folklife Festival and other local events in 2018 and 2019.
I spend so much time planning out every detail at work that I refuse to plan vacations and usually keep them spontaneous and unplanned.
Keurig or drip coffee?
Fancy espresso machine at home with chocolate, sugar, and oat milk.
Cooking or take-out?
Who needs take-out when you can cook anything and have the internet. I’m the weird person who eats out and tries to guess what’s in it so I can make it at home.