Amber Hameed | VP of Information Systems @ Dollar Shave Club

TL;DR

Amber Hameed, VP of Information Systems at Dollar Shave Club, tells her career story through four key people: her mother (who immigrated as a single mom raising her “like a son”), Paula (first boss who hired her despite a nose ring), Tony (who gave her an entrepreneurial opportunity that generated ~$17M in business), and Zoey (a pregnant hire who delivered on a critical project after a C-section).

Key insights

• The speaker’s mother raised her “like a son” – a compliment in her culture – which she frames as a foundational mentoring advantage.
• A student counselor’s cover letter flagged the speaker’s nose ring as a potential impediment to Gillette’s culture, but her future boss Paula ignored it and hired her anyway.
• During the 2008 recession, a colleague (Tony) gave the speaker a small budget and one resource to build a consulting practice from scratch; it generated ~$17M in revenue and was showcased at two major