About
Based in Brooklyn, NY, Ruby Anaya is an award winning product manager and strategic operator passionate about helping organizations thrive, helping teams collaborate, and helping individuals grow. Originally from the Bay Area and a first generation Mexican-American, Ruby studied biology at UCSC on a full-ride scholarship. Her initial intentions of medical school were quickly subverted by starting a career in design program management, which later evolved to product management at various start ups and larger tech firms. Early in her career, she helped start three companies, two of which resulted in acquisitions. More recently she held the role of Head of Product at Swing Left, where she launched award winning web tools to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot (winning back the White House in 2020 and Senate in 2021). In the last year, Ruby owned the execution and launch a web version of the queer dating app Grindr to serve a user base of 11+ million users world wide.
Ruby’s passion for operational excellence has consistently landed her a seat at the executive table, representing her various teams as well as advocating for DEI in the workplace. In her free time, she is an active member of her community through local mutual aid networks, volunteering at animal shelters, and serving as a Junior Board Member of the Lower East Side Girls Club. In both her professional and personal life, Ruby is constantly striving to grow, question the status quo, and work towards creating a heart-centered world.
Career
13+ years experienced award-winning product leader with a demonstrated history of leading inclusive teams and shipping across mobile and web. Passionate about leading inclusive teams to build products and programs that help people, help society, and contribute to a greater purpose.
Experience
Principal Product Manager, Grindr
Feb 2022 - Jul 2023 · 1 year 6 months · New York, NY
As the Principal Product Manager of Grindr Web, Ruby launched a new web version of Grindr allowing 11+ million world-wide users to chat, browse profiles and more from their desktop or mobile browser. Ruby’s role was to define the MVP, conduct design discovery and user research, ensure the app met privacy and legal requirements, support Go To Market development, and develop the roadmap from 0 to launch (and beyond). She established and maintained relationships with external partners, and reported out weekly updates in executive meetings. In addition to managing Grindr Web, she also oversaw updates and maintenance to Grindr dot com flagship marketing site.
Head of Product, Swing Left
Mar 2019 - Feb 2022 · 3 years · New York, NY
As the Head of Product Ruby oversaw the design and development of products to support Swing Left programs and ensure an effective user experience for volunteers, donors, and internal stakeholders. She directly managed a team of 6 people across engineering, product management, and analytics. Ruby played both an individual product contributor role as well as strategic leadership partner to help ship products and develop the organizations long term product strategy. She also held a seat on the Senior Leadership Team, working with the C-Suite to help shape and grow the organization.
Director of Culture, WeWork
Nov 2017 - Aug 2018 · 10 months · New York, NY
As the Director of Culture at WeWork, Ruby developed inclusive company culture programs and initiatives designed to strengthen employees sense of connection to the company mission and to the people they work with. She spearheaded the companies first comprehensive diversity & inclusion strategy and launched a new Employee Experience Survey in partnership with people analytics and communications teams. Ruby developed content design and production for major employee events, Summit and Summer Camp (4,000 and 6,000 employees, respectively). She oversaw four ERGs (Color of We, Pride of We, Parents of We) in addition to leading Women of WeWork, the first ERG at the company.
Director of Product, WeWork
Aug 2014 - Nov 2017 · 3 years, 4 months · New York, NY
As the Director of Product Management at WeWork, Ruby managed the development and strategy for member experience products, where she helped grow the WeWork suite of apps from supporting 15,000 members to 150,000 members over three years. Ruby oversaw a large cross-functional team of engineers, designers, and product managers, driving bottom up product innovation within the team. She also led internationalization efforts of the WeWork app, including launching in China.
Product Manager, Yahoo
Feb 2014 - Aug 2014 · 7 months · Sunnyvale, CA
After her previous company was acquired by Yahoo, Ruby joined the Yahoo Mail team focusing on user research, product innovation and design program management. She also collaborated with the Yahoo Mail Marketing team to launch a new, internationalized landing page for Yahoo Mail to promote new features.
Director of Product, Tomfoolery
Mar 2013 - Jan 2014 · 11 months · San Francisco, CA
As the Director of Product at the early stage start up Tomfoolery, Ruby led product strategy & development on two mobile applications, Anchor and Action, with the mission of helping teams to more effectively communicate and collaborate. Tomfoolery was acquired by Yahoo in 2014.
Senior Product Manager, AOL
Sep 2010 - Mar 2013 · 2 years, 7 months · Palo Alto, CA
As the Senior Product Manager at AOL, Ruby was an individual product management contributor for the Mobile First team at AOL, launching multiple new mobile apps across iOS, Android and Windows Phone. She also launched an entire reskin of Moviefone across iOS, Android and Windows 7. Ruby was nomiated by peers to be a Culture Ambassador and conducted cultural interviews for candidates in various roles across the company.
Product & Design Manager, Rally Up
Aug 2009 - Sep 2010 · 1 year, 2 months · Santa Cruz, CA
Rally Up started as a side project to create a social, location based iOS app to share where you were with your friends. What started as a side project turned into a rag tag group of friends creating mobile dev shop, where Ruby led UX design and overall project management for various clients. Rally Up was acquired by AOL in 2010.
Cofounder, Parachute Creative
Apr 2009 - Jun 2010 · 1 years, 3 months · Santa Cruz, CA
Ruby cofounded Parachute Creative, a boutique design studio focusing on branding, print, and web design. She wore multiple hats across account management, project management, and design research. Parachute Creative joined forces with two other development firms to start Rally Up, a mobile dev shop.
Awards & Accolades
2020 Fast Company Innovation by Design, Finance Category for Blueprint by Swing Left
2020 Mentioned in Power by Design book by Reneé Stevens for product work at Swing Left
2016 Peer-nominated winner of WeWork’s Employee Excellence Award
2012 Digiday Best Use of a iPad/Tablet by a Publisher for Editions by AOL
2012 #Appsters Best Entertainment App for Entrance by AOL
Professional Affiliations
The Venture Collective - Venture Partner since July 2021
Lower Eastside Girls Club - Angel Alliance Junior Board Member, 2020-2021 cycle and 2021-2022 cycle.
Ladies Get Paid - member since 2016
Ladies Get Paid is a private online network where thousands of women from around the world share advice, resources, & job opportunities.
Education
B.S. Biology
University of California, Santa Cruz
Class of 2008, Regent Scholar
Advocacy Projects
Generator Collective (Dec 2016 - Nov 2018)
Co-founded a policy focused social justice organization leveraging social media and live events to humanize political policy through storytelling.
Women of WeWork
Started, managed, and grew WeWork’s first ERG (employee resource group) for women. Oversaw programming for monthly events focused on professional development and community service. Programmed dozens of events and grew the slack channel from 50 people to over 5000. Upon leaving WeWork it was in the top 5 most active slack channels.
