Preply welcomes new VP of Sales — Nicole Wolfe
We’re extremely excited to introduce Nicole Wolfe who will lead our efforts in scaling up Preply Enterprise, our B2B language learning solution. Today, Nicole shares what motivated her to join the team, her ambitions for the next year, and learnings from her journey leading up to this moment.
What has been your career journey before joining Preply?
I’m originally from California, and have lived in San Francisco for the past 15 years. I did my undergraduate studies at Boston University, with a semester abroad in London, and completed my MBA at Babson College (also in Boston). I have spent the last 15 years working in the health and wellness technology space, focused on B2B sales, account management and partnerships.
I started my career in political consulting, and quickly realized that politics was not the right fit for me. I wanted to ensure that my career path was helping to solve a larger problem, and despite the contrary, politics didn’t seem to be the best place to do that! As I began to explore other career options, I recognized that the best thing to do early in your career is to just say ‘yes’ to new opportunities; you are still young enough to pivot, and it’s an opportunity to find the right path while learning at the same time.
I was lucky enough to stumble into the health and wellness space as a result, a personal passion of mine. I’ve most recently worked for ClassPass, a fitness technology aggregator, building and leading their B2B team, but have also spent time in consulting, healthcare and wellness tech. The most rewarding part of my career journey has been building and leading entrepreneurial teams and I’m excited about this next phase of my career with Preply.
What motivated you to take the opportunity at Preply?
While I don’t have direct experience in ed-tech, I find this industry fascinating. There is (finally) so much more support for employee wellbeing, which includes things like L&D and ongoing training, and I believe with the additional attention on diversity and inclusion, language learning is more important now than ever before. In addition, I believe strongly in the “Product, People, Passion” philosophy when evaluating a new career opportunity, and Preply certainly exceeded expectations for all three of those for me. When I started discussions with the team, I was frankly surprised with how quickly they had scaled and grown as a Series B company, and I was impressed with how smart, driven, and supportive the team was. I also loved the global aspect of the business, and we know the world is only getting smaller, so it felt like a great fit for both my personal and professional aspirations.
What are your future ambitions for yourself and your team?
Enterprise has big goals for the next 24 months, and I believe we have the ability to become a significant part of Preply’s overall business. While we are still working on building systems and improving processes, overall, our clients love Preply and we continue bringing in new business.
I’m curious to explore other partnership opportunities, as well as the Asian markets to see if we can further unlock our growth potential. The US market is still something we are trying to understand, and I believe it can be a massive differentiator for US based companies looking for diverse talent, and given the incredible results of Preply learning, we can position ourselves as the top program in the US. In addition, I’m particularly excited about growing the team, as well as improving my own Spanish speaking skills with my Preply tutor!
What’s your biggest passion outside of your work?
Traveling and exploring new places, and spending time outdoors with my husband (in particular, skiing and hiking).
What‘s the best career advice you’ve received in your life?
The only thing guaranteed is change; embrace it!
Lastly, tell us something about yourself that we wouldn’t find on your CV or LinkedIn?
My mom worked for United Airlines so I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel a lot when I was growing up. However, employee passes are only based on space available, so you quickly learn to be flexible, patient, and open to new adventures. I’ve had many long days spent at airports, as well as trips completely turned sideways (tried to get to Paris, ended up in Amsterdam), but you learn to make the best of it and appreciate the journey.
We are currently looking for talented and ambitious candidates to join the Preply Enterprise team in Barcelona and the USA. If you’re excited by our mission to help teams across the world to speak languages more confidently and you’re ready for a challenge, apply to one of our open positions!
