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Mariam Zoghbi, Director of Growth, Fortune
Working with Sami over the past six months was one of the most transformative professional experiences I’ve had. I came into coaching looking to grow as a more confident, strategic leader and left with greater clarity, stronger instincts, and a deeper sense of purpose.
Sami helped keep me grounded while navigating an organization in constant flux. Her guidance was invaluable in politically complex situations and during a period of massive internal change, helping me center my team, protect our momentum, and lead with intention.
Her coaching style combines practicality with emotional intelligence. I always left our sessions with clarity, renewed focus, and a clear next step. I cannot recommend her enough to anyone navigating leadership challenges or moments of high-stakes change.
Shineil Persad, Multicultural Creative Strategist, Fortune
Working with Sami over the past six months has been a truly wonderful experience. Through our sessions, Sami helped me uncover insights about myself—not just as a leader, but as a person and a work colleague. I walked away with greater compassion and understanding for my fellow leaders, along with a stronger sense of confidence in advocating for myself—something that’s especially important as a woman navigating corporate America.
I also appreciated how flexible our sessions were; Sami was always willing to adjust our focus to align with my evolving needs. The leadership skills I gained during our 1:1 I hope to embody and share throughout my career.
I’m incredibly grateful for Sami's guidance and would highly recommend working with her to anyone looking to develop their leadership skills.
Erik Pettis, Staff Software Engineer, Business Insider
Working with Sami was the highlight of my time at Business Insider. Her passion and skill were an integral component of the success of the team. From the day I started to the day she left, Sami drove the team and the product toward success.
As a product lead, she understood the needs of both the business and the engineers working on the team with a clarity few can match. She knew the product inside and out, able to identify the highest impact changes and guide the team toward the best implementation. She championed the needs of the team, balancing the fundamental engineering work required to build a solid platform with the needs of the business, delivering value.
As a mentor, her advice was invaluable. We had regular conversations about the work at hand, the role on the team, and the business as a whole. With her insight, we solved every challenge before us. She shaped the way I saw myself as a member of the team and the company. She expertly explained valuable context that made the work more meaningful and allowed the team to better execute our vision.
As a person, she was an unyielding source of positivity. She regularly celebrated the team in company meetings. She encouraged us and coached us on presentations and demos. Her enthusiasm was infectious. By virtue of her attitude alone, she could inspire everyone on the team to be better.
I wish Sami all the best in her future endeavors. Not only because she deserves every success, but also because, selfishly, I want more people like Sami out there!
Kevin Lin, Software Engineer, Meta
Sami was my Product Manager during my time at Business Insider, and indubitably, she’s one of the most exceptional product leaders that I have ever worked with. She has a rare ability to distill complex business needs into clear, actionable execution plans. What sets Sami apart is how deeply she considers every angle: engineering bandwidth, business impact, cross-functional dependencies, long-term vision—and then crafts a plan that not only aligns with stakeholders across the board but is also realistic and executable without constant hand-holding.
What impressed me most, though, was Sami’s technical acumen. She made it a point to understand the engineering side of things—not at a surface level, but deeply. I’ve seen her dive into our codebase, ask thoughtful technical questions, and even push her own pull requests to support the team and deepen her understanding. That level of curiosity and technical empathy made her an invaluable partner in scoping and problem-solving. Conversations with Sami never felt like explaining things to “a non-technical stakeholder”; she truly understood us and our needs.
Beyond execution, Sami is a phenomenal mentor. I’ve watched her grow from a standout individual contributor to a Group Product Manager leading multiple teams and mentoring other PMs to become effective leaders themselves. She’s intentional, thoughtful, and deeply invested in the growth of her reports and peers alike. She didn’t just advocate for our team—she empowered us. Her influence helped shape our engineering culture and elevated our standards for collaboration and delivery.
Sami’s departure from Business Insider was deeply felt. By the time she left, she had successfully led some of the most critical initiatives across the company. She oversaw our largest data modernization project, significantly bolstering our latency metrics and enabling new exciting projects for our team. She strengthened relationships with external partners, directly contributing to a substantial increase in Syndication service revenue. She also spearheaded efforts to enhance our content recommendation and tagging systems—work that had a measurable impact on engagement and revenue. On the engineering side, she led a major revamp of our SRE team that dramatically improved developer efficiency and system reliability across every team at Business Insider. Sami left behind a legacy of operational excellence, technical leadership, and a team culture that continues to influence how we work today.
If you have the opportunity to work with Sami, take it. She’s the kind of leader who makes the entire team better—technically, strategically, and professionally. Her mentorship made us strong, effective, and led to very tangible growth both culturally, and profitably.
Malarie Gokey, Learning & Development Specialist
I had the pleasure of working with Sami on a series of trainings she helped facilitate and cohosted for Business Insider as an Executive Coach. BI staff benefited from her deep expertise in leadership development and universal workplace skills like effective feedback and communication.
We partnered closely on management training and company-wide “Empower Hours,” where Sami and her colleague delivered engaging, interactive presentations to all of BI’s staff. She asked smart questions in preparation for each session to ensure the topics covered were tailored to meet staff needs.
Her communication throughout the entire process was clear, thoughtful, and quick. She handled the inevitable scheduling complexities and shifting priorities like the pro she is!
Any company would be lucky to benefit from her perspective as an executive coach, product manager, and trainer.
Ryan Pardey, Staff Software Engineer, Business Insider
I worked with Sami for four and a half years. She came in as the associate product manager for my team and was promoted four times during her time on the team, eventually ending up as group product manager. And for good reason!
Sami understands how engineers think, what they care about, and how to work with them. She speaks our language, knows how to build trust quickly, and is good at reading team dynamics and personalities. She’s been supportive, honest and direct in a way that’s actually helpful, and is genuinely fun to work with!
She’s great at inspiring you to see things more clearly, especially when it comes to leadership and communication. We were able to discuss tricky situations - such as managing up and navigating tension on the team - and every time she helped me move forward with more confidence. If you’re an engineer or leader looking to grow beyond just being technically great, she’s someone you want in your corner.
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