Featured Community Employee, April '24
The Lenovo Pro Community is pleased to spotlight Sean O'Leary, our very own Lenovo Pro Content Strategist and teammate since 2021, as April 2024's Featured Lenovo Employee.
Sean is an exceptional person who we call both teammate and friend. Over the years, his support, insight and expertise have added so much to the resource-based lifeblood of this community. Whether selecting, curating, producing, filming, organizing or creating content, Sean is always approaching his work with exceptional care, attention to detail and excellence.
In addition to his sharp professional skills, Sean also has fantastic energy! His positive, can-do attitude create opportunities and realize amazing projects for the Lenovo Pro program. We are so lucky to have Sean on the team and in the Community.
Keep reading to see for yourself why we are so thankful to have Sean in the Community.
About Sean O'Leary
Previously from Rochester, New York and now living in Holly Springs, North Carolina (for nearly 4 years), I am a life-long digital-obsessed marketer and content creator. I begin building websites at the age of 12 and have always had a love for digital communications – over the years, I’ve developed passions for graphic and video production, coding and development, and all things digital marketing.
In my personal time, I’m an avid golfer, home cook, girl-dog Dad, and husband. I have a strong wanderlust and embrace my Irish heritage; my wife and I were married in Ireland just a few short years ago (best trip of my life by a long shot). I am also a comic book collector (mostly Marvel), and spots fan / memorabilia collector with love for baseball and my New York Yankees.
Favorite book that I’ve read recently is “The Courage To Be Disliked” (Amazon link). It’s a book that looks at the idea of overall happiness based on how much stake you put into what other people feel about you (whether you realize it or not). The book is a super easy read as it follows along with a discussion between two people, and it held a ton of insights for me – someone who tends to be a “people pleaser”. I highly recommend it.
Day-to-day Operations
While I currently hold the role of Global SMB Content Strategist for Lenovo’s eCommerce organization (a mouthful of a title), I am most drawn to Lenovo Pro Community because I was a longtime small business owner myself. Prior to joining Lenovo, I owned and operated a digital marketing agency specializing in website development for over 12 years. Small business will always be in my blood, and I do hope to make a return someday (who doesn’t have the dream of opening up a bakery or something awesome like that in those golden years?).
That being said, I find my work with Lenovo Pro Community as a Strategist to be super rewarding as well. Curating and producing a selection of the business content that you’re interested in seeing is a pleasure, and I’m always looking to do better, so leave a comment below and let me know what you want to see more of around our Community!
Q & A
How long have you been a part of Lenovo Pro and what is your favorite Lenovo product?
I have been with Lenovo since January of 2021, and surprisingly, even though I love all my Lenovo products (not just towing the company line by saying that, I promise!), I LOVELOVELOVE my YOGA. As a content creator at heart, I love the power and flexibility of it and really appreciate the touchscreen functionality for drawing, but the biggest reason: I shamefully grew up a Mac devotee, and not only does YOGA mimic the feel of a Mac (the keyboard and touchpad specifically), but with Windows 11, there’s SO MUCH about this PC that I actually prefer over Mac. I love when people ask me with a shocked expression “wait, is that a Mac?” to which I take pride in answering: “This baby ain’t a Mac – let me turn you on to YOGA and change your life!” (this scenario has actually never come up, but I’m excited for the day it does).
How has using your Lenovo equipment helped you accomplish things in your personal or professional life?
This may come as a shock to people, but the ability to synchronize my data and activities across multiple machines is my absolute favorite aspect of Lenovo products (and the current state of Windows). Many people tout the ability for Mac to sync contacts and photos, but more important to me is the ability to work on the same files across multiple machines. I have my work laptop, a desktop that splits time between work and personal use, and a personal laptop, and I do jump between them depending on where I am and what I’m doing. Using Microsoft 365 to make my OneDrive accessible from the Fie Explorer of all machines is KEY! Further, the cloud-based documents within Microsoft Office allows the best opportunities for collaboration. I’ve never found anything on Macs that even come close to matching the convenience.
What do you enjoy most about the Lenovo Pro Community?
The people! LPC exists for our members and because of our members. We love to provide a corner of the Internet that is comfortable, knowledgeable, trustworthy, and valuable. So much of the modern web is so intense, overwhelming, and in-your-face. Lenovo Pro Community is a friendly place on the Internet – yes, it’s amazing; although rare, there are still friendly places on the Internet! And with that welcoming nature, we get to experience such awesome interactions with all of you, and witness all of you interacting with one another in positive and valuable ways that we hope impact your businesses in positive ways. It’s been a very rewarding ride to be involved with.
What was one of your greatest successes in your professional life?
Not necessarily a professional victory, but I count it as one: I was very proud of myself for returning to college after taking a long break from it, and finishing my undergraduate degree in my 30’s. I think there are a lot of entrepreneurs (at least, there are a lot that I’ve met) who have had trouble in college and “dropped out” (I hate that term, but it is what it is) to pursue something they felt was more “real”. For a number of reasons, I fell into this category, and wondered if I could (and would) ever return to college after leaving for a long period of time. I did and am proud of myself for being able to do it while also juggling life and a business at the time.
What was one of your greatest challenges in your professional life?
My greatest professional challenge is likely similar a lot of people: The pandemic. At the time, I was operating my digital marketing agency and working with mostly small business clients in the hospitality industry. Their uncertainty became my own and I lost a very large chunk of my client roster for an extended period of time and had to close shop. BUT, with every closed door comes an open window, and my new opportunity came with a move to Raleigh, North Carolina where I connected with Lenovo, and the rest, as they say, is history.
What was one piece of advice/encouragement that you got along your professional journey that inspired/helped you?
“Always try to be better tomorrow than you were today.” I don’t remember who told me this, but it’s always stuck in my head, and I’ve always tried to live by it. To me, it just means to keep moving forward and keep advancing yourself as a person, whether that be professionally, personally – it can apply to any part of life. And a key word in that phrase is “try” – you may not always succeed. Setbacks happen, but as long as you’re always trying to do a little better every day, you have no reason not to be impressed with yourself.
What is one piece of advice you would give other professionals or aspiring business owners?
Embrace the journey. As entrepreneurs (and businesspeople in general), we can be so focused on the future: the next milestone, the next big step, or if we’re facing a hurdle, we dream of days when we will overcome it and have it out of our lives for good. There will always be things to look forward to, but we all need to live in the moment and enjoy all of the experiences – good or bad – that come along with business and life. Because it all goes by in a flash!
Connect with Sean
Thank you for being such a valued part of the community, Sean and congratulations on being April's 2024 Featured Lenovo Employee!
Do you have any questions for Sean about his journey, interests or experiences?
Leave your questions and comments below!