From Catering to Product: Rawan's Real Pivot

When Rawan reached out, she was where a lot of career-changers find themselves. She had finished a Scrum course and had a strong background in hospitality and logistics. She wanted a creative, strategic role in tech. But she didn't know how to make the leap.

We didn't start with theory. We started by treating her like a product: What's working? What's not? What outcomes do we want to see? Over a few months, she built a case study, rewrote her resume, and got clear on how to talk like a product manager. Then she landed the job.

What We Did Together

• Picked a product: She chose the Tone It Up fitness app as her practice case.
• Did user research: She mapped journeys, created personas, and pulled real insights from Reddit communities.
• Scoped features: We practiced prioritization, built roadmaps, and clarified what success looks like.
• Wrote stories: She created full user stories in Pivotal Tracker with context, visuals, and acceptance criteria.
• Built a portfolio: She turned all of that into a compelling pitch deck and personal site.

This wasn't just a portfolio project. It was a crash course in real product thinking.

The Turning Point

One week, Rawan came in with a polished feature: "Let users join more than one program at once." It made sense. It looked great. But it wasn't the right call for the business goals we had outlined.

We looked at the goals again. Then she made the call to pivot. She chose a simpler, higher-impact feature that would help users pick programs that matched their fitness level. That change showed she could think like a PM. She understood tradeoffs, not just UX flows. After that, everything got sharper. Roadmap. Resume. Confidence.

Where She Landed

Rawan is now managing eight products at Visiting Media. She has junior PMs reporting to her. She runs backlog refinement, roadmap reviews, and sprint planning across a full suite of tools. She used her Tone It Up case study as part of her interview. The hiring manager even asked for a walk-through.

Thinking About Coaching?

If you're sitting in that in-between place where you're ready to try but not sure how to prove it - coaching might help. My Break Into Product program is designed to give you structure, accountability, and a portfolio that actually means something.

You don't need another certification. You need a plan, a guide, and a project that shows what you can do.