Who I Am Makes Me Really Good At What I Do, I Shouldn’t Hide That

Movable Ink is hiring on pocitjobs.com

Bradley Ciné is an Associate Director for Go-To-Market (GTM) Enablement at Movable Ink, where he works with different teams across the company to deliver training and enablement initiatives.

Bradley spoke to POCIT about his journey to Movable Ink, owning his identity as a Black man in tech and defining what a tech space should be for him.

Tell me about your journey to Movable Ink

I’m a first-generation Haitian-American and grew up in Harlem, New York. Since I was in primary school, I knew I was passionate about teaching.  I remember the first time I saw a classmate understand a concept that I also understood, and I quickly developed a love for helping people learn.

Fast forward to my college days, I ended up studying Biology at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. After graduating, I continued my Biology studies at Lehman College with a plan to pursue a career in teaching.

At this point, I was working as a part-time retail salesperson at an Apple Store as I needed a job while I was in school and quickly realized I was also passionate about technology. I was at Apple for 12 years, where I worked my way up to being part of the global retail training team and ultimately landed a role in corporate training.

After leaving Apple for a company called Datadog, I discovered the world of sales enablement. What I previously just called “training” was actually a whole career.  I was setting up different sales programs and making sure that salespeople continued to achieve success. This was everything I wanted to do, but now I was doing it in a much more fast-paced environment. Before then, I thought my career had hit a ceiling, and there wasn’t much that I could do beyond that.

“When I got to Movable Ink, I let them know very early on that they were getting Bradley: a Black man who’s from Harlem and grew up in a neighborhood full of people who went to Black schools, who had a Black experience, and who is always going to keep it real.”

This is when I honed in on my craft and got really good at what I did while also being able to work on my personal brand. I spent time on my LinkedIn profile and refined how I wanted to market myself—not just as a sales enabler but as someone who creates spaces where people can continue to excel.

This got me on the radar of Movable Ink. Though I was really enjoying what I did at Datadog, I realized there was an opportunity to come to an organization that had a huge opportunity for sales enablement – so I decided to take the leap!

What’s your experience of being a person of color in tech and at Movable Ink?

Being a person of color in tech has been a fascinating journey. In 2020, I realized that as a community, we wanted to get louder, and frankly, I followed suit and got louder too. I decided to speak up more, and I started to realize that who I am matters. Who I am is what makes me really good at what I do, and I shouldn’t hide that.

After that powerful realization, I told myself that when I got to a new role, I would be even more authentic. I started asking questions during interviews that focused on understanding a company’s DEI initiatives and the experience of their Black employees.

When I got to Movable Ink, I let them know very early on that they were getting Bradley: a Black man who’s from Harlem and grew up in a neighborhood full of people who went to Black schools, who had a Black experience, and who is always going to keep it real. I think I’ve fully stepped into my identity as a Black man, and I realize that it’s part of my superpower.

What kind of support did you find valuable in advancing your career?

A company’s Employee Resource Group (ERG) can provide really valuable support in your career progression. When I moved to Movable Ink, I found that there was a smaller Black community than in other places I’d worked before, but that gave me the opportunity to make an impact because I knew I could be part of the team that’s blazing a trail for others who will come after me.

I quickly became a vocal member of Black Ink, the Black ERG at Movable Ink; I made friends within the community and ended up joining their planning committee. It started to truly shape what it meant for me to be an authentic person in my career.

Another thing I found valuable is acknowledging the advantage of building a strong relationship with my direct manager. I wasn’t always fully transparent about the experiences I had in the past, so when I got to Movable Ink, being honest about my experiences helped me channel my direct manager into a resource—someone who I can push to be the leader I need him to be.

Being more vocal helped me more confidently voice my ideas; I think of them as programmatically as I can. I’ve been able to refine my own skills, how I propose ideas as well as how I work collaboratively within the organization.

What are your tips for POC getting into the tech industry?

The advice I give friends who have asked me this question is that it’s important to invest time into what your brand is, not just from the perspective of what job you want to find but from the perspective of the person that you are. Start exploring how to define your own brand through LinkedIn; it’s a dynamic version of your resume that can give people much deeper insight into who you are.

“Just because everyone else before me didn’t feel safe and included doesn’t mean everyone else after me should feel the same.”

Another tip: don’t underestimate the power of your network.  I know it can sound like a cliché that we say sometimes, but it can be very powerful! Your network can be those you bounce ideas off of, who you practice interviewing with, who help you discover how your skills align really well with a different role you never would have imagined. Lean into your network, whatever that network is, whether it’s on LinkedIn, Instagram, the people you went to school with, etc.

Anything else you would like to add?

When you get into a space and it doesn’t feel safe or inclusive, it’s important to pause and ask yourself why. Finding an alternative space is one of the solutions, but I would actually recommend defining the space and what it looks like for a person of color to be in it. 

My perspective is that just because everyone else before me didn’t feel safe and included doesn’t mean everyone else after me should feel the same. One of the things I’ve leaned into a lot more, and truly have been taking action upon, is be the change you want to be. Be the change you want to see in the world.

Movable Ink is hiring on pocitjobs.com