Palo Alto Networks

Senior Project Manager

Project Success Academy℠

Course Instructor

Velvet Vision

Founder

Raytheon Technologies

IT Project Manager

Fulcrum Technology Solutions

IT Project Coordinator

University of Houston

Program Manager

Project Manager | Helping Women Land Tech PM Roles | your PM bff

In 2024, I noticed something: most mid-career project managers weren’t underqualified. They were under-positioned. They had the skills, experience, and drive, but weren’t landing six-figure project management roles because hiring managers couldn’t see their value.

That realization led me to build the Velvet Vision framework. It helps project professionals position themselves as the obvious hire before they ever apply.

This isn’t resume tweaking or chasing certifications. It’s about clarity, strategy, and execution. My clients stop blending in, start leading with confidence, and step into roles that pay them what they’re worth.

Who I Work Best With:
I work with project managers in the U.S. and Canada who:
• Have at least 3 years of project management experience
• Are ready to step into $100K+ roles
• Want to be seen as leaders, not task managers
• Value clarity, execution, and accountability

This program is not for people who are brand new to project management, unwilling to take ownership of their growth, or looking for a quick fix.

Results so far:
• Clients have collectively secured $313K in salary increases with an average uplift of $44K per person
• On average, clients land offers in 3.3 months (fastest in 68 days)
• ROI consistently exceeds 800%, with some clients covering their investment in the first paycheck

If you’re a project manager in the U.S. or Canada ready to earn more, lead more, and finally get seen, you don’t need luck or endless hustle. You need positioning.

No fluff. No guessing. Just strategy that gets results.

👉 Apply to work with me: https://calendly.com/d/cm7j-vb9-kvr

Yonelly G.

I walked into the interview knowing I didn’t meet half the requirements.

And I could feel the room had already met candidates who "looked better" on paper.

For a moment, I wondered if I was wasting everyone’s time 
(including my own)

So I redirected the conversation.

Instead of defending my gaps, I told them how I lead when things get messy.

And that’s when the interviewer leaned in.

She wanted someone who could steady the work when the plan stopped matching reality.

It became really obvious when I stepped into the role.

The biggest problems were alignment issues and broken communication loops.

Most people lose confidence when they see a job spec they can’t fully match.

But at senior levels, you’re rarely hired for a checklist.

You’re hired for your ability to lead through uncertainty and make progress visible again.

--
If we haven’t met — I’m Yonelly Gutierrez.
I talk about the moments, setbacks, and wins that shaped my career, so you can grow with more confidence in yours.

Yonelly Gutierrez

Senior Program Manager | Helping Founders Stabilize Delivery Without Adding Headcount

Most leadership challenges happen with people who don’t report to you.

But few people are ever taught how to lead without authority.

“Can you get everyone aligned?” becomes the real test of leadership.

And many feel stuck because they’re relying on authority they don’t have.

I hear this concern from professionals across roles and seniority levels.

Here are 7 ways to lead without formal authority:

1. Lead with Clear Direction
 ↳ People follow clarity
 ↳ State the outcome before discussing tasks

2. Listen Longer Than You Speak
 ↳ Listening creates instant influence
 ↳ Ask: “What’s your view on this?” and give space

3. Remove Friction for the Team
 ↳ Support builds trust more than authority
 ↳ Spot blockers early and simplify the next step

4. Make Expectations Simple
 ↳ Confusion slows collaboration
 ↳ Keep instructions short and confirm understanding

5. Share Credit Generously
 ↳ Recognition motivates teams to work with you
 ↳ Highlight contributors in meetings and updates

6. Build Relationships Before You Need Them
 ↳ Influence grows through consistent touchpoints
 ↳ Check in without an agenda and offer help early

7. Stay Calm When Things Shift
 ↳ Composure reassures your team
 ↳ Take a breath, focus on solutions, and keep your tone steady

Leading without authority grows easiest when people trust your judgment and your consistency.

♻️ Repost to help your network
➕ Follow Yonelly Gutierrez for more leadership insights

7 Ways to Lead Without Authority

Strong PMs do not stay stuck because of skill.
They stay stuck because their system hides them.

Teams rely on delivery.
But they do not create visibility.

No shared framework.
No consistent feedback.
No common language for outcomes.

Strong PMs do the work.
Leaders never see the impact.

That is a system problem.
Not a talent problem.

When teams build visibility into how they work, everything changes.

Work becomes easier to read.
Communication becomes lighter.
Decisions become faster.

I build those systems.
If your PM team is strong but unseen, DM me.

The first call told me everything.
People talking over each other, frustration leaking through every answer, and a customer who’d clearly had enough.

I’ve walked into tough programs before, but this one felt heavy in a different way.

I stopped taking notes halfway through.
There was no point collecting “updates.”
The issues weren’t in the tasks.
They were in how people were working around each other.

After the call, I started checking in with folks one by one.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱? 
𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘬? 
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨?

It took about a day to see the pattern.
A bunch of small things pulling in different directions...

-Different definitions of done.
-Priorities that didn’t match.
-Risks everyone recognized but no one wanted to own because it would start another round of blame.

It was drift left alone too long.

I pulled the whole thing onto a single page.
Then I walked teams through it.
(to ensure we're talking about the same thing)

The customer communication needed the same reset.
The tension eased a bit once they knew what to expect from us.

The following weeks weren’t exciting.
Most of it was clearing out old decisions that never really got made.

You don’t notice progress at first.
Then suddenly the calls feel lighter.
People stop hedging.
You hear less contradiction and more “okay, that makes sense.”

Around day 41, the project finally stabilized.

Finally steady enough to move without bracing for the next hit.

Most “red” projects are teams trying to do good work inside a setup that no longer supports them.

Once you fix the setup, the work finds its rhythm.
People do too.

GovOS

GovOS provides a secure suite of cloud-based solutions for local and state governments to maximize revenue, increase compliance, reduce costs, and meet constituent demand for modern, self-service transaction and payment services.

👉 Manage multi-million dollar portfolio of projects, focusing on the implementation of cloud-based software for local and county governments.

Project Manager

Johnson Controls

👉 Lead marketing projects for portfolio of 4 brands and 50+ products (hardware and software) worth over $150M. 

👉 Collaborated with global cross functional teams including 12 product managers, engineering, digital marketing, creative and sales teams to develop go to market (GTM) strategies for new product launches (NPI) including  sales enablement, social media strategy , distribution channel projects and website design

👉 Championed 20 product launch projects with budgets of $1M+, managing scope, timelines, vendor coordination, and stakeholder engagement for timely end-to-end delivery

💪 Pioneered a global sales campaign project, producing tailored deliverables that boosted year-end sales by 15%

Hikvision USA

Hikvision is the world’s largest manufacturer of video surveillance products and solutions. 

My role as Program Manager was to champion Hikvision’s Dealer Partner Program with over 4,000 dealer partners, collaborating with external stakeholders and cross-functional internal teams to develop and manage metrics, messaging, requirements, strategy, branding, project plans and challenges.

   💪     Instrumental in building partner program by increasing partner participation 𝐛𝐲 400% 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 50% of the company’s revenue for 4+ years. 

  👉      Developed  45+ 𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 for senior sales leadership team of 11-15 executives based on monthly and annual purchase data for 9-10 sales territories to provide insights on key business metrics including YoY performance, partner evaluation, program compliance, strategy and effectiveness of field operation model. 

👉        Created and managed 40+ 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 for distribution to internal teams and 1,000s of external stakeholders to provide messaging and education re: program goals, changes, progress, marketing tools, marketing campaigns and initiatives.

👉     Coordinated monthly newsletter creation process including content conceptualization, timeline planning, workflow creation, reviewing and editing content to 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 40+ 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 with open rates that consistently 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐛𝐲 10 - 20%.

Hochiki America Corporation

Hochiki America provides fire protection and suppression equipment in North and South America. 

I owned all marketing, advertising, promotional and sales support activities including trade shows, press releases, product catalogs, technical spec sheets, company trademarks, vendor management, website maintenance and social media. 

💪	Spearheaded project to improve process for price change updates in Microsoft Dynamics that shortened the turnaround time 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 6 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 4 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧 80% 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 vs. prior project estimates.

👉  	Project managed operations and logistics for 13 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 in the US, Mexico and South America including booth design, set-up/tear down, finances, vendor relationship management, marketing plans, marketing collateral, product selection/placement and post-event lead follow up. Optimized efficiency of staff resources to reduce sales team’s time away from field by 1.5 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬. 

👉	Partnered with cross-functional departments and ad agency to develop marketing plan and strategy including allocation of $250,000 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭.

STYLE 2020

Client Relations / Marketing / Social Media

📧  𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭!  ZeenaAbidi@gmail.com

👋   I am a project management professional with experience leading projects, program management & development, marketing, sales operations and sales enablement. I enjoy overseeing all aspects of project planning, from building detailed work plans to budgeting and resource allocation to ensuring quality deliverables and communication with all stakeholders while achieving alignment with business targets. I thrive serving as a connector between teams to facilitate projects that span multiple cross-functional teams.

💪   At Johnson Controls, I lead marketing projects for a portfolio of 4 brands and 50+ products (hardware and software) worth over $150M. I collaborated with global cross functional teams including 12 product managers, engineering, digital marketing, creative and sales teams to develop go to market (GTM) strategies for new product launches (NPI).

💪 When I started my role as Program Manager at Hikvision, the Hikvision Dealer Partner Program was about a year old and had less than 800 dealers. I played a key role in growing the program by focusing on developing and managing metrics, messaging, requirements, strategy and project plans. During my tenure, the program grew 400% and contributed to nearly 50% of the annual revenue for 4+ years.

🙌   𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬

"As the program manager for Hikvision’s dealer partner program she wore a lot of hats that were key in the building of the program."
--- Vince Lupe, Business Development & Strategic Accounts @ Avigilon 

"Zeena shows passion for all things done well. She has a high capacity to manage several projects at once while still staying focused on delivering the best possible outcomes."
--- Lisa Marmorino, Sales Director

"She is [a] stickler for detail and accuracy and has an easy rapport with clients. Her fun sense of humor is an added bonus to her long list of good qualities that made her a pleasure to work with."
--- Lisa Giger, Accounting Professional

🛠   𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬

Project Management | Program Management | Program Development | Cross-Functional Team Leadership | Communication | Stakeholder Management | Marketing | Microsoft Project | Jira | Sales Operations | Sales Enablement | Sales Support |  Messaging | Editing | Presentation | Research and Analysis | Client Relations | Collaboration | Branding | Problem Solving

Fluent in: English | Urdu | Sarcasm | 𝘍·𝘙·𝘐·𝘌·𝘕·𝘋·𝘚

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