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Francis Aquino
Workplace Experience, Culture and All Things Employee Happiness
Professional Background
Francis Aquino is an accomplished Workplace Experience professional with extensive expertise in scaling company culture and improving employee engagement and satisfaction within the startup technology industry. Over the years, Francis has held pivotal roles at some of the most innovative organizations in the marketplace, including Netflix, Uber, Honey, and Headspace, where he has successfully transformed workplace dynamics to foster an engaging and inclusive environment.
Francis began his career focusing on workplace strategies, leveraging his diverse academic background to bring a unique perspective to employee experience and workplace engagement. His roles have involved managing and improving workplace experiences for employees, which is crucial for companies that are experiencing hyper-growth. His commitment to developing healthy work cultures has made him a sought-after expert in this field.
Education and Achievements
Francis Aquino's educational foundation is anchored in two significant disciplines from De La Salle University, where he pursued a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. This strong academic background equips him with a perfect blend of marketing and psychological principles, allowing him to understand employee behavior while crafting effective engagement strategies.
Additionally, he has enhanced his knowledge through specialized training in marketing management and event management at De La Salle University, which provided him with critical skills applicable to workplace event planning and culture-building initiatives. Complementing this, his formative education at Don Bosco Technical Institute in Makati has been instrumental in shaping his overall professional abilities, focusing on practical, hands-on learning experiences that prepare him for real-world challenges.
Notable Roles and Impact
Francis's previous role as the Manager of Workplace Experience LA at Netflix enabled him to influence a culture that thrives on collaboration, creativity, and inclusivity. He played a key role in evaluating employee experiences and iterating improvements that contributed to increased job satisfaction and productivity. His tenure at Netflix is marked by successful initiatives that heightened employee engagement and reinforced the company’s mission and values amidst an evolving workforce.
As Director of Workplace & Employee Experience at Honey, Francis supported the organization in establishing first-rate employee engagement practices and creating a vibrant work culture that attracted top talent while retaining existing staff. His strategic insights helped enhance operational effectiveness and employee morale.
In his capacity as Regional Workplace Manager on the West Coast for Uber, he managed and nurtured employee experience across various locations, ensuring that all teams felt valued and heard. Here, he employed innovative strategies and adopted new technologies to optimize employee interactions, further showcasing his adaptability and forward-thinking approach in the workplace.
Additionally, at Headspace Inc., as a Senior Manager of Workplace & Employee Experience, Francis was influential in refining workplace interactions and enhancing the overall employee experience by implementing best-in-class operational strategies. His leadership efforts have been instrumental in distinguishing Headspace as a top-tier employer in the tech space.
Lastly, in his role as Director of Office Operations at Nasty Gal, he focused on creating dynamic workspaces that align with company culture while promoting productivity and well-being among employees. This included designing office layouts that encourage collaboration while providing quiet spaces for concentration and creativity.
Achievements
- Spearheaded several workplace engagement initiatives aimed at driving employee satisfaction and retention.
- Successfully managed workplace transformations for companies experiencing rapid growth, ensuring a smooth transition as employees adapt to changes.
- Developed and maintained employee engagement metrics and feedback mechanisms that inform organizational strategy.
- Actively involved in cross-functional teams to cultivate a cohesive workplace environment that aligns with the respective company’s vision and culture.
- Advanced employer branding efforts across multiple organizations, promoting a positive company image and attracting top talent.
With a rich professional history and a passion for enhancing workplace experiences, Francis Aquino continues to make impactful contributions to the industry, leveraging his diverse skills and experiences to help organizations optimize their workplace culture and engage their employees effectively.
Highlights
It's time for a new adventure! After a refreshing mini break, I'm excited to dive back in. The green frame is up, and I'm eager to explore new opportunities. Ready for the next big challenge!
#OpenToWork #workplace #workplaceexperience #culture
If you're looking for inspiration and motivation in the world of Workplace Experience, look no further than Epoch Connect 2024 in San Francisco. Last week's conference brought together around 200 passionate workplace professionals for an unforgettable experience. The energy in the room was electric, and I'm still feeling the excitement.
But it wasn't like any other conference. Jade Choy harnessed an environment that was friendly, relaxed, and comfortable, paving the way for us to connect, network, and create our own micro-communities. The panelists and speakers felt like long-time friends giving us friendly advice. It really reminded me why I'm so passionate about Workplace Experience.
Top 3 Takeaways:
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Data is our Best Friend. Its tough for us to quantify "Experience". We rely on partnership with Human Resources, Space Planning, Culture Teams, Internal Comms, etc for information from survey results that focuses on Employee Experience and Happiness.
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Connection and Community is vital. We are all aiming for a common goal. To ensure that we provide a safe and enjoyable environment for all our employees. Let's connect and share insights and information. Let's build our community.
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Passion is Powerful. Your passion for what you do will always take you to your winning moment. Even if there's mistakes and failures, your passion will help lift you up and create an even bigger win.
If you want to join a community dedicated to improving employee experience, keep an eye out for Epoch Connect 2025. You won't want to miss it! I hope to be invited again!
#WorkplaceExperience #EpochConnect2024
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
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Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
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