A Law Degree to Microsoft- An Organic Career growth

the raical swimsuit history of the From bathing in the buff to bloomers and bikinis, how women’s swimsuits have always been on the front lines of feminism. law microsoft to From Lessons from Remote Work and, more | Gaper Chats with Rosalyn Amtzen

Gaper’s Director of BD, Mark Allen, had an story byTommy Steffeninsightful little chat with illustration by Ryan J. Sparrow the CEO and President of Amaxra, Rosalyn Arntzen.

Rosalyn grew up in Australia, in a family of lawyers. She too went through Law school but decided that perhaps that was not her calling. She then took on nuclear chemistry and computing as her sub–majors. A young Rosalyn then took a 10-week holiday to the UK, which turned into 12 years in the country. Her stay in the country allowed her to develop a keen interest and knowledge about personal computing (when technology was still in its nascent stages). She worked for a number of computer providers and financial institutions before joining Unisys and then ultimately Microsoft in the area of consultancy. She moved back to Australia and continued her professional association with Microsoft there for three years before moving to the US for the Windows XP launch. describes her career path as an organic one where one step naturally led to another in bringing her to where she is now.

Amaxra After working with Microsoft as a full-time employee for 15 years in three countries, Rosalyn decided to venture out into new avenues of her professional life. This entailed starting her own business in the middle of a recession. What seemed uncertain and tricky at first, is now a successful women-owned, diverse business into its 15th year of operation. Starting in late 2007, Amaxra became a Microsoft solution provider and a direct supplier. This was followed by the company winning the Diverse Supplier of the Year twice in 2016 and 2019 - a significant acclaim given how competitive the supplier arena is. While the company has played roles in other areas as well, its main objective remains to be the provider of people resources to big corporations, as well as helping small businesses that don’t hire contractors but someone to manage their IT, security, CRM, etc.

Lowered Barriers and Remote Work Amidst the unfortunate negative blow that pandemic dealt the world, some of its by-products, remote work being the foremost of them, have lowered some of the barriers that previously existed in the business world but also our social structures (gender roles and expectations from each parent, for example). If not for the catalyzing of remote work, such changes would have otherwise taken years to manifest. Now, she notes, when big corporations demand people return to offices, people switch over to working for their hybrid/ remote competitor.

Another insightful bit shared by Rosalyn was the customer side of things. While it was easy to judge someone sitting in a chair in an office, old management practices could not quite identify how productive those workers were being. With remote work, however, managers are forced to evaluate what deliverables they are going to measure employee performance by. It is no longer someone’s presence in an office that proves their value to a company. If your team member needs to get a haircut at 2 pm, it does not matter as long as they are delivering value and productivity to the company.

Just like Gaper, the future is also remote for her and her company with a healthy dose of hybrid meetups whenever needed. It is perhaps this flexibility that makes or breaks a business in the end.

Interestingly, this also applies to customers. Initially, they used to come into the office and judge the company based on the snapshot view of everyone and everything they got: the furniture, the size of the conference room, you name it. Now, they are forced to look at more appropriate sources to make such assessments: referrals, happy clients, company performance.

Amaxra operated with a hybrid work model for a good amount of time where some teams were completely remote. Over time, the office began seeing a decline in the number of folks that ventured there every day. Eventually, when its lease was up during the pandemic, Rosalyn decided not to renew it. Inperson work is now done at co-working spaces whenever needed. The team also meets up for lunch twice a month. But no one misses the commute; everyone appreciates the agility and flexibility.

Doing Outsourcing Right Rosalyn sheds light on an oftmisunderstood aspect of business - outsourcing. When outsourcing certain functions of your business, you may see some cost and time savings and think that your job is done. It is done if the party you are outsourcing to actually knows their stuff. Make sure you have really well-defined service level agreements. Have a crystal knowledge of their expectations from you, and be equally clear about your expectations from them. And though this mode of work is becoming increasingly popular now, it might not be something that everyone gets right on their first go. Some businesses may also need a manager to mediate the operations between both companies.

Future Outlook Rosalyn is one of the flexible business leaders who have cracked the remote work and remote management formula. Just like Gaper, the future is also remote for her and her company with a healthy dose of hybrid meetups whenever needed. It is perhaps this flexibility that makes or breaks a business in the end when it gets tested during uncertain times. No one can say much about the future, but what we can do is learn from the grueling tests that the pandemic forced us to face. These changes could very well be the breath of fresh air that our businesses and society have so desperately needed for decades now.