In this episode, we sit down with Yvette Martinez-Rea, Chief Operating Officer of Yext, a SaaS platform powering digital presence for some of the biggest brands in the world. Yvette brings more than two decades of operating experience across tech, gaming, media, and beauty — including senior leadership roles at Verizon, ESL Gaming North America, Yahoo, United Online, and Violet Grey.Yvette shares the unexpected loss that reshaped how she leads and why she now makes room for the hard stuff at work. We explore her "slow hire, fast fire" philosophy, the one word she always hires for, and why the best candidates are often already inside your organization.Key Takeaways:00:00 Introduction. 03:00 What a COO actually does: monitoring, managing, optimizing, and connecting the dots across a company. 05:15 The identity shift that happens the day you move from COO to CEO. 07:15 Career advice for anyone navigating a tough job market and an AI-driven future. 10:40 Losing her husband to cancer ten weeks after diagnosis and stepping back from a Fortune 50 role. 12:45 Joining Yext as an individual contributor and being told "no," so work didn't become a drug for grief. 18:00 Auditing her leadership to create space and safety around grief and loss at work. 26:15 Practical ways to show up for someone in loss — at the funeral, three months later, and on the anniversary. 30:20 The one word she hires for and why it quietly unlocks every other quality. 37:10 Why the best next hire is often already inside your company. 40:10 Slow hire, fast fire: the rule she swears by and when desperation breaks it. 43:00 Reframing collective grief through "The Friday Afternoon Club" by Griffin Dunne. 45:30 Advice to her 20-year-old self: You don't have to show up with the answer.Resources Mentioned:Yvette Martinez-Reahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/yvette-martinez-rea-8625b91/?isSelfProfile=falseYext | LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/yext/Yext | Websitehttps://www.yext.com"The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir" by Griffin Dunnehttps://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717278/the-friday-afternoon-club-by-griffin-dunne/"The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel" on Netflixhttps://www.netflix.com/title/82087556Thank you for listening to “Hire Learning with Oz Rashid.” Don’t forget to leave us a review and subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. Connect with our host, Oz Rashid, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozrashid.   To learn more about MSH, visit https://www.talentmsh.com. #TalentAcquisition #HiringStrategy #EnterpriseHiring