Talking to Daniela Ramirez de Cespedes, the Director of Operations at Dabble Lab, is like talking to a dear friend that you have known for years–even if you’ve never met her. Conversation flows seamlessly from one topic to the next and you very quickly get to see the sparkle in Daniela’s eyes as she talks about her contributions to Dabble Lab. She describes herself as “the single non-technical person” at the collective, but probing into projects that she has been a part of and deeper into her personality, you will find that she shares the common Dabbler thread of having a desire to continuously study the technology swirling around her and a passion to find ways of doing more with less.

Daniela trying not to laugh while posing under this egg in Miami Beach

Daniela understands very personally the importance of efficiency and automation in the success of a business. In 2013, she opened Dear Rain, a company that designed, manufactured and sold rain accessories. The idea for the company came to her while she was vacationing with her family on the Gold Coast, where it is normally very sunny. However, during their stay, it was not–it was pouring rain, so she and her mom found themselves sprinting from dry spot to dry spot or using their bodies to cover their handbags to avoid ruining them. She came back and started working on a handbag poncho design that would fit most purses and that’s when Dear Rain was born. Unfortunately, in 2020, Daniela had to close her business, but the experience of being a business owner provides valuable perspective to help her in her work at Dabble Lab, “I can see very well what a client may be thinking because I’ve been the client myself.”

As an entrepreneur, the idea of entering a corporate structure, where jobs are assigned with defined roles, was not at all appealing to Daniela. As she says, “I like to get involved in lots of different things.” She wanted to find a job that filled her desire for a “CEO” type position where she could participate in marketing, financials, growth, and the overall operations of a company. Dabble Lab was a perfect fit for her and “it has been amazing.” She started with a small digital marketing role, but very soon after began working on projects. “Steve and Alex are amazing because they listen to people’s input and are always willing to change and adapt.”

Daniela reflecting on street art in Miami Beach

Adapting to change is now the core focus for Daniela at Dabble Lab. The collective started the year with 12 developers and is ending the year with 33. The increase in people and projects will require scalability, which is something that Daniela is thinking about and planning for daily, “what I'm trying to work with is: what can we standardize? What can we optimize? What can we have some sort of AI take control over so we can focus on continuing to grow. I’m looking to make everything as scalable as possible and automated as possible.”

She is particularly looking forward to the rollout of an internal initiative (Archer), which is a project management application that Dabble Lab will use to improve communication with clients and strengthen collaboration among team members. Daniela works directly with clients on a daily basis and ensures that the needs of clients are being met and that they have the information that they need on the projects that Dabblers are working on. Typical reporting that she currently handles for clients is hours and burn rates, which Archer will automate. “I’m trying to make everything run smoother and work toward the future of Dabble Lab.”

The future brings an additional twinkle to her eye, and it is no wonder as the goal for 2023 is to grow to 100 Dabblers. Beyond scaling operations, the intense and quick growth is challenging–especially for Dabble Lab–because finding the perfect fit for the collective is crucial to its success. Daniela puts it this way, “As we look to continue to grow Dabble Lab and to exceed client expectations, it becomes increasingly important to bring aboard the right dabblers.” The collective, as defined in the Dabble Lab Vision and Philosophy Statement, is made up of “technical optimists who find joy in building systems and tools, and enjoy sharing what we discover.” When it comes to attracting talent, they do not do it through benefits, compensation or titles. Instead, they seek individuals who share in the vision and philosophy of the collective and who are ready to take ownership and contribute to the greater good of individuals and the collective as a whole. As you can imagine, the process of interviewing and understanding whether someone will be a good fit is a larger undertaking than traditional corporate interview processes. Daniela has been integral in the success of the growth of Dabble Lab. She spearheaded the Dabble Lab Talent Accelerator (DLTA) project, which automates and streamlines the process not only of recruiting new talent, but also onboarding new members of the collective.

“Everything to me is a mindset. We have to think of ways of working to adapt with change.”

To Daniela, the future of Dabble Lab is its people and how they can continue to support and encourage personal growth and fulfillment…”I’m focused on where we want to go next and how…which is very exciting.” To shape her vision and expand her knowledge, she often listens to podcasts on people management and organizational improvement. Her favorite audio book so far is “Drive,” by Daniel Pink. In it, Pink offers a new way to think about motivation, maintaining that the secret to high performance and satisfaction is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. Daniela was moved by the book to think of new ways of working to adapt to the changes in our world and to adapt to the changes within her own life. The book gave her a different view of how companies can operate and how to ensure success of a company through the right types of motivation of employees. “Everything to me is a mindset. We have to think of ways of working to adapt with change.” At Dabble Lab, the flexibility to grow, to adapt, to reinvent herself and contribute to the community of Dabblers is what keeps her motivated and happy.

Daniela and her two daughters

Another big source of motivation and happiness for Daniela is her family. She and her husband are raising their daughters, who she describes as two “little engines,” in Miami, Florida. The flexibility that Dabble Lab provides enables Daniela to fit work into her life as a mom. She works early in the morning before her kids wake up and then after getting them ready for school, she works until they come home and then spends most afternoons with her kids, finishing up her work day in the evenings. The flexibility of being able to be there for her daughters is priceless for her and ensuring that she is modeling a healthy mindset is top of mind, “I always hope to be able to show them that they can achieve anything they set their little minds to.”

Daniela Ramirez de Cespedes

One way in which she models achievement is through personal goal setting. This year, her goal is to run a half marathon in Miami. Daniela says that she “has always been an athlete.” But, as most parents can relate to, finding time to regularly work out after kids come along is sometimes difficult. Three years ago, she started working out regularly with a group in Miami and a member of that group encouraged her to start running, which she had never really done “for fun” before. She began running in some 5Ks and just a few weeks ago finished her first 10K. Achieving that goal made her reach for the next one–the Miami Half Marathon.

Running isn’t all about reaching her personal goals. To her surprise, she has found her daily runs to be her “quiet time.” She admits, “I have a hard time turning my brain off and found that running helps.” She takes this mental break each day and it helps her to be able to meet the demands of her day by taking time to shut everything off, “maybe I think, maybe I don’t, maybe I listen to music or a podcast,” but taking the time to be by herself during her runs is an important part of her days. However, you can be sure that the parts of her days at Dabble Lab are spent on thinking, planning, and designing new ways of working to create a structure and an environment that allows Dabblers to be more effective at what they do.