Catherine Ploue-Smith, Senior Localization Manager at Smartsheet
Events manager, Women in Localization, PNW Chapter
Catherine Ploue-Smith has an international professional background, that spans 4 countries and two continents, with 25 years experience across a broad range of industries, including Education, Networking and Security, International Shipping and Forwarding, Software, Consulting and SaaS.
She's multilingual and convinced that the languages of the world, while a barrier in many instances, are one of the greatest, most exciting and unique challenges to connect across cultures and break stereotypes and fear of the others.
Catherine is currently the localization manager at Smartsheet, Inc, the leading collaborative work management platform, where she's held various positions in Marketing, Demand Gen, and Brand Strategy leading growth through localization.
Catherine is also the event manager for the Women in Localization, Pacific-Northwest chapter, in Seattle. She is the proud mom of two wonderful teenagers and lives in the greater Seattle area, Washington State, USA.
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Tomorrow is another day”.
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Each day is a chance to do better and work towards our goals, so no need to focus too much on the past, and what could have been, but learn the lesson and move on.”
Catherine Ploue-Smith
Catherine Ploue-Smith LinkedIn
Who do you most admire in business?
Entrepreneurs and those who break through the noise to bring value to others and to the world.
There are many people in the business that I find inspiring and worthy of admiration, whether they have overcome incredible hardships or odds to become who they are, or whether they lead amazing companies, that they have evolved over many years.
But if I had to pick a few, here in the US, I find Sarah Blakely very inspiring, the creator of Spanx, for her bravery and humility, JK Rowling and Oprah Winfrey for their incredible grit, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk for their vision and brilliance.
Among people who have passed, I admire Lady Bird Johnson, who was a woman ahead of her time in many ways who made such an impact. Outside of business, I am generally in awe of adventurers and people who advance our knowledge of the natural world.
What companies or brands do you like or do you think are getting it right?
Nike, Apple, Microsoft, Lego, L’Oreal. Each of these brands has changed people’s lives around the world. Apple products are impressive with their sleek design, break-through functionalities, and the founder, who was a visionary.
Nike has my favourite tagline “Just do it”, it is simple and powerful, positive and unapologetic. Their ongoing innovation and how they connect with their customers is fantastic. What a great idea to let customers come up with their own designs!
Microsoft has clearly changed how everyone thinks of and experiences technology, and I admire how they have evolved and been unafraid to question what they were doing, change and continuously innovate.
Their AI framework is a testimony that, even after 40 years, the company is still on the cutting edge. Their AI for Good is amazing. I am particularly fond of their AI for Cultural Heritage. They’re doing amazing work to document and preserve culture, language, history and architecture around the world.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Tomorrow is another day! Early on in my career, I used to be somewhat of a perfectionist, and I had a tendency to obsess over what didn’t go well, which I would take very personally.
I had a manager who used to say “Tomorrow is another day”. Each day is a chance to do better and work towards our goals, so no need to focus too much on the past, and what could have been, but learn the lesson and move on, there’s still much to accomplish, and the best is yet ahead. This is true of life as well, not just work or business.
What drives or motivates you each day?
My daughters and learning! Each day I listen to favorite podcasts and read news articles, both industry and political news, and professional content related to my particular field of work. My daughters are my North star. I was widowed when they were very young, which shattered our family life, and my mission has been ever since to be the best mom, guide, and provider that I could be for them.
They’ve brought so much into my life and, although it was hard to raise a family and deal with many challenges alone, as an immigrant to the US, with still a lot of unknowns, their life has been my absolute priority in everything that I did and still do. It’s a privilege to be their mom, I have learned so much, and they’re now teenagers, starting to chart their own path. I can’t wait to see where it’ll lead them!
What are your thoughts on the future of social media?
Social media is here to stay and will continue to infiltrate every aspect of our lives and businesses so we should learn to make the best of it. Social media is everywhere, and yet it is such a relatively new phenomenon. Video and voice are everywhere and will continue to grow.
I think that the gap between generations may be widened because of how fast the technology evolves. Used properly, I see social media as a fantastic source of information and services.
I use Facebook and Linkedin daily. I find it interesting how different age groups use different platforms, or how regulatory constraints influence social media usage in various parts of the world.
My kids use Snapchat, Tik Tok, and other programs to connect with their friends. I am amazed at how apt they are at juggling their many contacts and having meaningful relationships with friends that are far away and with whom they wouldn’t communicate as easily or at all if social media didn’t exist.
I am also aware that they are connected all day via ongoing notifications. There is a real risk that our already fragmented attention gets shattered, in a world that is already so noisy and busy, where social media provides instant gratification via the never-ending stream of pictures, text and sounds. Brands are competing with an ever-increasing amount of content and have to constantly push the boundaries of culture to reach their audience.
We have to harness social media to our advantage and properly benefit from its value, and that means making a real effort to value human connections. Brands have to genuinely connect with the culture and people with messages that bring solutions to real pain points and needs.
However, I am also a bit worried about the vortex of social media and its effect on people with the unending stream of sound bites and information, leaving little space or time to really digest what it is that we are reading, listening to or sharing and for the imagination. We have to make time and a conscious effort to disconnect and slow down, reflect, see others and the world.
Do you have a mentor or do you mentor anyone?
I don’t have a mentor in particular, but I draw inspiration and encouragement from various podcasts hosted by people that are influential in my line of work, business leaders and others that inspire me across an array of interests. I have found some wonderful colleagues along the way, who have proven to be great listeners and whose feedback I take at heart.
I am not a mentor currently, but volunteer as often as possible. I volunteered at my children’s schools when they were younger, and still get involved in events at their high school, and absolutely love seeing these young people, some of them that I’ve known since kindergarten, become young adults. I am a fierce advocate for education for all, accessible, and support our public schools where I have met some of the most wonderful, dedicated and selfless people, both teaching staff, as well as administrators. I don’t take the saying lightly that our children are the leaders of the future, as it is literally true.
I plan on continuing to support education from preschool to graduation and advocate so that others are inspired to offer their expertise and time. I would also love to mentor or coach more actively when my daughters have both left the house. One area of interest that is very personal to me is grief counselling and support to widows seeking to change their professional career or get back into the workforce.
How do you network?
I consider interactions with the people in my daily life as networking. Networking is building relationships, so at the most basic level, every day we’re building relationships. Professionally, I attend local events in my line of work at least quarterly and have the opportunity to network via Women in Localization and events. I am also involved in my community.
How did you get into this line of work and What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same line of work?
I pretty much stumbled into it shortly after I arrived in the US. Through contacts that I made before moving to Seattle, I started working in this new field called “localization”. To establish a resume in the US, I was looking at using my linguistic, foreign language and business background to become a translator and see what opportunities existed for me to build a new professional experience.
Everything was so different from living in Europe. It was a pretty big adjustment. From my first position at a small localization company downtown Seattle to this day, I have pursued opportunities to continue learning and growing.
I joined two startups that both failed after a little over a year. The first one during the dotcom bust in 2000, and the second due to the crash of 2008. Both experiences were at the same time exciting, incredibly challenging and going through layoffs was hard, but I learned a lot about the system and about myself.
I worked at Microsoft, dealing with completely different challenges and learned so much from colleagues and the technical challenges that we handled on the various localization teams that I joined. I created my own consultancy and worked on a few interesting projects, part-time for a few years, at a time when I needed to focus more on my family. Ultimately, I realized that I really loved localization and really missed it, so this is what I’m doing now again.
My advice is to learn and keep learning, as our industry is evolving rapidly. Don’t be afraid to try different roles and refine your skills as you discover what really drives you and what you’re truly passionate about. There is no magical recipe, but localization does require both linguistic and technical abilities, as well as keeping up with the technology, and cultivating curiosity.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
That networking with people in my field of work and seeking mentors is a great way to build knowledge and confidence more rapidly and weather setbacks better.
What’s the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
There may be as many reasons as there are people, as we’re all different, with a different psyche, but I believe that isolation, trying to do it alone, being afraid of what others will say, and letting fear steer towards what seems safe, actually prevents progress.
What are you most proud of in your life?
My daughters and having built a life, after a tragic loss, in a foreign country where I now feel at home.
How do you define success?
Joy and contentment. I think that the definition of success will vary greatly depending on what drives us and how we see the world. What strikes me and saddens me is when very successful individuals who have made a name for themselves, built incredibly successful businesses and may have a family, commit suicide. They worked so hard, and are role models to others, how much good could they have done!
I was very sad to hear of the passing of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, to name a couple of individuals who fit the definition of success, who have ended their lives in recent years. I can’t help but think that all the success, the applause, the money and recognition in the world were not enough because perhaps, joy and contentment were missing in their lives, or a sense of peace was eluding them.
What do you think your unique skill(s) is that has helped you become successful?
Curiosity, thirst for learning, grit, patience.
What valuable lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience?
Learn to be patient; many endeavours don’t turn out how we’d like them to, so keep learning, always, and cultivate a growth mindset and humility.
Is there anything new you are working on that you would like to share?
The company that I am employed at is on a steady and aggressive growth curve, and we have a lot going on. I am focused on our global go-to-market strategy, and specifically on globalization and internationalization best practices. Whether our UX and Product teams are designing new features, our developers are working on new coding implementations or processes, or our Marketing teams tackle content and campaigns for new markets. I focus on education and operational excellence.
I am also writing a couple of articles that I’d like to publish in the near future on a couple of subjects that I believe may be of interest to others in my industry, in particular newcomers.
Where’s your favourite place?
By the ocean, the energy of the sea both has a calming effect for me and is a source of energy. I grew up by the water in France, and spent a lot of time near the ocean, swimming, fishing, walking on beaches and dunes in all seasons.
What is your hobby?
I love working in my garden when the sun’s out, which in Seattle, is not a given, even in the nicer seasons. I love cooking, knitting and walking.
What are you not very good at and What are you good at?
I am good at assessing what needs to be done when issues arise and taking action.
Not great at keeping things brief, I am known for providing lots of context for things that I’m passionate about.
Which words do you overuse?
Does a French swear word count?
Your social media platform of choice?
Linkedin, professionally, and Facebook, personally, Occasionally WhatsApp to connect with friends and family in Europe.
When are you happiest?
At home; anywhere I spend time with my children, and on road trips.
Your favourite writer, author, movie and TV show?
I am French and, having studied several foreign languages, I’ve had the pleasure to read wonderful literature in a few languages, but one of my favourite writers is Victor Hugo.
My favourite author is Jean de la Fontaine, who wrote in the 17th century about the everyday moral issues of mankind, using satire, sometimes with humour, always so delicately. They’re based on Aesop and other ancient texts, and delightful, with modern applications, still today.
One of my favourite movies is Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I saw it as a teenager in France and was touched by the wit and elegance of Audrey Hepburn. There was always something magical for me about movies set in New York. My mom saw it as a young woman, and we both enjoyed watching it together when I was a teenager.
My TV and movie tastes are very eclectic, from sci-fi shows, adventures (The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies), to comedies (Frasier and Seinfeld were two favourites) and documentaries.
What living person do you most admire?
Anyone who is willing to challenge the status quo, directly, respectfully, with conviction. No one has the whole truth.
A positive quote you like to share with people.
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”