How Tosin transitioned from being an English language teacher to a Product Manager during her Maternity Leave

Meet Tosin! She has an academic background in Education and tons of experience in customer support. As a product manager and a dedicated TechMum, she brings a unique blend of insights to her work at Reliance Health.

Tosin’s maternity leave became a turning point for her as she discovered her passion for product management. She now shares her inspiring story.

Please Introduce yourself.
Hi, my name is Oluwatosin Nelson. I’m the Product Manager for the Customer Success team at Reliance Health. I basically help build products that help the team give authorization for care as well as interact with our customers.

How did you transition into Product Management?
My transition into product management began in 2018 when I took a break to have my first daughter. Before this, I was an English language teacher in a secondary school but decided I wanted more. I wanted to do something out of the education space, and I found product management. I took online training, taught myself how to write PRDs (Product Requirements Documents) and just tried my hand at it.

After my maternity break, I decided it was time to return to the professional scene, so I applied to Reliance Health. I got in as a customer support agent and my task then was to help our customers access care at providers as well as fix issues they had with their plans.

Some months in, there was a role for a product manager for the customer success team and I felt confident to apply given all the information, knowledge and courses taken prior to this time and I applied for the role. It was rigorous, I think the best thing was I already had a knowledge of the product being in the customer support team and I got in. As they say, the rest is history.

What is the most interesting project you have worked on?
The most interesting project I’ve worked on is the Reliance Health expansion into Egypt. I oversaw ensuring that our enrollees in Egypt can sign up for their health plan and use the mobile or web app. All this had to be done in Arabic.

Before then, I had not done anything outside of English, which was also challenging. I had to learn how localisation would work. Arabic is read from the right to the left so what it meant was that I also had to work with other people. We had to learn together, and it was quite interesting to find out the things that work in English for Nigerians but don’t necessarily work for an Egyptian audience in Arabic.

This led me to research Egyptian culture more and think about what it takes to localise a product for a new market. This is still my most interesting project because I learned a lot and we were still able to deliver and release in Egypt.

How does it feel being a TechMum at Reliance Health?
One of the most exciting aspects of being a tech mum is the opportunity to motivate and inspire my children so they know there’s no limit to what they can achieve.

In Reliance Health, we have tech mums, tech sisters, and female leaders in tech. It just goes to show that as a woman in Reliance Health, there’s no limit to what you can achieve.

What will you say to anyone looking to join the Reliance Health team?
Nigeria has a fast-growing tech ecosystem which Reliance Health at the intersection of healthcare and technology. Joining Reliance Health means that you get to work on products that help to solve healthcare problems by using technology to make healthcare accessible, affordable, and delightful in emerging markets.

Watch the full interview below.

If you’re feeling inspired, make sure to check the open opportunities for Product Managers on our Careers Page.