In Honor of International Women's Day 2025 - The Woman Who Influenced My Career the Most
- Martin Sabag
- Mar 8
- 2 min read
In honor of International Women's Day, I want to share a story about a special woman who significantly influenced my career - Hagit Efrati.
Back in 2019, I reached a familiar frustration point in the tech world: on one hand, I was already over-qualified for product management roles without people management, and on the other hand - I had no positions in my resume where I directly managed people in a work setting. In fact, I had managed people in various initiatives - HT Magazine Ltd. which has been operating for 20 years with volunteers, Custom Angels organization with dozens of volunteers, and even in military command roles - but none of it "counted" in the formal employment world.
As time passed, the dilemma only intensified: I became more and more over-qualified, yet still with zero official management experience. And I, as you know, didn't get younger with time...
You might ask - what's the pressure to be a manager at all?
Excellent question. At that time, I might not have been able to define it precisely, and it certainly doesn't have to be the career progression path for every product manager. But one thing I knew - every time I worked with people and saw them growing, advancing, dealing with professional and personal challenges and succeeding, emerging from the process as a better version of themselves - it simply filled me. It was one of my passions, perfectly aligned with my "why": helping people find their personal market fit.
Then one day, I received a LinkedIn message from Hagit, then VP of HR at Fornova.
She asked if I knew a product manager for a VP of Product position they wanted to fill. It was a company with one product manager, in his first role as a product manager, with a significant challenge: transforming the company from a project-based company with one SaaS product to a company with a product portfolio with fewer projects.
It's important to note that at that time, I didn't have much experience interviewing for positions, certainly not senior ones, and I wasn't actively looking for a job. But Hagit suggested meeting for coffee in Landover in Kfar Saba, which was on her way to the office in Yokneam.
We met one morning for a coffee that didn't feel like a job interview at all - just two professionals getting to know each other.
To make a long story short - I got the position. The office was in Yokneam, I commuted daily until COVID began. The team grew, new products were created, but that's not the point.
Rabbi Karlibakh said: "Every child needs one adult who believes in them". Hagit was the one who saw me beyond my resume. She believed in me even when I might have had doubts.
There's no point in waxing lyrical about her talent as an HR VP - that's a given (and today she's doing great at Windward). I simply wanted to share the special place Hagit holds in my heart and career.
She completely helped me find my personal market fit.
Thank you, Hagit. And happy holiday to all the amazing women who believe in people and help them find their way.
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