Inside Illumio: Nicole Yox

Inside Illumio is a monthly series that highlights the exceptional individuals behind Illumio’s world-class products. Each post will take a peek behind the scenes to spotlight a member of our team. Come get to know us a little better and learn more about what makes Illumio’s culture so unique.

This month, meet Nicole Yox, Customer Success Advisor at Illumio. Learn what excites her about getting curious with customers about their security goals, why she values patience in her role, and her favorite way to volunteer her time.  

What do you do at Illumio?

I’m a Customer Success Advisor for Illumio. In my role, I’m fortunate to work with our customers to help them get value out of Illumio’s solutions.  

In many cases, whether they're a large customer or small, they’ve made a significant investment in our solutions. I want to make sure they continue to get support long and value from their implementation long after the sales process is complete. To ensure this, I support customers in establishing goals for implementing Illumio, ensuring we’re driving towards those goals, and connecting them with Illumio resources and teams.  

It’s inevitable that technology evolves, initiatives change, new use cases arise, and organizations grow. I want to partner closely with our customers so they can get the most out of their Illumio investment at any stage.  

What made you interested in working at Illumio?

One of my highly respected colleagues – and current coworker – at another company transitioned to Illumio. I knew that he wouldn’t have moved unless Illumio was something special, and this intrigued me.  

I wasn’t looking for a new role, but when I read the job description for an open Customer Success Advisor role at Illumio, I felt like it jumped off the page and said, “This is for you!” It was exactly what I wanted to do.  

I’ve been in many different roles throughout my career, from sales and marketing to customer enablement and success, but my current job at Illumio feels like a perfect fit.  

What does a day in your life look like? What are you working on that excites you?

One of the best things about working at Illumio is I get to create my day. I know what I need to accomplish, and I get to plan my workday accordingly.  

Every single day involves interacting with customers. I meet regularly with customers to talk about what they’re working on, any roadblocks or challenges they’re facing, and use cases that they need Illumio for. I also meet weekly with Illumio stakeholders. This allows us to prepare for meetings with clients and solve customer challenges.  

Working with customers to accomplish their goals and resolve challenges is what drives me at work – I consider this my professional mission statement. At Illumio, we start each customer engagement with goal setting, and it’s something we do over and over again. I love getting curious with our customers, finding not only what they want to accomplish but why. This offers not only a set course for the future, but it allows both our customers and the Illumio team to see how we’ve made real progress, especially over years of working with customers. This is what really excites me about my work, getting to work and partner with customers to come up with these initiatives and drive towards them over time.  

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned so far in your role at Illumio?

The first word that comes to mind is patience. I’m very much a driver. In fact, my family calls me The Bus Driver! I’m one of those people who always knows where we’re going and how we’re going to do it.  

With customers, that’s not always easy. Oftentimes, I can see where and how we need to go, but it doesn’t mean that they’re going to do it exactly how I think. There are all sorts of things that pop up along the way, both with customers and our internal teams.  

It’s really important to me to be patient with everyone and recognize that I’m not the only person trying to make something happen. It’s all about taking a step back, seeing the bigger picture, and making sure I’m balancing what I want to accomplish with what else is happening with the customer and internally with our Illumio team.

What are you passionate about outside of your career?

One of my most favorite things is being an active volunteer for a dog rescue in Denver called the Mile High Weimaraner Rescue. I have rescued 3 Weimaraners, and there’s just something about them that speak to me. I volunteer my time to help the rescue keep their website updated, plan events, and find homes for the rescues.  

What is an Illumio core value that resonates with you?

Run to challenges is the one that stands out the most in my role. Every time I interact with a customer, there’s some type of challenge that comes up. It’s up to me to figure out how we can move past it and work with all our resources to resolve the issue – something I couldn’t do without the complete support of Illumio’s internal teams. For me, this value reminds me to treat challenges as an opportunity to solve a problem for our customers.  

What do you think people should know about working at Illumio?

The people at Illumio are fantastic. What stands out to me about my time at Illumio is the camaraderie we have with each other and the relationships I’ve built with the people throughout the company. I know that I’ll stay friends with many of my coworkers long after our time at Illumio.  

There’s an understanding at Illumio that there’s always more to learn, always ways to be better, and always a different perspective to look at. I’m fortunate to work alongside so many intelligent people who challenge me to be better every day.  

Interested in joining the team? Check out our career openings.