Alejandra Flores (MBA '14)
Senior Product Manager - Technical
- Works to integrate Amazon Alexa with video devices
- Is involved with recruiting at Stern for Amazon
- Has a passion for tech and entertainment
Alejandra Flores is fulfilling her dream career goal of working at the nexus of technology and entertainment. In her current role at Amazon, she is responsible for creating experiences for customers of Amazon’s Alexa to interact with their favorite video providers— such as TV and cable channels—using the Alexa Voice Assistant. She works to integrate first—and third-party video providers with Alexa so customers can use voice commands to search, browse, and control video across different devices, including Amazon Echo and Fire TV devices and third-party devices such as set-top boxes, game consoles, and smart TVs.
“I am very interested in how technology keeps changing the way we consume content,” Flores said, “and Amazon is one of the companies at the forefront of this change. I wanted to work in a company that had global reach and a strong presence outside of the US.
Being able to move around the company was one of the things that attracted me most to Amazon. In the four years I’ve been here I’ve held positions in two different functions (finance and product management) and two different organizations (Prime Video and Alexa). This has allowed me to learn about different industries, and through different perspectives.”
Flores said that having access to industry leaders through clubs and conferences helped her grow her interest in technology and narrow down the sector within tech she wanted to focus in. Flores’ initial foothold at Amazon came via a summer internship that was facilitated by Stern’s network and the Office of Career Development. Her MBA courses helped her turn that opportunity into a full-time job—and succeed. “Subjects such as strategy and marketing are directly applicable to my role as product manager, where I often have to identify customer problems and turn them into business opportunities.”
A Stern champion, Flores now helps with recruitment at Stern. “At Amazon it is very important to put customers first, and when talking to Stern students, I always like that they are able to look at problems from a customer’s point of view. They not only evaluate how a certain solution makes the most business sense, but how it adds the most value to a customer.”