WIB-Seattle Leadership Spotlight: Breana Murphy

Breana Murphy
WIB-Seattle Chapter Chair Emeritus

Breana Murphy has been a WIB-Seattle member for over five years and has served in multiple positions on the board. She was the Membership Chair from June 2019 through the end of 2020, then served as the Chapter Vice Chair for six months. She then led WIB-Seattle as Chapter Chair from June 2021 through the end of 2023. 

Breana heard about WIB-Seattle right as she was finishing her bachelor’s in physiology from the University of Washington. “I was a senior in college, and I was job hunting for the first time. I was looking for some kind of professional association since I knew I always wanted to build a career that blended science and business,” she said. “I started following the WIB-Seattle LinkedIn group, and soon after, one of the current board members reached out to me to see if I wanted to join. I didn’t join right away, though. I wanted to wait until I had more professional experience, but I wish I had gotten involved right away instead of thinking I had to have years of experience in order to have something to bring to the community.”

A few years later, while working at NanoString Technologies, Breana made a New Year’s resolution to start networking more actively and got a jump start by attending WIB-Seattle’s 2018 winter social. “I went through the first few years of my career feeling like I didn’t have a good sense of who the major players were in the local life science community or a network of other folks working in the industry that I could confide in outside of work,” she said. “I circled back to WIB because it had always been on my radar. I remember driving around the block a few times before attending that first event, wondering if I should actually go in, since it was outside of my comfort zone.” Not only did Breana attend that event, but she quickly found herself volunteering. Starting with the Membership Committee, she quickly rose through the ranks of the leadership board. “I used my time spent with WIB to build a community based on camaraderie and shared experience working in the same industry to enrich my professional life,” she said. 

As if running the WIB-Seattle chapter wasn’t enough on her plate, Breana also enrolled in the University of Washington’s MBA program and completed her degree in June 2022. “I was always interested in the strategic and financial motivations behind the life science industry, and I wanted to build a more formal business foundation to help pivot into a different role. What I didn’t fully grasp before starting the program was how vital networking was going to be to the experience, but because I’d started building that skill set already, I quickly started exploring various alternate career paths, which is how I decided to transition to Product Management,” she said. While balancing her MBA and the Chapter Chair position, Breana transitioned from a Clinical Research Associate role at NanoString to a Product Manager. “Because I got a lot more comfortable through WIB meeting with people and doing informational interviews through WIB and my MBA experience, I was more confident internally networking while seeking out a new role,” she said. Breana also credits her leadership experience in WIB with helping her build confidence and learn the skills she needed to make her career transition. “Product Management is a high-visibility role and involves giving presentations to senior management and large groups of people. Since I was in WIB and on the board, I was able to practice those skills in a lower-risk environment, and I got more comfortable putting myself in uncomfortable situations,” she said.

As a Product Manager, Breana has focused on developing her own brand. “I’m a geek for different types of strengths tests and have my Clifton Strength Finders test results set to my desktop background,” she said. Her top five strengths are 1) activator, 2) communication, 3) strategic, 4) winning others over, and 5) developer of others. “For example, I’m often told I’m known for producing creative presentations and my storytelling ability is one of my main differentiators, especially in such a technical field. I’ve also heard from other folks that I shouldn’t put so much effort into my presentations, and ‘It doesn’t matter if they’re pretty,’” she said. “I’ve spent a lot of time learning how to know an opinion when I see it and decide whether it’s worth listening to or not. At the end of the day, you’re going to be most successful when you lean into your strengths. I personally use creative communications for strategically influencing decisions and building relationships. Whatever quality it is that brings unique value to your role, make that part of your brand.”

Breana’s strengths mean she can apply herself more broadly than a traditional scientist’s role in the industry. “I want to create bridges between different groups of people and help solve important problems,” she said. “That could be so many things. I love product management because it’s so diverse and touches so many functional areas, but I’m not attached to just one title. In fact, I don’t put much stock into creating a strict 5-year plan. I’m more focused on roles that let me leverage my strengths in situations where my values align with the company mission.”

So, what’s Breana’s advice for those just starting their career or those who just joined WIB? “Make yourself as physically present as you can!” she said. “It’s going to networking events outside of your workplace. Show up and be seen. Offer to meet someone for coffee. It’s so rare that someone will say no. People are looking to make connections in Seattle, so be an activator.”

Breana certainly knows what it takes to be an activator. She said her proudest achievement during her time on the WIB board was successfully coaching the board on the importance of succession planning and recruiting new board members. “We’re at a point now where I see our leadership team, and every role has turned over, which is so important for board health,” she said. “Everyone who was on the board during COVID has rolled off or is in a different role. It was so hard to recruit volunteers during the pandemic, so I’m proud that we’ve been able to keep up our engagement so well, so we can continue to provide WIB’s important services to the community.”

WIB-Seattle simply would not be the same without Breana’s steadfast leadership throughout the years. We can’t thank her enough for all of the hours she has put into overseeing events, facilitating sponsorships, recruiting new members and volunteers, and leading the chapter to create an outstanding network of professional women in the life sciences in the Seattle area. Thank you, Breana!

Submitted by Mariana Huben