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ABBYY Spotlight: Larysa Lototska, Director of Customer Success, North America
October 27, 2021
Larysa Lototska hasn’t only been climbing the corporate ladder at ABBYY, she also spends her spare time climbing cliffs, mountains, and boulder walls, including the one she built in her home during lockdown! Her hobby has taken her to the top of the tallest peak on the East Coast (Mount Washington), which she scaled along with her husband and two children.
But the sport isn’t her only passion—she also loves her job at ABBYY and has a few other hobbies to keep her busy. Learn more about Larysa, including her role at ABBYY and some top pieces of advice, below.
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What attracted you to ABBYY, and what is your role?
Three things attracted me to ABBYY: people, culture, technologies. ABBYY is an amazing combination of great leadership and teamwork. It means a lot to me personally, because I am a part of a team where we live by the motto “one for all and all for one”. Also, ABBYY’s advanced Intelligent Automation technologies amaze me every day.
I am Director of Customer Success North America and am based 30 miles from Boston, Massachusetts. Customer Success means going above and beyond for our clients. Our goal is to make sure that customers have a great experience with ABBYY’s products and services. Helping customers, seeing their success and how thankful they are—these are the most exciting parts of my job.
What was your previous experience before ABBYY?
I’ve been with ABBYY since 2004, so basically, I ‘grew up’ professionally here. I started at an ABBYY office in Eastern Europe and later, when my family moved to the USA, I continued my career with the company. In a previous position, as a Technical Product Marketing Manager for the software development kit (SDK) team, I was responsible for technical product marketing activities for ABBYY FineReader. Prior to that, I was a Technology Licensing Manager.
Your top advice to someone working in your field?
- Treat your customer as you would like to be treated.
- Listen and try to understand what problem your customer is trying to solve, and proactively provide solutions and answers.
- Enjoy what you are doing! We spend a huge part of our life at work, so if we do not enjoy what we are doing, it’s a straight path to feeling miserable.
Do you have any hobbies or fun interests?
I treasure every minute I spend with my family. My son’s climbing competitions and soccer games were a very important part of my life before he left for college. My daughter, who is now a high school junior, keeps us entertained with her dance competitions.
I also have a few hobbies to give me a healthy work-life balance. Sport Climbing (a form of rock climbing) provides great physical and mental exercise. I am thankful to my husband, who introduced me to this sport. I’m also an experienced US Sport Climbing judge.
As a family we hiked to the top of the two tallest peaks in the White Mountains—Mount Washington, elevation 6,288 feet (1,917 m) and Mount Adams, elevation 5,774 feet (1,760 m). During the pandemic, when all gyms and outdoor climbing places were closed, we built our own home bouldering wall in our backyard to practice. It was a game changer for us through a difficult lockdown.
My two other hobbies are more relaxing. I absolutely love egg painting using old beeswax and color dyeing techniques. It’s an art called "pysanka" in Ukraine. I also love embroidery, mainly cross stitching. I decorate traditional Ukrainian clothes and make embroidery pictures.
If you had one wish come true, what would it be?
I lost my mom to a very aggressive and untreatable cancer. If I had one wish, it would be to create a magic pill to cure any kind of cancer.
What’s your pet peeve?
People lying. My parents taught me many good life lessons—and one was to never lie. My dad used to say, “Sooner or later the truth will be uncovered, and you will be in a much worse situation than if you stated the truth at the beginning”.
It also bothers me when I hear anyone say, “I do not know how to do this”. When I was a child, my mom never accepted the answer “I do not know”. She used to always ask, “What have you tried to complete this task?”. Now I understand that it was a valid question as part of the learning process, a way to move forward.