This Alumni Spotlight brings us to the land down under, where we recently spoke with Cosette Paneque, a former ModSquad project manager who spent three years with the company. Cosette describes how she took the many skills she honed at ModSquad and brought them to Australia, where she’s doing important work for a national non-profit and additional rewarding work for a community-management firm.

What was your background prior to ModSquad?

Prior to joining ModSquad, I was working as an office manager. The owner had let me take on the management of their website and I was really enjoying that. I was also in the process of returning to college to complete my degree.

What brought you to ModSquad?

I stumbled across the ModSquad website one day and recognized some of the images as being from Second Life, where ModSquad has a virtual office. I was in Second Life at the time and I really loved it. When I explored the website further and learned that ModSquad helped manage events and places in Second Life, I thought that was really cool and that I’d like to be doing that. I had a good job and wasn’t looking to make a change, but I bookmarked the ModSquad website.

Why did you join ModSquad? 

I decided to return to college and finish my degree. That required a more flexible schedule than the Monday-through-Friday, 9-to-5 job I was working. I revisited the ModSquad website and I liked the idea of working from home and setting my own hours. And the work seemed fun and interesting.

What were your thoughts as you worked for ModSquad?

I couldn’t believe my luck. I worked from home, set my own hours, and worked with amazing clients and great people on some fantastic projects.

I’m bilingual and began doing Spanish-language live-chat moderation on Facebook games, which was fun, and I quickly moved into a variety of work and project management. My teams moderated content on websites, forums, and social media, translated content for games and virtual worlds, and managed regions in Second Life. I count myself lucky for having worked for ModSquad. It was career changing.

Another enjoyable aspect of working for ModSquad was the relationships. Despite working remotely from home and rarely (if ever) meeting face-to-face, we connected online and in Second Life. We got together, threw virtual parties, talked over our computers, and had fun. I made a few friends at ModSquad and I still keep in touch with them.

What did you learn from ModSquad?

The most important thing I learned was how to manage people. At ModSquad, I went from a Mod to a project manager. When you become a manager, you’re not only managing a project, you’re also managing people to get the best out of them for your project. My teams and my own managers taught me a lot about what it means to be a good manager and a good leader.

How was it working with the other project managers?

I learned a tremendous amount from my project managers. I learned how to be direct and strategic and I learned about processes and how to manage projects, clients, and teams. It wasn’t always easy. In fact, sometimes it was really hard! Ultimately, I found that I was always supported. When I didn’t know how to reach out, my managers and other bosses reached out to me.

What skills did you take away from your time here at ModSquad that you wound up using on later jobs?

I moved to Australia in 2012. By then, I had acquired a lot of valuable skills and I was well rounded as a community manager. I had worked on websites, forums, social media, and virtual worlds for a variety of clients including Kabam, Change.org, Warner Bros., the U.S. Army, and Animal Jam. Among my best skills are developing strategy and governance for online communities.

I’m still living in Australia and have completed my degree in English and Women’s Studies. Since my time at ModSquad, I’ve continued learning about community management and the ever-changing online culture. Today I manage the online community for Breast Cancer Network Australia and also work for a specialist online community management company.

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