For the latest instalment of Women in Commerce, we spoke to Sandy Grason, SVP Engineering at Kevel
A former entrepreneur, Sandy has moved through consultancy and coaching to end up leading an engineering team at Kevel. Knowing it can be tough for a woman in an engineering environment, she has nevertheless persevered, acknowledging that trusting in yourself, your views and your value can be the biggest challenge.
In this Q&A, Sandy discusses why, while strategic thinking and rigour may be defining factors of her career, it’s following her passions and becoming a published author that have inspired her, bringing originality to her decision-making and informing her leadership style. She acknowledges that it’s a “golden moment” for engineering – but warns that tech for tech’s sake disrupts in all the wrong ways, advocating for technology to enable human interaction.
Tell us about your role and career journey so far.
I’ve spent my career moving between entrepreneurship and enterprise leadership – always with a focus on building high‑performing teams and solving complex problems. I started out running my own businesses, which taught me urgency, resilience and how to motivate people across every level of an organisation. Over time, that evolved into consulting, coaching and eventually leading engineering and product teams for Fortune 100 companies.
Today, as SVP of Engineering at Kevel, I get to combine all of that: strategic thinking, operational rigour, and a love of building technology that genuinely helps our customers scale.
What achievement are you most proud of?
Becoming a published author. That was the biggest dream I could dream for myself at the time. At least 20 agents turned me down before I got signed and finally sold my book proposal. I thought I “made it” and of course, that was just the beginning! Building a successful business around my book, following that journey to where I am now – growing high-performing teams and creating cultures where people feel empowered, supported, and excited to do the best work of their careers. Technology is constantly changing, and having the ability to create an environment where individuals can thrive, learn something new every day, grow together, and hopefully have fun too – that continues to be an achievement that lasts.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned during your career?
Never stop learning and stay humble.
Have you faced any challenges as a woman in the industry?
Like many women in tech, I’ve had moments where I have needed to work harder to be heard or taken seriously. But I’ve also been fortunate to work with leaders who valued my perspective and gave me room to grow. The challenge, and also the opportunity, is often learning to trust your own voice even when the room feels intimidating. There’s a knowing inside each of us, the trick is getting quiet and listening to that voice (and then acting on it). I always say, my inner wisdom whispers and my inner critic yells, turning up the volume on my inner wisdom has been one of the biggest practices of my life.
What advice would you give to women looking to build a career in commerce or technology?
Don’t wait to feel ready – say yes, then figure it out. And do it in a way that feels true to you. Earlier in my career, I tried every strategy I could find to make my business successful. Some of it worked, but a lot of it felt inauthentic to me. When I finally shifted to showing up as myself (imperfect, funny, honest), something clicked. People responded to that. Sharing your whole self isn’t just more enjoyable, it’s more effective. So my advice is: build your career in a way that feels aligned with who you are. Don’t try to be someone else. Your authenticity is one of your greatest assets.
Who has inspired or influenced your career?
I’ve had so many different phases in my career, so I have lots of inspiration.
Personally, I was greatly influenced by Oprah when I was building my book business: her willingness to be open but with clear boundaries and ability to speak the truth.
Creatively, Ed Burns ‘ director’s cuts taught me so much about originality and following your passion and making things happen with or without a big budget.
Professionally, Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead has cemented my leadership style with her “clear is kind” approach to communication. I do not shy away from hard conversations and lean in to help my team get better because I know we all benefit from the willingness to grow together.
What excites you most about the future of commerce?
Commerce is becoming more personalised, more intelligent and more connected and what excites me most is the engineering leap happening underneath it all. We’re finally seeing the infrastructure, data pipelines and decisioning systems catch up to the ambitions of modern commerce.
For engineers, this is a golden moment: we get to build the foundations that make truly seamless experiences possible. The next wave isn’t just about smarter customer journeys; it’s about designing systems that can respond in real time, scale globally, and stay reliable even as complexity explodes.
What energises me is that creativity and engineering are now inseparable. The customer experience is no longer something that happens ‘on top’ of the tech stack, it is the tech stack. And building those systems, with teams who love solving hard problems, is incredibly exciting.
Ten years ago, I was an entrepreneur working in a Fortune 100 media company, and I remember pitching the idea to my boss of how we could place a ‘buy now’ button on our interface that would scrub the shows we had in syndication and allow consumers to purchase household items, clothing, furniture, etc. He thought I was crazy. Now we are seeing that technology in play and it’s really exciting for everyone.
What’s one thing you’d like to see change in the industry?
I think the industry has spent the last few years optimizing for scale and automation and forgetting that trust is the actual currency. I see it in my own feed — I’ll scroll past a polished, clearly AI-assisted ad in half a second, but I’ll stop for a shaky, unscripted video that feels like a real person talking to me. As someone who builds ad infrastructure for a living, that’s a useful reminder: the technology should be invisible. Nobody’s loyal to an algorithm.
I’d love to see more of the industry treat AI as the thing that clears the runway for authenticity and more human interactions, rather than the thing standing in for it. The tech should handle the plumbing – the targeting, the forecasting, the decisioning so that the actual creative, brand voice can stay unmistakably human. The goal isn’t to automate the human out of advertising; it’s to give humans more room to be good at the human parts.
Quick fire
Coffee or tea?
Coffee, I go to sleep excited about my first sip of coffee the next morning.
Most-used app?
Notes App – I write everything down.
Favourite AI tool?
Claude, Grok, ChatGPT, Gemini – I use them all to check each other.
A brand you admire?
Virgin – from a mail-order record retailer in 1970’s to the Virgin empire we know today encompassing over 40 companies. I love Richard Branson’s “insatiable curiosity, smart disruption, straight-up heartfelt service, delightfully surprising & red hot relevance” – these are the core values that seem to drive everything his brand does and the brand’s ability to change & grow with the times.
A woman in business everyone should follow?
Databutmakeitfashion – my perfect combination of data + fashion 🙂 Founded and run by Madé Lapuerta Harvard trained data scientist, explores the fashion industry and cultural trends through the lens of data and analytics.
One word to describe the future of commerce?
Exciting!
