E266 | From Concert Halls to Boardrooms: Turning Seemingly Unrelated Skills into Customer Success Strengths with Marija Skobe-Pilley

CHURN FM

Today on the show, we have Marija Skobe-Pilley, Co-Founder and Director of Fractional SaaS and host of the Women in Customer Success podcast.

In this episode, Marija shares her incredible journey from a professional musician to a leader in customer success. We explore how she turned seemingly unrelated skills from her music career into strengths in customer success, applying talents like discipline, project management, and audience engagement to build strong client relationships and drive business growth.

We also discuss the challenges of making major career transitions, how to recognize transferable skills, and how Marija positioned herself for leadership roles in customer success. Finally, we dive into the rise of portfolio careers and how Marija is embracing this model to balance consulting, coaching, and personal projects.

Mentioned Resources

• Fractional SaaS
• NVIDIA
• Women in Success Podcast
• Catalyst
• ClickUp

Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.

Chapters

1. Introduction and Career Beginnings (00:00:00)

2. From Music to Business: The Pivot (00:04:29)

3. Applying Musical Skills to Project Management (00:08:07)

4. Breaking Into Customer Success (00:11:51)

5. Accelerating Her Career in Customer Success (00:17:16)

6. The Shift to Consulting and Portfolio Careers (00:20:42)

7. Building a Personal Brand and Attracting Clients (00:24:07)

8. Lessons in Retention and Churn (00:34:09)