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From Accidental Head of Support to CEO: Kateryna Shelest on Owning Your Path
🎙️ Voices of Support — Episode 5 Recap
In this episode of Voices of Support, we sit down with Kateryna Shelest — now CEO and Co-Founder of Katico — whose support journey started not as an agent but as a surprise Head of Support. With no prior experience, she built a full CS department from scratch, figured things out on the fly, and eventually stepped back into agent shoes before climbing again.
Kateryna’s story is a rare blend of scrappiness, self-awareness, and systems thinking — with plenty of leadership lessons along the way.
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🚀 From “Wait… I’m Head of Support?” to Building the Team from Scratch
Kateryna didn’t apply for leadership — she got thrown into it. Starting from an Office Manager role, she suddenly found herself managing a growing support team with no playbook. But she turned curiosity into capability.
“I didn’t know what good looked like. So I built what felt right — with my team as my compass.”
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💡 Learning Leadership the Hard Way (and Finding Her Style)
In a high-pressure e-commerce environment with toxic management above her, Kateryna learned by doing — and by listening. She slowly moved from rigid control to supportive leadership, focused on autonomy, clarity, and psychological safety.
“My job wasn’t to control everything. It was to help people know what matters — and trust them to own it.”
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🔁 From Head of to Agent — and Back Again
After burning out, Kateryna couldn’t land a new Head of Support role. So she went back to being an agent. The experience humbled her, grounded her, and made her a better leader the second time around.
“I understood the job in a new way — and stopped expecting the wrong things from agents.”
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🎰 Real Talk: What It’s Like to Support Gambling Customers
Support in the gambling industry comes with emotional customers, high-volume chats, and unexpected challenges. Kateryna shares how empathy, humor, and strong systems help agents stay grounded.
“Sometimes players called just to chat. And we couldn’t hang up.”
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🧩 Beyond the Help Desk: Why Support Is a System
Now at Katico, Kateryna helps companies rethink support infrastructure — not as a reactive inbox, but as a connected part of the business. Her mission? Make support intuitive for agents, not just efficient for leadership.
“You don’t build support tools for dashboards. You build them for the people doing the work.”
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🪴 Career Advice for Agents Who Want More
Whether you’re an agent wondering what’s next or a manager trying to grow your team, Kateryna reminds us: there’s no one right path.
“Support isn’t just agent → supervisor → manager. If you stay curious, you’ll see how much more is possible.”
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📣 Want to be a guest on Voices of Support?
If you’ve worked on the frontlines of support and have a story to share, we’d love to feature you:
Thanks again to Kateryna for sharing her story, her wisdom, and her energy with us.
— Thibaut 🦊