About the Authors

ALI GREENE AND TAMARA (TAM) SANDERSON are the cofounders of Remote Works, an organizational design and consulting firm with a mission to liberate teams from the nine-to-five and teach them how to do their best work, anytime, anywhere.

The pair have spent a combined nearly two decades in distributed environments, Ali as the former director of People Operations at DuckDuckGo and Tam as the director of strategic partnerships and corporate development at Automattic.

The duo believes that remote work skills are a requirement for managers and teams regardless of where (or what) their “office” looks like. In Remote Works, they share their firsthand experiences, interactive best practices, and lessons learned from dozens of expert interviews to make remote work actually work. To learn more about Ali and Tam, go to remoteworksbook.com.

ALI GREENE

In 2014, Ali shut the door on quintessential office life and opened the door to remote work. She didn’t know what to expect on her journey, but she knew that commuting and office culture left her little time to explore her passions. So, she traded Madison Avenue for Machu Picchu.

Ali subsequently backpacked across South America, worked in bakeries in the United States, and supported companies remotely as an HR consultant—leaning on problem-solving skills she’d acquired at Undertone, LivingSocial, and Nike. (“Failing fast” applies just as readily to decorating a cake or missing a flight abroad as it does at a start-up.)

Her remote work expertise matured when she was director of People Operations for DuckDuckGo, where she supported building their fully distributed team from 30 to nearly 100. Most recently, Ali was the former head of culture and community at Oyster. Her dedication to “The Future of Work” has been recognized in the 2022 Remote Influencer Report by Remote.

Looking back, Ali recalls a few moments that made her look at life (and work!) differently: switching grade schools taught her how to adapt; losing a family member taught her to appreciate life and have fun; living as a digital nomad taught her the beauty of new perspectives and cultures.

Ali is passionate about nontraditional career flexibility and developing meaningful communities. (She’s organized retreats in Mexico, Serbia, and France.) Outside of the “office,” Ali loves hiking, board games, and experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen.

As she often says, “Working remotely allows us to do the things that work for us. You can manage work around your lifestyle, instead of the opposite.” If you wish to connect with Ali, find her on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/greeneali.

TAMARA (TAM) SANDERSON

A college-study-abroad flyer and subsequent internet searches lured Tamara to London nearly two decades ago. It was intended to be a four-month adventure, but sometimes life has different plans. That experience transformed her from someone who thought she’d never leave Texas to a traveler. She has spent nine years as an expat, visited 70 countries, and even sailed to Antarctica—all while working full-time.

Tamara was a remote worker before she knew it had a name. She began her career as a management consultant at Oliver Wyman (where she took any international project that came her way) and as a private equity analyst at Audax Group. Later, she cut her teeth on tech and design at Google, Automattic (WordPress.com), and IDEO.

Tamara is passionate about helping others find their paths. As Joseph Campbell once said, “If you can see your path laid out in front of you step-by-step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path.”

While she’s put up her suitcase for now, she’s found new passionate projects: building a library in her 700-square-foot apartment, tending to a balcony garden, learning how to cook, making art, and getting involved in her local community.

Call her an idealist, but she truly believes that remote work can change the opportunity equation for people when they are able to fully embrace one another’s autonomy, dignity, and ingenuity.

Tamara lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is always looking for a coworking buddy. She can be found at tamarasanderson.com.