Every month, we like to shine the spotlight on our team members who make the biggest difference for our subscribers. Our latest interview was with Liz Leavell, an Implementation Specialist with Liftoff! Liz is an exceptional member of our team. Come get to know all about her and her role here at Liftoff in this month’s Employee Spotlight.
Liftoff: So Liz, what brought you to Liftoff Commerce? Where did your career story begin?
Liz: In 2017, I started working with my previous employer in California. I was with them for four years as a Customer Service Rep, which eventually evolved into an eCom Admin and Onboarding role. I was assigned to develop an ecom site for an international customer and worked largely in tandem with members of the Liftoff team.
I want to say it was probably 18 months or more into the project (where we were all deep in the weeds, with early morning calls and working late into the night) when we developed a camaraderie that was long-lasting. Later on, my family and I relocated to the Atlanta area for work. Soon after, my original position was dissolved, and it felt only logical to join the Liftoff team!
Liftoff: What exactly do you do here at Liftoff?
Liz: My role at Liftoff is as an Implementation Specialist, which I love! What does that mean? Basically, it’s a little bit of everything! I’m building products in batches, creating users and budgets, and dabbling in template builds and updates. It’s all kinds of exciting.
My dad is a Master Electrician. When we’d go visit, he’d point out all the buildings he wired (I have the tour memorized). I find myself bragging in a similar way about my work with Liftoff. “Oh, you know the ‘XYZ’? Yeah, I built that!”
Liftoff: Tell me about one of your favorite platform features to work with!
Liz: Batch jobs. Man, I have a love/infatuation/fear relationship with batch jobs. It’s great because it takes what could be many days of manually creating products into probably hours or a few short days, which is a major time-saver. However, there’s always that underlying fear that I may have forgotten something important.
Liftoff: Have you had any mentors that have supported you throughout your career?
Liz: I can’t isolate just one mentor in my life because I’ve had so many! Each one has provided an important piece in my ever-evolving workplace skill set and confidence.
This list includes a New-Age hippy who ran a skincare brand I worked for that opened my vanilla-ice-cream-mind to a whole world of ideas and concepts.
Jason Alabaster from Antera is another person I would consider a mentor; he pushed me way out of my comfort zone on the regular (for the better).
Finally, I’d like to name Andrew, Kris, and Dave here at Liftoff for being a wealth of knowledge while simultaneously cultivating a safe-place environment to learn new skill sets.
Liftoff: What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? What makes you happy?
Liz: If you know me, you know my ADHD doesn’t allow me to sit still for too long.
I consider myself a pedestrian artist. I love to paint portraits that are slightly quirky of my family and friends.
Being new to Georgia, my husband, son and I are constantly building explorative mile-radius rings around our area and into ATL (and beyond really). You’ll find me camping when I get a chance. I may even try to convince you to camp with me if we talk long enough.
At the moment, I am learning my father’s family language, which is Dutch. We laugh when I speak it, as he told me I sound like John Wayne speaking Spanish. Slow and riddled with a SoCal Valley girl accent.
Additionally, I’m a terrible gardener. Thankfully the Georgia climate makes it a little easier for me.
Liftoff: Is there anything else you would like to share with our subscribers? Give some advice!
Liz: Take that step. Even if it scares you. And it will. It will amaze you what opportunity opens when you do!