Every month, we like to shine the spotlight on our team members who make the biggest difference for our subscribers. This month, we interviewed Alyssa Alford, our Marketing Intern! Read more about Alyssa and her purpose at Liftoff in this Q&A-style interview.
Liftoff: What brings you to Liftoff?
Alyssa: Since 2011, I’ve dedicated my time to the creation and growth of multiple large accounts across Twitter and Instagram, giving me a soft spot for digital marketing. Most of my education involves marketing, however, I’ve bounced between psychology and anthropology as well. These three subjects are all applicable to each other, and I have found the combined knowledge especially useful in marketing.
Anthropology is the study of human cultures, societies, and development, while psychology focuses on the inner workings of the mind. Possessing the understanding of how people are likely to think, feel, behave, and therefore purchase, helps me better position my message to my audience. An emotional response is key to marketing and engagement.
After years of working in food service coupled with an intense regimen of schoolwork, I joined Liftoff in July of 2022 as their marketing intern. I’m very grateful to Liftoff for taking a chance on someone a year out from their degree, and I strive every day to show that this risk was worthwhile. I still have a good bit to learn, but the opportunities this job has afforded me have been nothing less than monumental.
Liftoff: What do you do here? What do you enjoy the most?
Alyssa: As a marketer, I spend my days generating content, researching market trends and techniques, and writing articles for our blog. I enjoy writing, and I always have! Zoning into my research and writing and tuning out the world provides a sanctuary that somehow manages to hold my ADHD hostage and keeps me focused.
As an artist, I view words in the same way I do paint. You can throw a bunch of colors onto a canvas, but that doesn’t necessarily make it art. Matching and complementing your colors can create something truly visually interesting. The same goes for writing; it’s an art! Finding the right word to complement the next is a challenge that can take your work to the next level.
Liftoff: Alyssa, what’s your favorite thing about the platform?
Alyssa: Hands down, I want to tout the ease of using Liftoff. Setup, navigation, data storage, and design are painless. Even as someone who is new to B2B-focused ecommerce, I am easily able to use this platform – even features as powerful as Records and Webhooks! I would consider Liftoff’s intuitive nature to be one of the biggest selling points of the platform.
Liftoff: Tell me what interests you.
Alyssa: Outside of work, I bounce between a few hobbies. I paint when I can find the time, but these days I often end up mindlessly doodling for hours on end. Although I enjoy making art, more of my free time goes to video games! At the moment, I’m attempting to work my way through replaying the Resident Evil series before the end of October.
I love to cook as well; I’ve recently begun to focus on gluten-free meals due to an allergy. My changed perspective on food in general has pushed me to spend more time in the kitchen, essentially relearning how to cook. Another of my biggest interests is history: I love collecting knowledge and sharing it when I can! History is a vital part of being human; our cultures and our pasts shape society and bring us together.
Liftoff: Do you have any inspirational life or career experiences you would like to share?
Alyssa: Burnout is a very real thing. After spending most of my college career trying to handle a full-time job with full-time classes, I quickly learned that sometimes space to breathe is necessary! At the end of 2021, four shaky years of college later, and a few classes short of graduation, I made the tough decision to put my education on the back burner and focus on work. The pressure of juggling both school and work proved too much for me to handle at the time, and money was short. But that’s okay! Being a perfectionist by nature, it took some time to give myself credit for making such a difficult call. As I watched my younger classmates graduate before me, I felt like I was falling behind my peers in education, success, and in life in general. I was waiting tables as I had for five years, which is a good, honest job, but it began to seem as though my life goals would never come to fruition. So, I began to think forward. Why not use this opportunity to hunt for jobs in marketing and give myself the real-world learning experience that college could never offer?
I finally landed at Liftoff and can confidently say that taking that time off from school was exactly what I needed. I have gained more knowledge of marketing in my four months at Liftoff than I did in my four years of higher education, and I am far happier with what I am doing now. I can always resume my education when I’m ready, but I still have room to learn and grow in this space that I’m in.
When life is getting you down, sometimes a change is necessary. If you’re anything like me, you might have to remind yourself that if you keep getting lost on the path you planned to take, maybe you’re on the wrong road.
Liftoff: Do you have any parting thoughts for the audience?
Alyssa: Treat yourself with the same supportive patience that you would give to someone you care about. We all err, and we all judge ourselves more harshly than we should. In your self-patience, be encouraging as well. You are capable of more than you know, and sometimes it just takes a little push to figure that out.
We spend our lives learning from the mistakes and successes we experience, and we all experience life in different ways. As hard as it sounds, strive to not compare your triumphs to others. No matter who you are, there’s a likelihood that someone in your life will always appear to be doing “better.” Someone else’s success does not devalue yours. Everyone has a unique set of circumstances that might affect their place in life. Just because you aren’t in first place right now, that doesn’t mean you can’t take the lead!