On the Job

At any business, you usually talk to a multitude of people every day, usually the same people you’ve talked to a million times before. Have you ever wondered about the hopes, dreams and aspirations of those phantom people behind the phone or card? Maybe they’re excellent tuba players, maybe they can eat a whole box of corn dogs in one sitting, or maybe they once built a hovercraft from scratch. (That’s right – some of us have weird hobbies.)

Or maybe you haven’t wondered. Anyhow, we’re introducing a new feature to our blog: the bi-weekly Luscious Verde employee profile. You may talk to us on the phone every day, or you may see our name on the “Made By” tag that comes with each order – but we’d like you to know a little more – whether you care or not.



Takin’ Care of Business – The Story of Liz Oakes

On a common day, operations manager Liz Oakes puts out fires (not literally) and generally makes sure that the behemoth juggernaut that is Luscious Verde keeps on running smoothly. She also drinks a lot of tea and makes sure our lead designer Jason doesn’t play too much vulgar music that can be heard over the phone.

Originally hailing from Chicago, she attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville because she “wanted to go somewhere where I didn’t know anyone,” she says. Her parents were supportive of the move. “Once you make friends, college gets easier. I loved Nashville,” she says.

After graduation, she moved to Cleveland with her boyfriend, who studies biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Sorry fellas!

One fateful day, she saw an ad on Craig’s List for an artistic production worker at Luscious Verde. Bored with her then-job at a rental car company, she decided to apply and was accepted instantly.

“Everything we gave her to do, she did it so fast. It was wonderful,” says Wendy, co-owner of Luscious Verde. “At that time, there was basically no training, but she learned really fast.”

Liz recently celebrated her two-year anniversary at Luscious Verde and was treated to a delectable all-expense-paid lunch at Bravo. She has an amazing memory, loves olives, and she tends to shy away from the human touch. Until recently, she didn’t know the difference between the producer Dr. Dre and the co-host of “Yo! MTV Raps!” – also named Dr. Dre.



ALL ABOUT LIZ

Sign: Aquarius
Favorite food: Pizza with pepperoni and mushrooms
Favorite Journey song: “Don’t Stop Believin’”
Favorite office supply: “My giant red Sharpie.”
Favorite Monkee: “I don’t know any Monkees except Davy Jones.”
Favorite rapper: Chingy

(Part of this interview was conducted through assistant operations manager Lindsay Bruner.)



-- Rob @ L.V.