Former Disneyland Paris Princess to Executive Assistant to Max Levchin, Lia Ballard talks about her journey to becoming the Executive Support Manager & Founder of the Employee Resource Group (ERG) Black @ Affirm. From highlighting the thought process that led her to a career as an Executive Assistant to discussing her promotional path to becoming the Executive Support Manager, Lia takes us through a review of her career highlights and shares her advice for how others can strategically position themselves for their own promotions. Lia also sheds light on the potential career paths that are available to Executive Assistants and validates how accomplished the Executive Assistant role is, in and of itself. Whether you’re looking to grow into a Chief of Staff, Administrative Manager or Project Manager, Lia provides practical advice to Executive Assistants on how to realize your own career growth goals and morph into the Executive Assistant you’ve always wanted to be. 

From Livefyre to Elf to Juul, Kristin Beatham talks about what it’s like to work as an Executive Assistant at a high-growth startup, specifically what to expect, how it’s different than a non-startup company, how to pace yourself for the marathon and the importance of practicing gratitude, while also laughing over some of the more novel start-up perks (hint: glitter bombs, donuts and break dancers!). Kristin has spent the better part of her career working for multiple high-growth startups and, in addition to supporting CEOs and Founders, has also led international office expansions and operational rollouts. Kristin challenges listeners to get real with themselves about their motivation for working in a startup, in her words, “chase the experience, not the dollars!”

Diversity and Inclusion is a hot topic. There are a lot of people who feel passionately about D&I as a value and a virtue but aren’t really sure how to activate that within their role or career, other than it being a personal and ethical priority. Lauren Pelusi, Executive Assistant at Instacart, talks to us about the ways in which she has used the Executive Assistant role as a platform to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace and in doing so, walks us through her experiences at SurveyMonkey, Adobe and now Instacart. Whether it’s recognizing hiring biases, creating workshops for minorities, helping to awaken the perspective of her executives, or developing employee resource groups, Lauren offers real ways that you too can service your D&I goals through your Executive Assistant role. Ultimately, Lauren encourages the tech community to continue its evolution and to attract a more diverse population of employees.