Author
October 21, 2022
Our inherently cool Creative Director, Alexa Gentry painted a picture (pun-intended) for me of the exciting work she has found at Digibee as her team continues to build the creative department from the ground up.
Why Digibee?
Let’s be honest, some of our best professional opportunities come from others reaching out to recruit us. Those are win-win situations; because someone is not only advocating for their workplace, but they are also telling you directly they have confidence in your skills and want to work with you. This was the case for Alexa. A colleague who believed in her work, directed her to an opportunity here that she may not have sought out herself and told her “if this is what you want to do, I know you can do it well.” She took the chance, and what she found was an avenue to further her professional journey that has inspired and challenged her every day.
Now, several months in at Digibee, she feels really sure about the steps she has taken, how she fits in the role, and to her delight, it’s actually been a natural progression for her. Alexa has been amazed to find that her upbringing factored in to setting her up for success in this role. She is the product of a blended family, with two sets of supportive parents, and feels that “each one has poured a solid pillar of themselves into me.” I’m over simplifying, but she explained a little about each one and the impact they had on her: creativity from her stepmother, process and workflow from her father, leadership and management from her mother, negotiation and confidence from her stepfather.
She also attributes developing her management skills from the mentors around her at Digibee, saying “I’m learning how to manage people from great managers…I love that I’ll be able to mentor the designers working with me.” I found this particular sentiment striking, because in my own experiences, I have always found that the best managers are the ones that truly want to be mentors.
Life at Digibee
Alexa is an artist, and has genuinely enjoyed the somewhat blank canvas (see what I did there?) that comes with a young company. She loves that she can awaken her creative mind and get it “working in such a different way than it had been with more traditional agency work” Alexa said. For an artist, having the creative space to explore, expand, and change is not just empowering, it’s freeing.
The challenge, Alexa noted, is “getting comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Meaning, there’s a lot to develop and put in place to really flesh out the creative side of Digibee. Alexa appreciates that she is surrounded by the kind of team that she is comfortable asking and growing with, but she recognizes there’s a lot of growing to do. Alexa is also confident that her team is not just up to the challenge, they are eager for it, she noted the unique opportunity in front of them, “career-wise being at the ground level is so exciting.”
The Future Ahead
Probably my favorite part of the interview was hearing Alexa’s enthusiasm and passion about Digibee’s future. She loves design, she loves the work, and she is confident Digibee is about to reach great heights; that the brand will be positioned to compete with the big names of the industry because it has great people and a great product. For Alexa, there is something unique and exceptional about being a part of that. She said, “I can’t wait to stand in front of Digibee in the next 6 months and say ‘we did that.’ Being enabled to move that quickly to get this brand in a place that you HAVE TO pay attention to it. That I get to be part of that, as a designer, is such a huge thing.”
Alexa is driven by several goals. Internally, she wants to help make the Creative Operations department a powerhouse brand entity that is not only accessible to our whole team, but easy to work with and utilize. She also believes it is genuinely a great place to work, and wants to see people “fighting to come work for us.” Externally, she wants to continue pushing Digibee forward to not just be a recognized brand in North America, but also a leader in the integration space. Alexa believes we are putting all the right building blocks in place to achieve each of these goals.
Balancing Work & Life at Digibee
From our initial meeting to our interview, I could just tell Alexa has an artist’s soul. She found her calling with design – and you can see it’s the perfect fit for her. Even when she’s not working, she’s always in touch with her creativity, doing something tactile and constantly creating.
Alexa labeled herself as a “serial hobbyist” and admits that although she “doesn’t necessarily rock everything” she’s up for trying just about anything. From landscaping to metal engraving to learning to ride a motorcycle. Now, Alexa and her husband can give their creative spirits and hobbies a fresh new take as parents to their 3 year old son, Liam (like using her skills to build him a play set)! Their nights and weekends are full of do-it-yourself house projects, camping, teaching Liam to ride his own motorbike, and sword fighting the family bulldog, Piggy. They are enjoying this new lens – experiencing life again through Liam’s eyes.
Meeting all these inspiring Digibees like Alexa has truly been a highlight for me every week! Keep reading our employee series to learn more about this incredible team of people working to bring Digibee’s innovative enterprise integration solution forward in the US and globally.
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