This one is definitely inspired by my sentimental side…which would totally make this girl gag.

As I mentioned the other day, typically, my goal with feature pieces is to focus on clients and leaders in my industry; however, I believe this girl deserves a shout-out of her own. She’s definitely an up-and-coming digital marketing/e-commerce leader and let me tell you: she gets shit done. This girl has been a huge motivator to me as well as an inspiration.

So…who is she?

Stef* is my roommate and very dear friend, which is why this piece may be a little too heart-felt…today will be our last day as roommates. We met over a year ago as just wee interns and hit it off right away. It helped that we were both also in the market for a roommate…so once we went full-time, we got an apartment together.

Stef’s academic background is actually in accounting but since graduation, has been working with her mom in e-commerce. The two of them manage some awesome beauty stores (contact me for more information), where she started focusing heavily on digital marketing and has since been given more and more responsibility with their company…which brings me to my next point about why she’s so amazing: She’s basically working two full-time jobs. She left her Social Media Manager position back in the fall and has been working for a local app start-up here as her “9-5.” Then, she drives home and continues to work until bed time on her e-commerce business. She works most Saturdays and heads home to meet with her mom and continue to work on Sundays. She’s basically unstoppable.

If you get Stef talking about her business…well, she’ll either lose you with impressive jargon or just impress you with her wealth of knowledge, if you can keep up. I’ve learned a lot from Stef because she is a pro at the “numbers” side of digital marketing and overall, has more experience than I do. She’s smart and focused, which is why she has so much responsibility at both of her jobs…and why her e-commerce business is booming (by the way, if you want to check out her website, click this!).

…Oh, and did I mention that on top of two jobs, she’s also raising a puppy? 

In short, Stef is pretty amazing and I’m going to miss living with her. We feed off of each others’ focused energy when we work together at home. The TV may be on but the dogs are relaxing and we’re at the kitchen table, eyes glued to our computers. She also introduced me to the wondrous Levenger Planner…so she’s legitimately changed my life.

Working with Stef is not only productive but fun. But don’t get me wrong, while she’s definitely borderline workaholic (that’s a compliment coming from me, by the way), she knows when to play hard! I’ve learned a lot from Stephanie over the last year but I’ve also had a lot of fun going out and getting to know her better as well, which is just as important. It’s been a crazy year for both of us and to be cliche, it’s totally flown by. It’ll be weird not living with her but Stef has some amazing goals for the coming year, and I know (and she knows!) that she can achieve them.

* Name has been changed for confidentiality reasons.