Meet Liz!
Matter is an immersive community. From the moment I walked in the door two weeks ago, I quickly learned this is a space that enables its culture to thrive. Entrepreneurs really do eat the jelly beans in our kitchen to fuel “flaring” brainstorm sessions. The post-its on the whiteboards are filled with feedback and tell real stories of “fail forward” moments. The mindsets posted on the wall are helpful reminders that are a part of the regular vernacular of most everyone who walks in the space from our media partners, to speakers, the Matter team, and entrepreneurs.
In my role as Office Manager, I’ll spend time ensuring the Matter space continues to support this amazing culture but I’ll also be looking inward to what lies beneath the post-its and design thinking posters to the pipes and systems of how our internal systems function. I’m inspired to get in the weeds of how things work, to “fail forward”, and to use the design thinking process to prototype and iterate on Matter operations. I am also excited to share what I have learned with our 35+ portfolio companies as they set up their own companies and processes.
Exploring systems and structures may sound boring but this is the type of stuff that excites me. I studied International Development and Urban Planning at UCLA, focusing on transportation design and parking payment structure (I told you the “boring” is thrilling to me). I then spent my first few post-college gigs working on political campaigns. Then, after a couple of long years in home appraisal compliance and operations, I decided to make a cultural change and dive into the start-up world. For the last four years, I ran Space and HR operations for an EdTech startup that uses design thinking to help school districts personalize learning for their students. That’s why I was excited for this opportunity at Matter because design thinking is not only a framework we talk about, it is ingrained in the practice and culture of being a part of the Matter community. It’s the structure we use to push forward human-centric, ground-up, proactive, and creative prototypes.
Outside the Matter world, my home space is an expression of my creative and maker side. I spend my weekends building, crafting, and making prototypes of projects that might not make it outside my living room workshop (just like some of the prototypes our entrepreneurs test) but are worth the creative expression. At any given point, I have a multi-medium project going with a podcast blaring from my headphones and a record playing over the speaker. I’ll likely take a break to run in the park (Oh, another fun fact — I ran my first half marathon last month!) and then will go see a show. I’m stoked to bring all these facets of who I am into the Matter world.
I’m looking forward to seeing you all here at Matter, hearing your feedback, and learning from you all so we can all make the prototype that is Matter an ever growing expression of our vibrant community!
Matter supports entrepreneurs building scalable media ventures that create a more informed, connected, and empowered society. We invest seed capital and provide intensive support through our human-centered, prototype-driven start-up accelerator in San Francisco. Learn more by reading stories from our entrepreneurs, partners, and us and watching our latest video about the accelerator experience.