Amaia Arruabarrena - Former Executive Assistant to the CEO of ezCater

Amaia · 0:00

Hi, I'm Amaia Arruabarrena, and today's leadership quote comes from Adam Grant. It's the most meaningful way to succeed is to help others succeed.

Speaker 3 · 0:14

The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, game-changing leader assistants.

Jeremy · 0:29

Are you tasked with ordering food for your office? Let me tell you about Easy Cater. With over 100,000 restaurants to choose from nationwide and 24-7 customer support, Easy Cater helps assistants like you and me succeed at work and makes our lives easier. Visit easycater.com/leaderassistant to find out more. Hey friends, welcome to The Leader Assistant Podcast. It's your host, Jeremy Burrows, and it's episode 253. You can check out the show notes at leaderassistant.com/253, leaderassistant.com/253. Today, I'm very excited because I have a special guest from my sponsor, Easy Cater, Amaia Arruabarrena. Amaia is a former executive assistant to the CEO of Easy Cater and now director of DEI and Operations. Amaia, welcome to the show.

Amaia · 1:27

Thanks so much, Jeremy. I'm very excited to be here today. Thanks for having me.

Jeremy · 1:32

Yeah, you're welcome. What part of the world are you in?

Amaia · 1:35

I'm in New York City.

Jeremy · 1:37

Love it. I just went to New York City with my family. Spent a few days there, did a little bit of tourist stuff and a lot of walking around, and it was beautiful.

Amaia · 1:48

It's a good time of year for it. That's good. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Jeremy · 1:51

Thanks. Tell us a little bit about you personally. Do you have kids, dogs, pets, hobbies?

Amaia · 1:59

No children, no human children. I have a sphinx cat named Dobby, or a sphinx otherwise known as a naked cat, whose name is Dobby. If you can't tell from that, I'm a big Harry Potter fan. That was the inspo for his name. Then I also have a husky named Sasha, who are their best friends and they keep me entertained and very busy. They're fun to have. As far as hobbies go, I'm very active. That was one of the reasons behind wanting to get a husky was I run a lot. She makes a great running partner and she keeps me very active and outside. Active, I've been learning to play the piano over the last couple of years. I love music, so music in all forms of dance to my whole life. So big into learning to play music, but also listening to it, dancing, and then also love in my downtime and when I'm able to relax watching movies. I'm a big movie person and all the movies except for horror. I'm kind of a chicken.

Jeremy · 3:09

I like movies, but I'm like, yeah, I like the suspense thrillers, but I don't like the ones that are like, you know, super, you know, gory and whatever, and then super like making you jump every two seconds. I don't like that.

Amaia · 3:23

Yes. Same.

Jeremy · 3:25

Well, what's so speaking of movies, what's one of your favorite ones you've seen lately?

Amaia · 3:30

Oh, my gosh. Have you seen Past Lives? It came out earlier this year.

Jeremy · 3:34

I don't think so.

Amaia · 3:35

Oh, it's phenomenal. That one. That's a really good one. It's about, well, I don't want to give it away because it really is such a-

Jeremy · 3:43

I'll put it on my list.

Amaia · 3:44

I'll put it on my list. But it's about a girl who had a friend. She was born in Korea, had a friend there that she made, and then her family moved to the United States, I think when she was middle school age, and it's about their journey, her journey reconnecting with him and her life in the United States and that path. And it's phenomenal. If you have a chance, definitely check it out.

Jeremy · 4:08

Yeah, definitely. Add it to my list right now. Awesome. Well, Amaia, speaking of journey, I'd love to hear your story and tell us a little bit about how you ended up at Easy Cater, and then specifically how you ended up as an executive assistant.

Amaia · 4:27

Sure. My story is a bit unconventional, and it's a little windy, but I like to tell it this way because I think it, one, is a testament to the phenomenal company that Easy Cater is and also contributes a lot to the work that I do, and diversity, equity, and inclusion really ties into that as well. And one of the reasons that I'm so passionate about that work, I have loved having the opportunity to do that work. And so I'm originally from Las Vegas. I was born and raised there. I'm half first generation. So my mother is from the United States, and my father immigrated to the States when he was 19. And neither of my parents, they actually met in Alaska in karate class and ended up in Las Vegas. Wow, that's random. I know. So random, right? Like the way the stars have aligned in certain ways is really wild. So yes, they end up in Las Vegas. And I born and raised there. Neither of my parents went to college, and my father being an immigrant, I think I share a similar story to a lot of the kids of immigrants that I've talked to, which is my father worked in labor jobs. And he, not having had a higher education, he was very adamant that I go to school and get an education to have a better life. That was really important to him. And so that was ingrained in me from being a young kid. And I wanted to, so I was like, okay, school, important. What are the stable jobs? You get like doctor, lawyer, engineer. Those are the paths that you would know. And so I set my sights on being a doctor. I was like, I really like science. I think the human body is cool and I want to help people. So I guess I'll be a doctor. And that was from about middle school age on the path that I had set myself on. And stayed that way through college. So all of my background, I was pre-med in college, did the science thing, the shadowing of doctors, the working, volunteering in the hospital, all of the things. And when I graduated, I wanted to move east. And so I worked full time while I was in school. And one of the things that helps bolster your application when you're applying to medical school is to also have time in a research lab. And unfortunately, I, with working and everything else, wasn't able to do that. So I was like, okay, I'll move. When I move east, I'll take a year after graduating. I'll try to get into a research lab. I'll get that on my, you know, have that for my resume and my application when I apply. And then I'll apply to med school. And so in this time, right before I graduated, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. And she didn't have insurance and it was a really challenging time to navigate trying to get her help. And not that before her being sick. Before her being sick, I was very aware of what I would call the gaps in our health care system in the United States. But it definitely hits harder when you are experiencing it firsthand. And so that kind of started to change. I think I had already been having a hard time with believing I wanted to be a doctor anymore. I wasn't really enjoying anything I was doing, but I didn't know what else I would do. And I felt like, well, I've come this far. I have to do it. And so my mother is sick. I do end up after graduating moving East to Boston. And she was super supportive of me moving. And she definitely didn't want me to hang back, which that was challenging in and of itself. But decided to go. And when I moved to Boston, I was like, okay, I have to get a job in the meantime. Let me get a job that I'll have while I'm looking to get into a research lab. And then maybe it'll be a temporary. Maybe I'll be there for six months. And I go on Craigslist because I didn't really know another way to find a job. And I find an easy cater. And I actually joined as a customer service agent because I had worked all through, all through school since I was a teenager. I had worked in different service industry jobs, retail, restaurants, hotels, and customer service in other ways. And so I was like, okay, and this company sounds really cool. Like they're in downtown Boston. I really liked the language they used in the job description. It seemed very human and very caring and just like a cool place to be. So I apply at Easy Cater. I get hired as a customer service agent. And I start at this company and I realize I am such a fish out of water. Like I've done customer service at this point in one way or another, the better part of a decade. So the job itself, I knew, I felt super comfortable doing customer service. But I was like, people keep talking about it as this fast-paced tech startup. And I was like, what's a tech startup? And I didn't, it was truly like an unknown world to me. And it started with me moving to Boston, first of all, I don't know that there are two more different, bigger cities in the United States than Las Vegas and Boston. Maybe there are, but I haven't found out yet. So it was not just this like, my eyes are being open to a whole different culture, way of life, language. Like it was, you know, like people use words that I was, and they talked about things in ways that I was like, wow, I just like a fish out of water, right? Like I'm getting an education for sure. And so as I'm at Easy Cater, I'm learning all of this about, you know, this kind of company I didn't know existed before and this way of working I didn't know existed before. And one of the things that stood out to me so like significantly about Easy Cater was how much they cared about the employees. So when I joined, we were only about 100 employees. Everybody knew each other. Everyone, we had like one half of one floor and like one small part of another floor in the building. So for the most part, everybody sat really close to each other. And it was just this like, you could tell people cared about each other, including everyone who was an executive, right? And I sat, my desk was like 10 feet away from our CEO, Stavanya's. I think I sat a couple of desks away from our CFO. It was just an interesting, because I had come from when I worked in Las Vegas, my most recent jobs, I worked for some of the hotels on the Strip. And those are between 10,000 and 15,000 people in these companies. And you had an employee number and you very much felt like your number, right? I never really, I knew my immediate team cared about me, but I never felt, I felt very replaceable at the company, let's put it that way, right? And at this time, so I'm just like, I'm like in a whole new world, right? I'm like Ariel, I'm like, what is this? And at this time, my mom's health unfortunately takes a turn for the worst. And I fly back in October of 2016. So sorry, I started with Easy Cater July of 2016. In October of 2016, I find out my mom is terminal. And I will never forget how supported the team at Easy Cater was for me during this time, even though I had only been at this company for a few months. And at any other job I'd ever worked at before, if I were taking time off with this short of notice, or even this amount of time off, only having been there for so long, they would have terminated me or I would have been put on probation. Or I would have had to not only worry about everything that I was experiencing, but also worry about losing my job. And Easy Cater never made me feel that way. They never made me feel anything but supported and asked what I needed. And so my mom did end up passing in December of 2016. And again, through that time, Easy Cater was immensely supportive and just human and caring. And it hit me harder in that moment that not only was I now in this position where I was really feeling some type of way about the path that I was on, but I had also had my eyes opened to a different way of working and a different kind of company that I had no idea eight months prior even existed. And I go back to Boston from Vegas after my mom passed, and I'm in this place where I'm like, I think I want to... I'm no longer thinking I'm just going to be at Easy Cater for six months. I think I'm going to... There's something special about this company. I appreciate it. I now have a really deep loyalty to them based on how they've treated me. I mean, at this point, I'd worked at the company for less than six months and it was... And again, the support unmatched. I've never seen anything like it. And so I'm like, okay, what do I want to do then? Because I'm kind of in this weird place in life, and again, very fortunately, which is not something I'd really ever been exposed to before, EasyKitters fast-paced and growing. So because it's growing so rapidly, there are these new positions that are opening. And I am able to kind of start to... Now that my horizons have been broadened, I'm like, wait, what else is out there? Right? Because there's all these job titles, all these things I'm like hearing people talk about, or it just... I'm learning so much every day about possibilities, about other paths to follow. So I end up moving over to our talent team as a coordinator. And in that position, I am able to meet even more people throughout the organization, because I'm working with them to schedule interviews for their teams. I worked closely with our executive team because we were hiring... You know, they were involved at that time. Remember, we're still pretty small at this point. So our executives are relatively involved with a lot of the hires that we're making, or we're hiring important folks. And it was just this amazing surge of information, right? Just like, oh, my gosh, like, wait, what's that job? And what do they do? And learning, like just I was like a sponge just sucking up. And I'm also still kind of in this space where I'm lying to myself, telling myself I'm still going to pursue being a doctor.

Jeremy · 15:30

I was going to say this is all sounding like the doctor thing is like disappearing, but yeah.

Amaia · 15:36

I'm still fully lying to myself. I'm like, oh, I'm just going to learn all of this, and I'm totally still going to go to medical school. And so one of the amazing things I had the opportunity to do at Easy Cater was create the community outreach program and employee volunteering program. It didn't exist at the company yet, and when I came, I asked about it. I had the idea, and they were supportive of me doing it. So I started to organize group volunteer opportunities for our employees, for anybody at the company to attend and to support our community. At this point, we were only based in Boston, so it was really focused on Boston-based organizations and nonprofits, and our focus was hunger-based organizations. So supporting people who are facing food insecurity in the communities. And one of the events I organized was the Walk for Hunger with Project Bread, and they're a phenomenal organization. And the Walk for Hunger happens in May, so this is now May of 2017. I've been in my new coordinator role for a couple of months. And we're super excited, have a great group of us going, and our CEO, Stefania, and her husband attend. And on that walk, I'm chatting with her husband at one point, and he's asking me about myself and asks, what do I want to do? And I say, oh, I want to be a doctor one day. This is my plan. And I tell him, and he's like, oh, cool. And I think nothing of it, and the walk continues, and the end. That happened on a Sunday. The next day at work, I happen to be in a meeting that Stefania, the CEO, was in. And as the meeting ends, she asks me to hang back. And I'm like, oh boy, what did I do? And she's like, so what's this I hear about you wanting to be a doctor? And I was like, yeah, I do. And she's like, you know, George, her husband, told me that you told him that yesterday. And I'm like, yeah, so I give her the same spiel, the same spiel I've now said at this point for like half of my life. I'm like, oh yeah, I want to be a doctor. I want to help people, the whole thing. And she looks at me and she says, you know, I will support you in anything that you choose to do in your life. And if you want to be a doctor, then great, I'll support you in that. She said, but... And this was like the most profound thing anybody had ever said to me, which is going to sound really obvious, but I promise you, in the moment, it was truly like mind-blowing to me. She goes, but you know, there's more than one way to help people. And I was like, I'm going to be honest with you, it had never crossed my mind. It had truly never crossed my mind that there was a different way I could help people. It just hadn't. And that was probably one of the most life-changing moments for me, because it really like something clicked in my brain that was like, you do not have to keep forcing yourself down this path that you know, you don't want to go down. There are other ways that you can help people. And you have already been seeing all of these amazing new opportunities and a new way of working and new roles and careers that you never knew existed before, like maybe just be open to those. And that was it. Like that conversation, I was like, I'm letting it go. I don't, it's not for me and I don't want to do it anymore. And I let, that was it. Like I truly did just like, and I felt like the biggest weight lifted off of my shoulders. And when I made that decision, what was also really amazing, again, I'm at Easy Cater with all this phenomenal growth opportunity, is that now I'm like, okay, what do I want to do? And more opportunities are like presenting themselves. So a couple months after that was when I became Stefania's Executive Assistant. She had, she was, she, like there were, we, she had a person at the time who was kind of doing a dual office manager role and supporting her in that way, but we were growing so much that we needed the office manager full time. So that person shifted to doing that role full time, which opened up the EA position. And that's when I started doing that work. And the reason I tell that whole long story is that when she opened my eyes to there's more than one way that I can help people, I started thinking about my experiences as a person and work I had been doing in my personal life, understanding kind of all the systemic inequities that exist in the United States across all of the systems that exist in the United States. And had my own experience with them being first gen, first person to go to college, a woman, a person part of the LGBTQ community, a person of color, like all of these different parts of my identity that had impacted my experience in the world based on the inequities that exist. But I didn't know there was a job you could do to like do something about it. And so while I'm having all of that experience and I'm like learning, like, and I'm thinking that I'm having my eyes open to this other work. And I realized it hit me like truly like this brick wall, right? What Stefania said, but also this like, this is a huge part of you can't be what you can't see. And had I never moved to Boston, maybe had I never had the specific experiences, I don't know that I would be doing the work I'm doing today because I don't know if I would have even known it was a role you could do. And I think about all of the people who when we talk about creating access to opportunities, it's not just about removing unnecessary barriers to opportunity. It's also about people being aware of what opportunities are out there and how to go about working towards them. And so all of these parts of this journey truly just came together and with the timing of when I was at Easy Cater and having these amazing opportunities to get me to honestly where I am now. And being E.A.'s EA was a huge... And the role she played in that was massive. And so, yeah, that's the backstory.

Jeremy · 22:04

Wow. That's amazing. Thank you for sharing. That's an incredible story. I mean, it reminded me of how I became CEO's assistant. And my first kind of founder assistant role was... The short version is I was talking to my wife after we got back from our honeymoon. And I was like reassessing my job and kind of bored. And I was like, what am I going to do? And I was like, it would be kind of fun to be the founder's assistant. And I was like, but I don't know that that would ever happen. And literally the next day, they said, hey, we want to have a meeting about your role. And I was like, okay, whatever. That happened every few months anyway. And then they're like, oh, hey, we want you to be the founder's assistant. And I was like, what? So it's just this like, just this crazy, like, you know, the stars aligned. And it's like, wait, okay, this is interesting. And that's how I got into the whole senior level C-suite assistant. Yeah. So, yeah, thanks for sharing. I want to hear just a couple things about your time as assistant to the CEO. What was maybe one of your favorite parts about that season?

Speaker 4 · 23:26

Thank you Are you ready to elevate your career in 2024? I'm Maggie Olson, founder of Nova Chief of Staff Certification, the first of its kind online course for aspiring and existing chiefs of staff. With curriculum taken. Directly from on-the-job responsibilities, Nova's self-paced learning modules provides you with hands-on experience so you can feel competent and confident moving into a chief of staff style role.

Amaia · 24:07

I think the learning, I learned so much during that time. I was also very fortunate in who I was supporting. So I think thinking about the quote that I used at the beginning today, Stefania, one of the reasons it was so wonderful to work for her was that she, what she said to me in that room, she meant, which is, she wants to the support was real, the helping people succeed was real, the helping people find what they're good at and then helping them get there. That was very real. And so learning, learning about the business, but also learning from her as a leader and the way that she led. So much of when I spoke about Easy Cater being this phenomenal company to work for, so much of that was her. She was so she was such a huge part of building the culture and the culture being what it is and what it was and is. And learning about her, her leadership style and how she did that in her journey. That's that's invaluable. So I feel so what a privilege to have been able to work closely with a leader in that way. And then also the other leaders that exact at the in the executive team and learning from them and their their thought process and their approach and being exposed to these conversations and decision making and just invaluable. Yeah, that was so grateful for that time.

Jeremy · 25:41

Yeah, it's you know, you mentioned it earlier. You're just being a sponge, absorbing all this information and learning all the stuff. And that's one of my favorite parts, too, about the role is just you get to be in all these conversations and see the good, the bad and the ugly. But you really get to kind of weed through all that or wade through all that and just really figure out what you like and what skills you have, what industry you enjoy, what topics and departments you enjoy. And then, of course, as you transition from that role to where you're at now, I'm sure that, as you mentioned, part of this you mentioned already, but you discovered that through your journey as an assistant.

Amaia · 26:30

Yeah. Yeah. I think the other piece that was very helpful in that time was the cross-functional work and understanding the importance of communication and working with different teams and how to do that. And so all of that experience, first of all, in general, I think what you learn and the skills you need to be a successful EA are skills that are... I don't want to say will make you successful in anything because that sounds a bit like... But EAs are super humans and you have to weigh the thoughtfulness, the planning, the organization, the attention to detail. The consideration, the problem-solving. Those are skills that EAs fine-tune them. And what they do is nothing short of extraordinary. And so I think having that opportunity to really fine-tune those skills with the personal experience I was having in the background did really contribute to my success and my ability to move into the work that I'm doing now because I was able to take all of that learning and apply it. And while, no, it's not exactly the same job, it's not, of course, a lot of it's transferable, right? I think that's the other part of an EA's role that maybe folks don't realize is that those skills are so transferable that even if you're plopped into something you maybe haven't done before, yeah, there's going to be a learning curve. But having those having those muscles ready to flex the way that people who've done that work are, I think really sets them up for success in a lot of different ways. And so I definitely felt that way in my new work, for sure.

Jeremy · 28:16

Yeah, it gives you a good foundation and, you know, it's transferable. I've seen it where it's transferable between roles, but also between industries and, you know, executives and different personalities. It's like if you can excel in the executive assistant role, then yeah, you really do have a lot of opportunities.

Amaia · 28:37

Yeah, absolutely.

Jeremy · 28:39

Awesome, Amaia. Well, I really appreciate you sharing your story. Is there anything, you know, related to what you currently do as Director of DEI and Operations? Is there any tips or encouragements that you want to share with the assistants of the world as far as maybe cultivating a culture at their organizations?

Amaia · 29:02

Yeah, I think like I said, the skills are. I think one of the pieces of doing DEI work is having the ability to be efficient and effective without losing thoughtfulness. And I think, especially in, well, I don't want to say just in a tech startup, because I think this applies to all different industries and companies. There's a lot of times where people are under pressure, there's a time crunch. You're stressed, you have a million things on your plate, and things need to get done quickly. And it is understandable and in human nature for us to just like, what decisions can I make quickly? Let me make them.

Speaker 3 · 29:45

Let me do it.

Amaia · 29:46

Let me move forward. Let me check things off the list and get on to the next one. And I think what I learned in my EA role that also is helpful in this work and that I would remind folks to do is even when you have to move fast, is to maintain that thoughtfulness, to not let the need for speed overwhelm and to take a breath and to think through whatever decision you're making and to think of everyone that it will affect. And even if they are not necessarily people who are in the room that you're regularly interacting with or having conversations with, if something is going to affect a person in some way, think about that when you're making that decision or moving forward. And just take that moment because that thoughtfulness, that pause, that intentionality in what is being done can make a huge difference and can hopefully save you some work down the road. Because we're all about efficiency, right? So I think it's really setting yourself up for success with that. Let me use those skills of the problem solving. Let me think of everything, the attention to detail. And it really is all of that, right? It's like the holistic view of things that you already do in one way. Just kind of repurpose it towards, all right, let me think about this communication or this process or plan or scheduling or whatever it is. Like, whose voices am I not hearing? And how can I be an advocate for folks that this will affect who may not have the opportunity to speak up for themselves or even to voice their feedback or concerns? Because it's just whatever it is, right? Yeah, that'd be my... Be thoughtful.

Jeremy · 31:36

That's great. Great. Be thoughtful. Love it. Great way to end the conversation, Amaia. Thank you so much for taking time to be on the show. Thank you so much for just sharing your story and being a part of the fun, easy cater team that I've had the privilege of working with as they sponsor the show this year. It's been a fun run, and I really wish the best for you. Is there anywhere that people wanted to reach out or connect? Should they hit you up on LinkedIn? What do you think?

Amaia · 32:04

Yeah, I'm on LinkedIn. Feel free to reach out. You can also email me. My email is mynameateasycater.com. Feel free to. I'm always happy to chat, whether it's about DEI questions or any of the above. I'm always happy to connect.

Jeremy · 32:22

Great. Sounds great. Thank you so much. Best of luck to you and your animal friends and your movie watching and all the things. And yeah, thanks again for being on the show.

Amaia · 32:34

Wonderful. Thanks so much, Jeremy. It's been a pleasure.

Speaker 3 · 32:47

Please review on Apple Podcasts.