Welcome to another edition of Meet Team VFA! This week, we sat down with Lauren Gill, our Senior Talent Manager. After two years of teaching with Teach For America, Lauren joined VFA as one of the earliest team members (#6!), and her wisdom, hustle, and keen judgment have helped shape VFA from the beginning. These days, Lauren heads up the Selection team, helping us identify which candidates have the potential to be topnotch Fellows. Lauren also happens to be the punniest person we know. We might groan a little at her quips, but VFA wouldn’t be the same without her—and that’s no joke.
Name: Lauren Gill
Position at VFA: Senior Talent Manager
Department Name: Selection
College or University: LeHigh University
Job before VFA: Teach for America Corps Member
What does your team do and why is it awesome?
We’re more or less the admissions office of Venture for America. We get to know the thousands of applicants to the Fellowship to figure out who can hang. And by “hang” we mean use smarts, skills, and grit to add value to a startup and the VFA community, all while making people’s days, and communities, brighter. We work hard to make sure that each class of Fellows is talented, high-character, passionate, and diverse. Our goal is to create an engaging, edifying application process that leave everyones better than before, regardless of whether they’re a fit for the program.
What do you do?
My job is a fantastic mix of nitty-gritty operations and (think: customizing workflows in our application software, compiling interview RSVP lists, responding to candidate emails) and big-picture thinking (designing the entire selection process, helping strategize with the recruitment and marketing teams, and guiding VFA’s broader take on talent acquisition and talent development).
What are you known for at VFA?
I’m known for my my high expectations and lowbrow humor. I’m known as Laurán, LG, or Ms. Gill (a nod to my days as a teacher).
How did you come to work at VFA?
I like to think it was fate. After teaching 6th grade science for two years as a TFA corps member, I almost got seduced into the world of consulting. But then the clouds parted, the angels started singing, and I found a posting for a job at VFA.. and somehow convinced Andrew, Eileen, Mike, Megan, and Eddie (the team was only 5 strong at the time) to hire me!
Favorite part about your role at VFA:
Watching people transform from nervous interviewees to leaders at their startups is incredibly rewarding. I also happily accept when Fellows give me a hard time, reminiscing about my strict interviewing style, especially when they’re doing so in the context of being on the other side of the table… sometimes even as company founders about to hire their first employees.
One thing you do every day at VFA that you probably couldn’t do at another job:
I probably get away with a lot more corniness here than I could anywhere else. For a long time, I ran a “daily standup” meeting with my team that I kicked off with a joke. I eventually stopped after maybe the 100th eye-roll/groan combo response to a bad pun, but it was fun (for me) while it lasted.
Favorite annual VFA event:
The VFA team holiday dinner is always a feel-good, delicious event. It’s one of the few events that we don’t open up to Fellows or other supporters; as much as we love our broader VFAmily, it’s nice to get dressed up and celebrate the work we do at VFA HQ and each other.
Favorite Training Camp memory:
Taking in Providence’s Fourth of July fireworks while watching Fellows hustling, selling bottles of waters to the crowds of people in order to make $ for their Profit Challenge (shoutout to 2013 Training Camp team “Baby Ruths”!), was a great moment. Nothin more American than that!
Coolest thing you’ve done outside of work with VFA team members in the last year:
A group of us go to Governors Ball, a nearby summer music festival, every year, and it. is. AWESOME. I like to say GovBall is my happy place, but so is really anywhere that I can hang out outside, listen to music, and drink wine to-go with my pals.
What newspapers, websites or blogs do you kick off your day with?
The Atlantic, theSkimm, CNN.
What are you reading right now?
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It’s beautifully-written, honest, devastating… and everyone should read it immediately. Or, in the case of my coworkers waiting to borrow it—as soon as I’m done. 🙂
Most significant thing you’ve learned during your time as a VFA team member?
Character trumps skills. It’s not a shocking revelation, but with each year and class of Fellows, it becomes more clear to me that optimism, resilience, and integrity will better predict happiness and success than any measure of intellect or skills.
Best tip or life hack for increasing productivity during the work day:
Each day, I like to chip away at a weekly to-do list (recorded in Evernote) by separating it into a smaller list, and organizing it chronologically, and adding estimated times. It keeps me accountable for total output for the day, ensuring I don’t spend too long on any given task.