We are so pleased to welcome Jenn Tokmakidis, Executive Assistant, to the team. You can learn more about Jenn below.
Tell us about yourself. Where are you from?
I am originally from Hartford, Connecticut but moved to Astoria, New York when I was really young and have lived in one area of Queens or another for most of my life.
In 2017, I gave in to the suburbs and moved to Oceanside, New York which is on Long Island. Having lived in the city my whole life, I never learned how to drive until then and I got my license at 33.
Where did you go to school?
I had a lot of false starts. After high school, I started out at Hofstra University but I didn’t attend for more than a year. I had to work while attending school and I was doing pretty well at my job at the time and was moving up quickly so I put school on hold for a while. Over the years I attempted to continue but life/family obligations would get in the way. I ultimately went back in 2016 and graduated magna cum laude in 2020 from SNHU while working full time, homeschooling my 5 year old, chasing after my 2 year old and expecting my third. It was quite a year.
What are you excited to get into as you start working with Buckeye?
First and foremost I am excited to help Brad optimize his time so he can focus on what he does best. But I am also excited to find ways to support the team as well. I am all about looking for ways that I can help everyone to be more efficient. If I can lend a helping hand, I am more than happy to do so.
Do you have a code of ethics or a mantra that you live by when doing your work?
Be approachable, responsive, and communicate always. It’s especially important for an EA and even more so in a virtual environment. I try to always be responsive, even if it’s just to say I will look into it and get back to you. It lets people know that they are a priority for you and people will be more inclined to come to you for assistance because they know that you will be on top of it.
How do our core values (collaboration, initiative, ingenuity) align with your own?
I am always looking for different ways to do things or improve on things. If I can collaborate with others while doing that, even better. Taking initiative is a big one for me as well. My goal here and at every organization I have worked at, is to get to a point where I can anticipate needs and get to work on them before someone makes the request.
What do you want to learn in the next 12 months as Executive Assistant? What do you want to learn about the web development industry?
Over the next year, I want to enhance my ability to anticipate needs, proactively identify opportunities for improvement, and contribute to strategic decision-making processes. Admittedly, I don’t know much about the web development industry so I would love to learn as much as I can.
If you could meet any person in history, living or dead, who would you want to meet and why?
I would like to meet Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors. She is GE’s first female CEO and the first woman to lead a major automaker. In such a male dominated industry that is quite a feat. I can only imagine the adversity and obstacles that she faced to get that level of success.
What is the one thing most people don’t know about you?
I am learning to speak Romanian. My husband is half Romanian and half Greek and I wanted to be able to communicate with his grandmother and teach my children how to speak it. I don’t have too much down yet but I did learn how to say “sunt încântat să mă alătur echipei”, which translates to “ I am excited to join the team”.
