For the month of December, we are honoring our incredible Traffic Manager, Sophia Zach! Read more below to learn about Sophia and her role at Elevation.
- What is a typical day in your life?
My typical day is busy as you can imagine. In my role I help oversee and facilitate the execution of all work we produce for our clients. My day starts with Traffic meetings. From there, I work with the Traffic team to ensure incoming work is routed to the most capable hands while keeping bandwidth top of mind. People can’t work effectively if they are burned out! Along with traffic management, I’m of service to our Account Services and New Business teams, consulting on pricing, timelines, and various production logistics.
- How did you choose this career path?
I didn’t, it chose me! My career started in Film production in Los Angeles. For years I worked as a producer, UPM, and AD on various independent projects. I eventually found my way to a 3D / VFX company where I put my cross-team management skills to use and oversaw all the Northern American Corporate Operations teams. My personal life brought me out to Arizona, where film production is . . .scarce to say the least. After looking around, I landed in Marketing, where creatives come together to execute on a shared vision to bring a story to life – not far off from the underlying goal of film production. Or at least that’s the way I look at it!
- What drew you to Elevation Marketing?
The focus on the soft skills as much as the hard skills. There are plenty of companies that require a checklist of prerequisites to be met before being considered for a role, and while those requirements can be critical, the team here looks for and nurtures the growth of individuals who may be new to the industry, but have strong potential to thrive. General competence is critical to me, so it’s refreshing to work for a company that also prioritizes that, as well as the ongoing development of its employees.
- What would people never guess you do in your role?
I get asked to do a huge variety of things, so I’m not too sure. I’d classify myself as a jack of all trades, expert in a few: project and budget management, process improvement, and team / capacity planning.
- In your mind, what sets Elevation apart from other agencies?
The approach that everything we do, from our services to our internal approach, is adaptable. We evolve. Elevation is not set in its ways, and does not take a cookie-cutter approach. Each day, while the core intentions remain the same, the approach is always rooted in strategy, and we have a plan to follow – we adapt. We ebb and we flow with the needs of our internal teams and clients.
- Tell us something we may not know about you?
While I’m a born and raised in Los Angeles, I’m an outdoor girl. My vacations as a kid were camping and backpacking trips. I’ve backpacked the Havasupai Indian Reservation ten times, started to snowboard when I was five years old, and used to be a junior lifeguard in Malibu when I was in middle school.
- What’s your favorite thing to do in Phoenix?
I’m a homebody. I travel so frequently that when I’m home in Phoenix, I like to just relax. A retreat for me is a good weekend hike. If I have the down time, you can find me on the trails!
