Alexis Garcia Velasquez

Leading a team of 10, I was hired to run one of Rachel Carson College’s departments. I was responsible for running the mailroom, helping students with advising, and general inquiries. Moreover, I had to keep track of office supplies and keep everything stocked: general office administration work. There was no orientation or training process set for the position because everyone who knew exactly what I did retired, so I had to figure everything out myself. Luckily, I am used to working independently, and treading unknown waters, so I figured it out. I consulted my counterparts in other colleges, my employees, and my boss.

The highlight of this position is the complete restructuring I did in the department. My methodology relied on making many small improvements which added up to excellent gains for the mailroom. By redesigning how we store our packages, I decreased sorting and handoff speeds. By incorporating staff packages into our inventory, I decreased missing packages, and further increased sorting and handoff speeds, as well as created more space for inventory. Creating a larger database with better sorting tools and more relevant data completely eliminated unknown packages, as we now know exactly which package pertains to which classification of clients.

Changes in our sorting processes increased the reliability of our inventory management software. By scanning in every package that comes into our mailroom, we got a better idea of the amount of employees needed to staff the mailroom, as well as data to protect us in the event of liability cases. Newly established protocol ensures that no packages are left unscanned, decreasing the amount of times we need to physically verify for a package, as well as saving time during investigations. In some cases, for some projects, I delegated tasks to employees who showed interest in my work, increasing morale, and improving our mutual connections.

A harmonious conjunction of google forms, and google sheets creates a familiar interface for students and staff, as well as an automated process for a task that often falls through the cracks. Every time a new student is enrolled into our college, they must be inputted into our system. Students are asked to fill out a google form (designed by me) by the housing coordinator, in their template welcome email. This information is automatically filled into our database, with a google script that sends me a draft email, which I then forward to the student, if there are no errors. The spreadsheet has formulas to automatically find an empty mailbox to assign the student, and collects that information and places it in the email.

New training fixed the inconsistency in knowledge across my employees, and increased their confidence and independence for handling mail. Delegation of certain sorting duties to them also allowed me to focus more on restructuring and business development.

3 new employees were hired in replacement of 3 who were graduating or looking for new opportunities. I made sure to hire freshman and sophomores, as students tend to get comfortable and stay in the same job for a while. This ensures a good 3 to 4 years of service to the mailroom.

There was much more I accomplished in this position, feel free to reach out if you’d like to learn more. Keep scrolling for a better sense of my journey, and to get an idea of how my skills and mentality developed throughout each chapter of my life.

Software I’ve never seen before, a bureaucracy I’ve never met, and a mountain of challenges to address in one summer. 

My sole purpose at the Experiential Leadership Program was to make things as efficient as possible. Through scheduled meetings with all stakeholders, thorough analysis of the workflow, and various meetings with ELP’s Director, and one of UCSC’s Business Systems Analysts, I was able to identify various inefficiencies in the workflow and apply previously learned skills towards amending them.

The Systems Analyst, Andy, was a pleasure to work with, and I quickly gained her trust as I demonstrated my adaptability to the systems we were considering integrating. With research, I found that automation tools existed with DocuSign, one of our chosen tools, but they were hidden behind administrative locks. Andy granted me access, and I successfully built a system that automatically collected all of the Director’s requested data from clients upon the intake process.

Off-work, sometimes we’d discuss different ways to use the tools within the software, and at times, Andy would come to me and ask how I would implement or design a solution. Needless to say, I quickly became adept at this software, consistently finding workarounds to their limitations, or using their tools in useful applicable ways.

I created forms that were able to be plugged into ELP’s existing websites and created templates for future use, as well as migrated existing forms from paper to digital format. Automation tools allowed the paperwork to flow simultaneously to three different departments within UCSC’s bureaucracy that needed to sign off on new individual client deals. Moreover, alternate “flows” were made for clients who were already in the system, and who only needed to go to two of the three departments. 

Before, the paperwork relied on one-at-a-time approvals, as well as the physical delivery of the paperwork. This automated process handles the delivery and copying. Moreover, since it’s instantaneous, and since we got these department’s approvals on the system, the cut costs became quite notable.

I scheduled various meetings to understand other parts of ELP’s operations, plans were in place to establish a better and more organized database for ELP’s file system before the University pulled funding. Had ELP not shut down, my work had the potential to save 2 hrs of data processing, 1 hr of data sorting and searching, 2 hrs of emailing, 1 – 3 days of paperwork processing between departments, and countless economic value, as proper organization and automation was the Director’s greatest pain point. Valuable time and energy could now be dedicated to business development rather than administrative upkeep.

Moreover, Miranda had a team of 4 working for her, and I had plans to integrate Asana into her workflow, delivering many more untold benefits. I’ve had previous exposure to Asana at Digital NEST, so I knew it decently. An hour of research was enough to determine how beneficial its use would be for Miranda. Since I’d been in management positions before, I recognized its beauty and value. With her consent, I began to work on creating a workflow for it, and finding how we were going to integrate it into the Business. Unfortunately, despite having the knowledge, we never got the opportunity to implement it.

I had further plans to aid some of my co-workers’ projects using my expertise. One of my coworkers was working on a donor and student database, since we couldn’t afford a proper CRM like Hubspot or Salesforce, I took the time to study them and prepared to replicate useful features using the free tools the University provided to us.

I take leadership positions very seriously.

As the leader of an organization, you set the tone, and you represent its ideals. People look to you for guidance and in times of uncertainty. Moreover, it’s a difficult job, since you tend to be in the driver’s seat, sometimes literally.

I had the privilege of being the Coordinator of PRAXIS, a wonderful organization within UC Santa Cruz that over time, has contributed to many local non-profits. 

As the Coordinator of PRAXIS, I was in charge of running the entire organization, as I saw fit. I had a supervisor, Michelle, who oversaw many other programs, and she helped with guidance and mentoring. The mission of PRAXIS is to strengthen the community and enrich it through collaboration specifically, without self-interest.

At PRAXIS, I established and strengthened connections with new community leaders within the Homeless Garden Project, Habitat for Humanity, and the Calabasas Community Garden. With the Calabasas Community Garden, I worked alongside their Garden’s lead and my supervisor to organize a 50+ person event, for the families of the garden. We ordered food, organized activities, and had music, and a relevant theme, for the children of the garden’s afterschool program. 

Apart from planning logistics and recruitment for help, on the day of the event, I organized and led our volunteers, distributing tasks and handling pop-up incidents. We had various prep meetings, and another on the day of. 

I also handled general recruitment and regularly contacted Professors to recruit during their lecture halls. Since PRAXIS had the potential to work with various different organizations, I chose the lectures with intent. Knowing that there were some tech-oriented non-profits PRAXIS had yet to contact, I planned to recruit at CS and Engineering halls. I recruited at social justice courses as well, knowing there’d likely be a general interest, as well as Theater classes. In order to do Theater, you need to be willing to be outgoing and to deliver positive energy. I have lots of experience in theater, and I knew recruiting these folks would be beneficial for creating a community within meetings.

I regularly held ice-breakers for PRAXIS during meetings, there was a social element to it. I wanted my members to get to know each other and to be comfortable with each other. Theater kids are VERY used to doing these types of activities. By recruiting folks who are willing to do that, it helps create a safe environment for the more timid folk, increasing the overall group’s connectedness.

I have a long history of working at non-profits and PRAXIS always moved me because of it. I’ve seen how opportunities and spaces like Digital NEST, or Artist’s Ink can help people grow, or connect with each other.

It’s such a beautiful endeavor.

Event management, tech support, training, reception work, and even a bit of programming: all highlights of my time at Digital NEST. 

The leads of Digital NEST really did a great job of building a community that felt safe. This was the first place I felt comfortable leaving all of my things in the open. I could just leave my laptop out, leave the room for a few hours, and find it in the same place.

I wanted to contribute to this, so I joined the volunteers at Digital NEST, and soon became their lead. I successfully organized and budgeted various events at NEST, catered to the member’s interests. The video game community was lively at NEST, so we made a tournament around that. During the summer, we organized a water balloon fight at a nearby park. We scheduled movie nights, and various other events whenever the funding provided for it. We used Asana to keep track of and distribute any tasks that needed doing. 

We maintained the cleanliness of NEST, sweeping and cleaning all surfaces, and we made sure to keep the tech and supplies locker well organized. 

I also attended Digital NEST’s tech classes. I’ve been exposed to basic programming and robotics in middle school, but picking it up again at NEST gave me a new appreciation for it. I took classes in PHP, Python, and even HTML and CSS. I also got to design a very simple game using gamemaker studio with a team I chose. 

Due to how fascinating I found programming, I later decided to become a Double Major in Computer Science and Business Management Economics at UCSC because of this. Later on, I decided to move on from Computer Science, after passing one of the curriculum’s most difficult courses to see if I could.