Zoe Urban is one tough cookie. Joining the Cybba team just a few months before the pandemic forced operations online, she overcame all obstacles to become a one-woman quality assurance machine. Learn more about her journey below.
How long have you been in this position?
I have been the Senior QA Analyst for four months, but I have been part of the QA team since I started working at Cybba in October 2019.
What job did you want to have you were a kid?
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I have always loved animals and wanted to help them in any way I could. I no longer want to be a veterinarian (finding out that being a vet wasn’t all puppy kisses and sunshine came as quite the shock) but I would still like to help animals in need. Someday, I hope to open a rehabilitation center for injured and orphaned animals.
Describe the path that brought you to Cybba.
I knew I wanted to be closer to home after graduating from the University of Vermont, so I looked for jobs in the Boston area. Once I found the position at Cybba, I knew immediately that it was the place for me.
What do you enjoy the most about your role?
I have learned so many new things at Cybba in the past year. I went to school for Business Administration, so I always envisioned myself working in internal business operations. Being on the tech side of business has given me the opportunity to develop and sharpen skills that I didn’t even know I had!Run us through a typical day in the Cybba office for you.
Things look a lot different now than before the pandemic. A typical day for me starts off with a cup of coffee or a can of Yerba Mate at 8:00 am. After that, its ticket time! Each ticket I work on is unique to the client and my job is to ensure that the products we put out are irreproachable. At around 1:00 pm, I break for lunch and take a long walk with my dog, Dijon. We play some tug-of-war and then it’s back to tickets until 3:00 pm when I put the slides together for our 4:00 pm company-wide meeting. At 5:00 pm, Dijon’s internal alarm goes off and he lets me know it’s dinner time. As long as all of my tickets are finished, my day usually ends there.
What is your best productivity tip for getting it all done?
Having a clean and designated workspace is the key to productivity for me. When I began working from home, I didn’t have a space that was dedicated to work. Now that I have been doing this for a while, my dining room has become my working sanctuary.
What are your favorite brand(s) and why?
I love brands that have solid environmental sustainability practices in place, like Patagonia and Ben and Jerry’s. Companies that have a positive impact on our planet and humankind inspire me to live consciously and do my best.
What’s the best (non-Cybba) marketing campaign you’ve seen?
I have been seeing a lot of Progressive commercials lately. The one where he falls asleep with his sign gets me every time!
What is your favorite place in Boston?
It’s not exactly in Boston, but the Middlesex Fells Reservation has been my haven since I moved here. My dog and I have spent countless hours exploring the reservation. I feel so lucky to have such a great space to hike and play so close to the city.
What are 3 things you can’t live without?
My dog, sunshine, and Chapstick are the three most important things I need to get me though the day. I could never live in a place like Iceland where it’s dark 18 hours of the day in the winter!
What has been your favorite project at Cybba?
I am very proud of the work that I did at the beginning of the pandemic. The QA team is typically composed of two people, but when my counterpart left the company right before the pandemic hit, we didn’t have the time or resources to bring someone else in. So for the first six months of the pandemic, I worked as a team of one. I am extremely proud of the way I stepped up and successfully conquered a two-person workload for such a long period of time.
If you weren’t working in digital marketing, what would you be doing?
If I weren’t working in digital marketing, I would probably be working in the fashion industry. In college, I worked for a small boutique doing inventory planning and analysis. It would be a lot of fun to do that again for a bigger brand on a larger scale.
If you could switch your job with anyone at Cybba, whose job would you want?
I would want to switch jobs with Greg or Stephen so that I could see exactly what goes on in the company at the highest level. I am intrigued by Cybba’s day to day operations and would love to learn more about what makes Cybba such a special and successful company.