Elizabeth Ricci
Listen to the interview (approx. 44 min.) or download it.
Graduated in 2011 with a major in Music Business. Principal instrument: voice.
Position: Project Manager at Capitol One, a national full-service bank that also does credit cards and car loans and has roughly 50,000 employees. Elizabeth works on the Associate Experience Team, which supporting the 9 “cafes” (where customers do their banking online) in Boston, plus a number out of state. She helps ensure that people are happy and have what they need to do their jobs well, collecting feedback and sending that to partner teams to seek improvements where appropriate.
Overview: Elizabeth worked at Starbucks while at Berklee. After graduation, she wanted to stay in Boston, but felt that a music career would be nearly impossible while here, so she decided to pursue a career at Starbucks. Through hard work and good customer service she was promoted to shift manager, then shift supervisor, then, in early 2014 store manager. However, after some time it was clear that open positions the next level up, district manager, were extremely few and far between and she would have to look elsewhere for career growth.
In mid-2015, a friend who worked at Capital One suggested that she apply for their Cafe Ambassador position. Elizabeth did and not the job, which involved helping customers with their online banking, as well as a substantial increase in pay. Her second year she won their Associate of the Year award, but she was most interested in project management. She applied internally to one position and didn’t get it, but they soon created her current team and suggested she apply for her current position, which she got in early 2018.
You can see Elizabeth’s LinkedIn profile here.
Choice Quotes: “It’s all about providing people with a solution they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. I’m an escalation point. People have gone through all other options, and then they come to me, and I’m a ‘get stuff done-er.”
“I love when I can get something done quickly that people had been trying to do for months. I’m also fortunate to be able to work from home, travel. Capital One gives great benefits and I love my company and believe in the mission.”
“My position is new within the company. With no predecessor; me and my two peers across the country are setting the precedent for what this job entails.”
“If you have any inkling of what you want to do for the rest of your life, just follow your passion–whether or not it’s music. You can accomplish anything if you put in the work and work hard.”
“When was a Berklee student I struggled hard trying to find if I was going to have a successful career if I wasn’t going to be in music. I’m glad this project exists.”
See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.