PARTNER BIO

Lydia is the Operations Director at Pearl Lemon. She joined the company on May 8th, 2019, originally starting as an SEO intern while completing her bachelor’s degree in marketing. Lydia discovered Pearl Lemon on Angel List before it rebranded to Wellfound. Initially, she applied for the internship while working for another internship site, aiming to find more start-ups for her boss to provide business coaching services. The opportunity at Pearl Lemon caught her attention as it offered a paid internship, which was not commonly available in her area. Intrigued, Lydia quickly expressed her interest and received a response from Deepak within a few hours, inviting her to fill out an interview form and connect on Whatsapp.

During her first summer with Pearl Lemon, Lydia dedicated long hours to catch up and grasp the pace and requirements of her role. She worked 8-12 hour days, 5-6 days a week, driven by her eagerness to learn. Her marketing degree didn’t cover the specific skills she needed for her work at Pearl Lemon. Over the years, Lydia gained experience on the lead generation team, content team, and also learned about PR and client relationship management. As of May 2023, she holds the position of Operations Director, overseeing the accounting team, ecommerce team, and catering team. Lydia often acts as an executive assistant to Deepak and is an integral part of the core leadership team.

In her role, Lydia’s day-to-day schedule is not predictable, as she goes wherever she is needed within the company. She is involved in setting up Shopify stores, overseeing projects, managing orders for cafes and catering, handling administrative tasks such as profile optimization, proposal submissions, email management, and reviewing the work of other team members. As the Operations Director, Lydia’s ability to multitask and adapt quickly is crucial. This requires being analytical, adept at problem-solving, comfortable with loose instructions, and capable of tackling any challenges that arise.

Outside of work, Lydia’s time is largely dedicated to her children. Weekends are filled with sports activities and schoolwork, while during school breaks, she homeschools her children and takes them on educational trips to museums and zoos. Additionally, Lydia maintains hydroponic gardens in her apartment, growing various types of lettuces, kales, herbs, tomatoes, and peppers. Her fitness routine used to include boxing and powerlifting, but she plans to resume more intense workouts once her youngest child starts school in September 2024. Lydia is mindful of her diet, placing emphasis on fitness and nutritious food, as she has previously lost 107 pounds and aims to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Another hobby of hers is tending to her apiary, although this has been put on hold due to living in an apartment where keeping bees is not feasible. Additionally, Lydia is an avid collector of tattoos, with 17 tattoos already and plans for two more, along with a wishlist of around 15 additional designs she would like to get in the future.

For those that are reading this, I am Lydia- Operations Director at Pearl Lemon. I started with Pearl Lemon On May 8th back in 2019. I originally joined as an SEO intern while I was working on the final two years of my bachelor’s degree in marketing. I found Pearl Lemon on Angel List before they rebranded to Wellfound. I initially applied while doing work for my other internship site. The goal at the time was to find more start-ups for that boss to do business coaching for to help out. I saw Pearl Lemon had a paid internship being offered (around here paid internships are not really a “thing”), so I sent off a quick “interested” note and within a few hours, Deepak had reached out to me asking me to fill in an interview form and download Whatsapp. 

My first summer, I worked long hours to “catch up” and learn my role’s pace and full requirements. I’m talking 8-12 hour days 5-6 days a week because I wanted to learn and my marketing degree wasn’t covering anything I really needed here. Through the years, I got to be on the lead gen team and content team, learn some PR, learn client relationship management and more. Fast forward to May 2023, I help oversee the accounting team, the ecommerce team, and the catering team, often function as an executive assistant to Deepak and am a part of the core leadership team. I typically do not have a day to day schedule that is predictable. I go where needed; I am usually there if we develop a new team, procedure or service. That means at the time of writing, I help set up Shopify stores and help oversee the projects involved. I also order for our cafes and catering side of the business. I also tackle a variety of admin including creating and optimising profiles, submitting proposals to funnel leads to Deepak, clearing out emails and double checking work of other team members. 

As operations director I need to be able to multitask and quickly pivot, so if you are looking to join this area of the business or the company in general, be ready for that. The closer you are to the center, the faster you may have to pivot. Being in operations means you must be analytical, be ready to problem solve, take loose instructions, and tackle whatever problems arise.

Outside of work, my time is nearly all dedicated to my kids. Weekends are for sports and bookwork, school breaks I do homeschooling and we take learning-trips (the big museums and zoos). I also keep hydroponic gardens in my apartment. THIS is my current system– i am growing multiple kinds of lettuces, kales, herbs, tomatoes and peppers. On my next run I will be doing more greens, eggplants, cauliflower and mini pumpkins. I used to workout heavily, but that will return when my youngest starts school in September 2024- I do miss boxing and powerlifting. I spend alot of time probably over-focusing on diet after losing 107 pounds (I gained some back after having kids but am about 10 pounds up from that again) so fitness and good food is very important to me. I also enjoy tending to my apiary, but that has been put on hold again until I am not in an apartment (because bees + apartment are a no). I am also an avid tattoo collector; i have 17, I have 2 more planned out but a list of easily 15 more i would like.