If you've ordered engagement jewelry, had an email inquiry, or needed a quote for custom work, chances are you've been in touch with our team member Alaina. A star player in every way, she's been with Aide-mémoire the longest of any of us at seven years this June!
I interviewed Alaina to learn more about her journey with our shop. Our resident photographer, Bri McDaniel, took some great photos along the way.
MK: What is your current role at Aide-mémoire? Did it change as you grew with the company or has this always been your role?
AS: I wear a lot of hats! I think my “official” job title is Office Manager, but I work mostly in our studio space with our bench jeweler. Primarily, I am answering emails from customers and coordinating our studio. The latter half of that entails anything from ordering materials, stone sourcing (one of my favorites!), shipping orders, pulling jobs for our bench jeweler, processing new orders... I also do most of the quotes for customized work, as I deal a lot with the pricing on the back end.
When I was first hired, the role was much smaller—mostly just answering emails, processing orders, and shipping—but the role grew pretty organically as time went on and Aran gave me more things to do.
It's honestly really exciting to have been with the business for so long and to see it grow in a really organic and thoughtful way. Aran is really intentional about all the business choices she makes and I really appreciate that she goes out of her way to talk to each team member about their thoughts and opinions before making significant changes.
MK: How did you find out about Aide-mémoire/what initially interested you about working here?
AS: Funnily enough, I kind of fell into the job by accident! One of my best friends was working for Aran and she was moving away to Chicago, so Aran was hiring to fill her position. I'd known of Aran from classes at North Seattle College, but I don't know that I'd ever really spoken to her before my friend's going away party. At the party, we got to chatting and she invited me to tour the studio space. When I visited, Aran super casually asked if I wanted to interview for the position…and so I did!
As far as what had me interested in working at Aide-mémoire, I was looking to leave the retail job that I was at and do something that aligned more with what I wanted to do (jewelry), so A-M was a really exciting opportunity for me.
MK: What’s your favorite memory of working at Aide-mémoire?
AS: Ooh, I don't necessarily know that I have a favorite memory, but, back when we had just the studio space and met with customers here, I really enjoyed getting to see people that I'd worked with in consultations when it came time to pick up rings and just seeing their excitement for the finished pieces.
MK: If you and your partner had a spontaneous day off what would you do?
AS: Hah! We are really boring people, so I don't know that this is a particularly exciting answer, but we'd probably just spend it at home with the dogs, or try to get our friends together to hang out by Greenlake and grab dinner.
MK: Can you tell us a surprising or fun fact we might not know about you? (I mean besides the fact that you are a freaking GENIUS knitter and fabulous mama to two adorable poochies)
AS: Some fun facts about me –
I am 5'9" and the shortest person in my family!
I was a musical theater kid—okay, this may or may not actually be surprising to anyone...
I can usually knit a sweater in about two weeks! But my record is nine days, from start to finish…
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Alaina that was so fun! Congratulations on seven wonderful years with Aide-mémoire and here's to many more!