Team Member Spotlight: Meet Mary

If Mary could give her younger self advice, it would be words from Eminem, “You can do anything you set your mind to man.” Mary has always wanted a career she was proud of. With fierce drive as she traveled a long winding path, Mary feels she has reached her career goals. The best part of her job at PhoenixTeam is being able to help clients and feeling like what she does makes an impact.

Mary’s perfect day would be spent outdoors on her paddleboard, at the beach, or in the woods hiking. It brings her great joy to be out in nature. Mary loves running, reading, cooking and gardening.

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Team Member Spotlight: Meet Lucas

As anyone can see Lucas has a passion for travel, adventure and enjoying nature. In addition, when he is not outdoors, Lucas likes reading about history, philosophy and culture. Oh, and make sure to ask him about his extensive vinyl music collection.

When Lucas was younger, he was determined to grow his career path of architecture and product design. Having completed those objectives, he has grown to learn that there is a much more rewarding value in helping others in working together to achieve greater goals collaboratively.

The idea of working on a project that is meaningful to people was the biggest draw to PhoenixTeam for Lucas. He believes that helping Veterans purchase a home is a noble endeavor in today’s busy world that not only helps society but makes him feel proud of his day-to-day contributions.

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Team Member Spotlight: Meet Josh

Most people look to vacation somewhere quiet and sunny when they talk about winning the lottery and Josh is no exception. His place of choice would be somewhere in the Caribbean. Josh has a huge heart and paying it forward is something he strives to do on a consistent basis. If he won the lottery, this would allow him an even greater opportunity to assist others in need.

Josh’s favorite quote is one that a professional mentor once recited from Alexander Pope; “A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep or taste not the Pieria spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain and drinking largely sobers us again.”

The best part of Josh’s job is the availability to collaborate on projects with people of varied skillsets. Josh appreciates the encouragement from PhoenixTeam, of focusing and becoming more knowledgeable on things you are passionate about.

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Team Member Spotlight: Meet Jennifer

Meet Jennifer Drahota, who has dreams of someday writing and publishing her own book. Although she has not figured out what it is going to be about, but she is sure that it will involve tidbits from her crazy and rewarding personal and professional experience. She is taking notes along the way.

‘Quit focusing so much on everything around yourself instead of what is right in front of you. Be diligent with what you have in this moment’. This advice has served her well, most recently in parenting her two young daughters as well as keeping her grounded all around.

Jennifer is proud to be part of this team and loves that at PhoenixTeam, there is so much amazing talent, diversity and leadership of all the team members.

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Team Member Spotlight: Meet Saugat

If Saugat could give his younger self sage advice it would be “There is no course that teaches you money and time management, mental health, self-love, self-confidence, and acts of kindness, but it is the most important knowledge you will ever need”.

Saugat’s perfect day is a day spent with family. It was a pleasure for him when he began working for PhoenixTeam that he immediately felt like part of the family. To Saugat, everyday feels like a Friday at PhoenixTeam.

Travel and learning new things are a passion for Saugat and if he wins the lottery, you will find him vacationing in Greece, taking flying lessons or on a long drive with his favorite music playing on the radio

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Team Member Spotlight: Meet Katie

Katie describes herself as fun loving, loyal, adaptable a bit of a people pleaser, slightly stubborn and loves making friends. If you missed information at a company meeting, don’t worry, she has an intense long-term memory and can recall discussions and decisions made years later. She is passionate about everything! She puts passion behind everything she does, which is driven by the desire to continuously learn. Becoming a SCRUM and SAFe Agilist were two of her career goals and PhoenixTeam helped her achieve both certifications. Katie loves the learning opportunities that PhoenixTeam offers her and appreciates that her team members are all invested in teaching as well as learning. When Katie is not working, she loves to read, color, shop and hike on warm sunny days.

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Team Member Spotlight: Meet Damion

Damion lives by his positive attitude and humble personality. The best advice he has ever gotten is “Judge not, least ye be judged.”  Damion does not believe “everything happens for a reason”, but he believes in making the best of the current situation.

When Damion was in college he worked on an initiative where an update was made to a financial system to begin tracking cost basis when stocks are purchased and sold. This was his “Ah Ha” moment that made him realize he had a real interest in finance and the inner workings of the residential mortgage industry space. His mantra is, “plan, do, check, adjust” and applies this to work and personal life.

Damion was drawn to PhoenixTeam when a current coworker informed him of the challenging work PhoenixTeam was doing and he wanted to be a part of it. His favorite part of working with PhoenixTeam are the challenges and how the daily support of his team members keeps him motivated.

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Team Member Spotlight: Meet Kelli

If Kelli won the lottery, the first thing she would do is buy a house on the beach in South Carolina so she could wear flip flops every day while driving to the beach in her golf cart. Kelli was drawn to PhoenixTeam, after one of her coworkers had spoken so highly of the company. Kelli had been previously working for a company where her work life was absorbing all her personal life. PhoenixTeam believes in ‘work-life balance’, and Kelli has found hers here. It was when Kelli was a freshman at Penn State that she realized how important work-life balance is. Social interaction at a Division l University is a huge part of attending college and Kelli knew for her to succeed in her major of Economics and still enjoy the social aspect of college her major needed to be something she could balance. Today, Kelli is still a season ticket holder for Penn State football!Kelli has been married for 26 years to her husband, Nick. She has a 25-year-old son, Austin, and her first grandchild Mason.

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Team Member Spotlight: Meet Austin

Austin spent his middle grade school years living in Australia. His mortgage career began while he was still in college. He is thrilled to be working at The PhoenixTeam where his efforts are leading to improve technology experiences for the VA homebuying experience. “My favorite thing about PhoenixTeam is the comradery with other team members-Everyone is always willing to help or assist and share information. PhoenixTeam also has such a commitment to learning and training which is great!” Austin and his wife hope to get to Bora Bora someday, but in the meantime they enjoy their home life in Jacksonville, FL raising their three sons together.

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Team Member Spotlight: Meet Daniel

Dan is a salesforce solutions architect with an extensive background working with nonprofits. Working at Phoenix has given Dan the opportunity to be in a fulltime consulting role working on large scale projects. “Phoenix authentically feels like the whole team, from top to bottom, is committed to building an organization that builds up its people and doing what is in the long term best interest of our customers.”

Dan lived his twenties in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, and loves to cook a wide variety of Indian and SE Asian dishes. Now living in the D.C. area with his wife Michelle, they are expecting their first baby at the end of March 2021.

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