Name: Kate Lidgett
Bio: Kate lives in Des Moines, Iowa with her fiancé and three pets. She is a personal shopper, blogger, and the executive assistant at Dwolla. Kate graduated from Simpson College in 2011 and enjoys being heavily involved in the Des Moines community.
Title: Chief Chaos Coordinator and Executive Assistant to Ben Milne at Dwolla
Age: 24
City: Des Moines, Iowa
Website: mendontgetcold.com
Twitter: @katelidgett
Linkedin: linkedin.com/pub/kate-lidgett
Intro music: “Shake It Out” by Florence + The Machine
Silicon Prairie News: Your title at Dwolla is chief chaos coordinator. How does one with a title like that create or manage the chaos in a startup?
Kate Lidgett: Sometimes the most valuable thing I can do for the team is to take care of Ben because when he is being productive, the team mimics that. Especially in a startup when everything affects everyone, his energy is really contagious. I also think it’s important to make each employee feel valued. Everyone works better when they feel like they matter.
SPN: One of your responsibilities at Dwolla is to manage CEO Ben Milne’s hectic calendar. When scheduling meeting times with another party, what are a few tips you could share to make the regular task easier and quicker?
KL: I am very protective of Ben and his time, so if you are trying to get a meeting with him, get straight to the point and tell me who you are and why you want to meet with him.
SPN: Outside of Dwolla, you have a business as a personal shopper. Besides a Dwolla T-shirt, what’s a good men and women’s outfit for a regular day in the Dwolla office and why?
KL: When you get dressed in the morning, just think about what you want your clothes to say about you. Do you want them to say that you are confident and put together or do you want them to say that you didn’t care enough about this job to wear a clean shirt? When you dress better, you do better.
SPN: You’re engaged with three pets and write about your coming marriage and family on your personal blog, Men Don’t Get Cold. What are a few of your best practices for maintaining a healthy work-life balance, especially when working for a startup.
KL: It’s easy to get caught up in the startup bubble, so being involved in other organizations and having another creative outlet, like my blog, really help me maintain a healthy balance.
SPN: One of your pets is a puppy named Toby, a lab retriever mix. What’s one fun trick you hope to or have already taught him?
KL: We taught him to ring a bell on the door with his nose when he needs to go outside. Other than that, his only trick is to look cute when he just did something bad, like when he ate our curtains the other night.
Images credit: Photo by Anna Jones | Art of Photography
Prairie Portraits: To learn more about this series, see our introduction post, or visit our archives for past Prairie Portraits. To suggest an individual for a future Prairie Portrait, contact editor@siliconprairienews.com.
