Employee Spotlight – Kristi Kohl

You might know by now that we are a fairly small (but mighty) business made up of some pretty awesome folks. So, we wanted to do a series that highlights our people. Because at the end of the day – that is who it’s all about, the people! We started this Employee Spotlight series on our podcast, Between Two Tablets. But, we wanted to translate it into our blog because we really do love our people that much.

Each Employee Spotlight article will highlight one of our team members and cover what they do here at TCS as well as what they do outside of these blue and green walls. We highlighted a handful of team members throughout the past year on our podcast and will slowly start sharing them on here as well. But, if you have zero patience, feel free to go back and listen to them all right now. I won’t stop you. For now – onto our first employee spotlight!

Everyone, Meet Kristi

Kristi is a positive and energetic part of our sales team where she serves as a Business Development Specialist. She has been in that role since she first came on board here at TCS back in July of 2020. After living in Denver for several years, she took a leap and moved back “home”. She must have gotten tired of the wintery slopes and beautiful mountain views. But in reality, she was just ready for a change and a chance to move closer to family in the middle of what was a hard year for a lot of people.

As Business Development Specialist, Kristi works both with new and existing customers. She not only gets to introduce our services to potential new customers, but also does account management for her current customer base to ensure all their needs and expectations are met.

“I get to connect with new people and bring them aboard and show them all that Techcycle has to offer.”

Kristi’s role has a huge impact on the everyday business here at TCS, but the value she see’s in her job goes much further than that. For her, it’s all about helping the customer and making their life easier.

“In light of last year, it’s incredibly important that schools and businesses have away to quickly and efficiently fix their devices. I think because so many people moved ‘remote’ – schools did, some businesses did. People are using their devices more at home, especially with kids in school. (We get to) help people solve their problems with device repair, as it is a necessary evil, but very necessary.”

Professional Background

Kristi is well-versed in the sales space. As I mentioned above, she moved here from Denver where she worked in sales for another tech company within the restaurant industry for over 3 years. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit the restaurant industry pretty hard and she was furloughed – but that led her to TCS! People are her true passion, which is why she rocks as sales and fits in so well here at Techcycle.

“Sales is….it’s just good skills to learn in general for career purposes depending on where you want to go.”

The magic of pandemic timing and LinkedIn connected Kristi with Techcycle and she knew right away it was going to be a great fit. “It just felt like a really good fit and like this is a good culture to be a part of. And, you know, it’s definitely a lucrative business and it’s a new skill set and a new industry I didn’t know anything about. So, I just saw it as an opportunity to really become more of a well rounded person and a well-rounded salesperson.”

“When life gives you lemons, you make limeade.”

Life Outside of TCS

Having moved away from the Rockies, Kristi no longer goes skiing or hiking in her spare time as she used to do. Although she did climb her fair share of 14’ers (meaning a mountain that is 14,000 feet above sea level for those of us who live in Flatland USA). Now, she has a handful of activities and people that keep her busy here in the KC area.

“I love spending time with people and I love finding new restaurants to try out. On the weekends I occasionally work at a bridal shop called Altar – and that’s so fun. I also volunteer a lot of my time at my church and I spend a lot of time working out.”

At this point in the conversation we did a deep dive into some of her KC restaurant recommendations – you can check out our podcast episode on Spotify if you want to hear what those are (or just search for ‘Between Two Tablets’ wherever you get your podcasts).

Mindset and Perspective

With the crazy year that was 2020, she did some reflecting on what it was like for her personally: “I’m gonna be honest – it was one of the best years I’ve ever had. What a great year of personal growth, of professional growth. It really gave me an opportunity to change my mindset and to say ‘Okay – I am in control of how my day goes and of my attitude and I’m the only one that can change that.'”

With that behind us, she already has her sights set on a fantastic 2021. Rather than letting the events of last year get her down or negatively control her life, she is taking full control and plans to make it her best year yet.

“This year I feel like it’s just gonna be a huge year of multiplication. I’m really looking forward to seeing the way that I continue to grow my career professionally, enlarge my circle of friends, and enlarge my hobbies hopefully. You know, I’m really really excited for this year. It feels like a clean blank slate.”

Superpower of Choice

One of our founding values here at TCS is to ‘Be a Hero’ and that’s not something we take lightly. We understand the impact that technology and devices have on our every-day life, especially given the year we just had. Remote working and learning is almost the new normal. So, when your battery stops working or your screen shatters – it can set you back. That’s why we try to be your hero, save the day and save your device. We truly empower our team to have the hero mindset, so for a fun twist we ask each person what their superpower of choice would be. Just wait until you hear what Kristi chose!

“I’m so excited…my superpower would be being able to, at the drop of a hat, do any accent…perfectly.”

The crazy part is she can already do a handful of accents pretty darn well. You will have to listen to our podcast to hear for yourself – but her Boston accent really is top notch!

Beyond the Spotlight

We hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about our team member, Kristi! Feel free to connect with her via email (kkohl@techcyclesolutions.com) or LinkedIn to get her latest restaurant recommendations or to learn about all we have to offer here at Techcycle Solutions. In the meantime, please enjoy this fantastically fun photo of Kristi herself:

All the best,

Bonny

Check out our latest blogs on the super bowl, microsoldering and keeping momentum in 2021.