Bringing Adventure to Prime 8: Aven King, Community Manager
Tell us about your role at Prime 8.
I work with the Original Equipment Manufacturers Marketing Account Team as a Program Manager focused on the operations for Lenovo North America and Lenovo World Wide Joint Marketing Agreement as well as some of the Incentive Programs.
What three skills are essential for your role?
Organization, flexibility and patience are vital my role. Managing budgets and purchase orders for various marketing campaigns across regions and months is crucial. It is vital to be well organized not only for budget operations but also for the support issues, so nothing gets lost. Things pop up all the time and plans change so there is an element of flexibility too, understanding it has to change and those changes have to be enacted typically within inflexible tools. Patience, whether it is with support, clients or technology, patience and understanding are crucial. Everyone comes into conversations with their own ideas and opinions and it’s important to acknowledge and balance them with the numbers and other factors. Working remote requires lots of patience when you get bumped off the internet at 9AM on a Monday!
Tell us a bit about how your career path led you to Prime 8.
My degree is in Astrophysics and Art History from Williams College and I have worked in a variety of outdoor industries. I also worked as an Account Executive for Anthology Marketing Group in Honolulu, Hawaii. I then spent the last five years working as a Lead Expedition Coordinator and Guide for Quark Expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctic. I was responsible for coordinating the logistics, facilitating communications and program managing all content. Getting to work in such extreme locations showed me how vital a good team is in even the most challenging conditions. Prior to the pandemic, I was looking to transition to more land-based work and the pandemic just pushed that into the forefront of my priorities. I was fortunate to be connected to the Director of Recruiting; she and my Account Manager worked so tirelessly to get me a position and I couldn’t be happier working for Prime 8.
What has been a highlight of your time with Prime 8 so far?
There are too many to count. Everyone has been so welcoming and supportive at Prime 8 it’s been wonderful. I also work with a great client and have really enjoyed making their systems more efficient and less painful for everyone involved. It’s been a time of tremendous learning for me (I didn’t even know you could make that many acronyms) and also incredibly rewarding.
What makes Prime 8 unique and valuable as a consultant that might be considering applying?
The people. Onboarding in a pandemic and work from home is a different situation all together and while I haven’t yet been able to meet my client or any of the Prime 8 family in person I do feel so incredibly welcomed (which is hard to do on a video screen). Everyone has been so kind and generous with their time and advice and as someone who was new to Prime 8 and Microsoft that was tremendously helpful. I have worked for a lot of companies and this is the best in terms of a work environment I have ever been a part of.
What makes Prime 8 unique and valuable to organizations that might be considering hiring a consulting company?
The flexibility and the talent pool in addition to the general attitude and goals of the company are incredibly unique. One of the things I love is the Prime 8’s value of “We are scrappy”. I think it calls out the idea that you are never done learning and there are always ways to push and grow and find solutions. I think that is crucial to any business’s success.
What inspires you?
The people I work with inspire me. I am constantly inspired by the joy people bring to their jobs, and the grace and humility by which they handle situations. I am inspired by individuals and organizations in my community that fight for justice and equality. By leaders and poets who have far more eloquent words than me to capture the world at this point in time. I am inspired by artists and musicians daily for their creativity. The world is an amazing place and as nerdy as this sounds in the immortal worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien as spoken by Samwise “there’s some good in this world and it’s worth fighting for.”
What is your favorite place that you have traveled?
This is such a tough question! I would still say South Georgia and Antarctica are still at the very top even though I have been many times. South Georgia is a remote island in the Antarctic biological zone, and it has the craziest wildlife extravaganza I have seen anywhere in the world. I’m referring to 100,000’s of King Penguins and thousands of Antarctic fur seals and baby Southern Elephant seals. It’s overwhelming in the best possible way, and it doesn’t hurt the backdrop are these incredibly jagged snow-covered peaks. And then Antarctica, which is like visiting another planet. It’s almost incomprehensible when you are there and that is the magic of it. Your brain can’t really seem to process the stark beauty of the black rock mountains covered in these white blue glaciers. When you travel by sea you spend a few days getting there and every time it feels as if I have somehow traveled through time and space into another dimension because this can’t possibly be real. And I’ve been there over 60 times at this point and I still get that feeling every time.
How has your experience working as a Former Lead Expedition Coordinator and Guide shape shaped who you are today?
Mainly it reinforced the importance of seeing the big picture while looking at the details. When we we’re out working in the environment you were the captain of your own vessel and that level of responsibility for human lives is intense. At the same time, you are still working within the larger scope and plan of the entire team, ship and crew. Your actions and timings while they may seem to be only related to your client’s experience can have ripple effects for the entire ship. You have to be aware of the details and at the same time hold the bigger picture in your head- see where all the timings and rotations play into the larger plan. The best guides are able to do that while also keeping everyone safe and providing an educational and enjoyable experience for the clients. Add into this constantly changing weather and conditions that rely on your own knowledge and intuition to keep everyone safe. I have been in life threatening situations and the thing that keeps you going in those challenging circumstances is knowing you have an equally capable team around you for support. And this applies to any job (regardless of if glacial ice is involved of not).
What can we learn from polar bears?
We can learn better respect for our environment. I think we often forget that these are really powerful creatures and we have an impact in their lives not only due to climate change but also in our interactions with them. Most human/bear interactions are not the fault of the bear- it’s their world we are barging into. And try and bring that into the rest of your life, remember the planet is not ours and we have taken over areas that were for so long the domain of many other animals. We are the ultimate colonizers and the more we can respect and work with instead of against the animals that were here before us the less we might mess up all of ecosystems on this planet.
How do you recharge outside of work?
I’ve started running more in this past year. As an asthmatic kid running was always equivalent to torture but now, I am really enjoying it. Doing some virtual races last year sparked something and I did 3 races last year and am signed up for 3 this year as well as a challenge for May/June where I have to run/hike 140 miles in those two months. Otherwise, I may strum and sing on my ukulele and do some sketching artwork. I also am an avid reader so getting lost in a good book is one of the best things- I really believe it can bend space and time (Is a space/time a theme here? Possibly just my astrophysics side showing itself).
Do you have a recent favorite book you have been enjoying this year?
Think Again by Adam Grant- it will change your world. My parents are both leadership consultants who have worked in the field for 30+ years and they agreed it was one of the most revolutionary books they have read in a long time. Highly recommend for everyone.
Learn more about why our consultants love being a part of the Prime 8 family. Want to join us? We’d love to hear from you. Tell us about yourself here.
