VYP Q&A: Amanda Thomas, Moxie Girl Household Assistants

Get to know some of your fellow VYPers in this recurring series of Q&A sessions with some of the Valley's top young professionals. This month, meet Amanda Thomas, founder of Moxie Girl Household Assistants. Amanda has a unique background and job and offers her perspective on the issues facing today's young professionals.
 
Q. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your business?
A. I'm 31 years old. I'm originally from South Dakota and I've been in the Valley for nine years. I started Moxie Girl three and a half years ago. The main goal is to help families have balance in life and align their personal and professional goals. We do everything from teaching clients how to use spaces better through organization to finding out if there's a better way to divvy up household chores. We help people better structure the time in their home.
 
Q. What is the best part of your job?
A. I love to see families after we start working with them and see the change that happens. A lot of times when we start there's stress or arguing. There's conflict in the home over silly things like laundry or who was supposed to do the dishes last night. When we start working with them and get a plan in action, we see them start to relax.
 
Q. What are some unusual parts of your job?
A. To me, it’s all second nature. Some might think it's unusual that we decorate Christmas trees and do grocery shopping. When we shop, often we end up saving clients money because we don't end up making the impulse purchases.
 
Q. What do you get out of attending the regular Valley Young Professionals meetings?
A.  I love the information that’s presented and being able to learn from other companies. The other part is just being able to see people of the same age group, motivated and out there.
 
Q. What do you feel are the challenges facing young professionals today?
A. It’s really just figuring out who you are and who you want to be. So many of us, especially growing up in the 1980’s, have a vision of what corporate America is supposed to be. And, now we're challenged to figure out who we want to be. Growing up, our generation had these movies and shows that showed people being very ambitious in their professional goals and we're trying to figure out how to keep our personal lives and ethics in line with that as well.

Q. What piece of advice has helped your career?
A. Find people you can learn from. Surround yourself with people who’ve tried what you’re doing or have been there. It’s helped me so much. You develop close friendships with them. And, don’t take those relationships for granted.
 
Q. What do you like to do outside of work?
A. In my personal life, I’m very un-girly.  I like to camp and get dirty. My husband and I also like to travel and play tennis and try new restaurants. We do a lot of cooking as well of ethnic foods and enjoy being experimental in the kitchen.
 
Q. Anything about you that would surprise people?
A. Probably that I grew up on a cattle farm in South Dakota and learned to drive a tractor when I was eight years old. My parents still live there and I got back a few times a year.

This interview, conducted by Christina Estes, is part of the Chamber's monthly Valley Young Professionals email. To find out more about being a part of the VYP group, click here. To sign up for any or all of the Chamber's newsletters, click here.