Alex Trepka, Senior Client Support Coordinator out of Crafty Chicago

Alex Trepka is the kind of person who makes you feel cared for in a 30-second interaction. No matter the context of the conversation, you're left with the impression that he is genuinely interested in you. And he is.

Which is probably why he was drawn to acting and improv. He's great one-on-one and can connect with an entire audience. After graduating from Southern Illinois University in 2009, he headed to Chicago to hit the big stage. He held down a handful of odd jobs while acting and auditioning, like delivering pizzas, working at The Gap, and driving a Zamboni, to name a few. After looking for something a bit more stable, Alex turned his sights to the office management world.

In fact, Alex was one of Crafty's first big clients at Sprout Social. When Sprout signed on with Crafty as their food & beverage partner, Alex handled workplace experience and was the main point of contact for Crafty. He became close with his Client Success Manager, Monica Diaz (now Director of Client Success). They established a great partnership, and through that, Alex started to get insight into what it might be like to work at Crafty.

After taking some time off of work during the pandemic, Alex decided it was time to jump-start the job hunt. He sent a text to Monica that would seal his fate as a Crafty legend…

“Hey, Monica! Do you know of any open roles at Crafty?”

What first attracted you to Crafty?

Coming from being a Crafty client and the main point of contact for Crafty when I was at Sprout, I had a good idea of the working environment here. I knew that people who worked at Crafty liked their jobs, and they liked each other. Because Sprout was one of Crafty's first big clients, we interacted a fair amount with Nate, Crafty's CEO, and Jimmy, Crafty's CTO.

I got a good sense of the Crafty culture, which can seem like an ambiguous word, but what I mean to say is that the people who were running Crafty cared immensely about employee experience, and when you build a company around that philosophy, it draws people in. I wanted to work for a place that, like Sprout, understands the value of keeping employees happy.

I've worked at places where all they provide is a lukewarm pot of drip coffee. By the time Crafty came around, the standard started to change, and the bar was being raised. I liked the idea of working at a place that was disrupting the status quo.

You have been a valuable cultural steward at Crafty since you started working here. Can you tell us how that came to be and some of the initiatives you’ve started?

I’m probably most famous for starting “Question of the Day” at Crafty on Slack. It's undoubtedly my most wide-reaching cultural initiative. It was born out of my desire to connect with my coworkers, particularly those I didn't interact with in a work capacity much. I found this book called 3000 Questions About Me at Target, and I thought, what if I put one of these questions a day into our #random channel on Slack? They started getting a lot of interaction, so we started a Question of the Day channel, and it’s just taken off. People will submit questions to me, and they’ll be the featured question asker of the day, so it’s not just mine; it has taken on a life of its own. It's created so much conversation and allowed us, the Crafty crew, to get to know each other better, no matter where we are in the country.

Aside from that initiative, I come up to the Chicago HQ office once a quarter. My fiance Mary started grad school at SIUE, so we moved down to Edwardsville, IL, from Chicago in 2022. I wanted to make the most of my week at HQ, so I started a game night. We hook up video game consoles and set up some board games. We get some pizza and beer and hang out and play games. It's straightforward, nothing super special, but it's allowed us to hang out in person, have fun, and crush each other at Super Smash Brothers.

Finally, I’ve just recently started sharing my meditation practice with our team members. I led a virtual guided meditation with the Tech Team, which was great. I've recently gotten into meditating and logged about 10,000 minutes, which has really helped me, so I wanted to share that with our team.

No one has asked me to do any of these things, but I'm hard-wired to find ways to connect with people. It's my personality, so I'm always keeping my eyes and ears open for good ideas to bring to our team so we can spend time together.

Below are some highlights of some of our favorite Question of the Day questions👇

Can you walk us through your current role at Crafty?

As a Senior Client Support Coordinator, my team and I are responsible for being the human on the other end for clients or people getting in touch with Crafty for the first time. I help facilitate requests, get clients in touch with the right people to solve an issue, and create tickets for our service team when equipment needs help and we aren’t able to troubleshoot.

We handle a multitude of general inquiries, and oftentimes, we are the first people you interact with when reaching out to Crafty, so on our team, there's a big emphasis on making sure we leave a great impression on who we're communicating with. We want people to walk away from our exchange, having experienced that unique, Crafty voice and warmth that we're known for.

What do you love most about your job?

I love being Crafty to people who have never experienced Crafty before, meaning that I get to be the one to show them what it’s like working with Crafty. Our competitors don’t put stock in having a human connection, and that sets us apart. We have long been praised for our unique voice and personality as a company, which I’ve experienced as a client. It makes a difference.

Most vendors don't necessarily make you feel like they care about you and the things you have to manage when you're in charge of the employee experience at your workplace. I love creating connections and relationships with clients and the people I interact with. If someone comes to us in frustration because the cold brew keg won't pour, I want them to feel heard. It may seem like a minor issue, but if their CEO is expecting cold brew and it’s not working, it falls on them. I get to help them look good at work while solidifying trust with them in those moments of difficulty.

What is the most challenging part of your job?

Having difficult conversations with clients is tough. It's never easy to say no to people, but sometimes, we have to temper expectations. We always try to find other resources for our clients if they ask us to do something outside our wheelhouse, and that is a good way for us to show them that we are here to help. If we say no but have taken the time to research their problem and help find a solution, even if Crafty isn't the entity to take action for them, we have at least tried to set them up for success.

How have your previous roles helped you in your current role at Crafty?

I have the unique experience of being a crafty client first. This has helped tremendously in my role on the Support Team. I can empathize with our clients on a fundamental level. I don't have to imagine what it's like to need help planning a National Donut Day spread or the panic that sets in when the coffee machine is on the fritz. I can sense emotionally where the client might be when they reach out and it allows me to lead my interactions with them from a place of empathy.

What kind of office snacks and beverages do you depend on to make it through the workday?

I love Everybody Eats Cheeseless Thins. They're delicious, good for you, and still taste like cheese while having no cheese in them. Shoutout to nutritional yeast. I also love the apple cinnamon Yes Bar. It’s such a good, healthy, sweet option. As for beverages, I go for classic sparkling water. I love a Peach Pear La Croix.

Let’s get personal! What does a perfect day off look like for you?

If I have the day off, I'll sleep a little bit. My fiance Mary would most likely be at school all day – sorry, I love you, Mary, but everyone needs a day alone! I'd make a nice breakfast with French press coffee, scrambled eggs, and pancakes. Then, I'd take our dog Timmy for a nice long walk around the reservoir by our house. I'd come home, nap, and then head out to lunch at this local burger place in our town called Sneaky's. Then, I'd come home and lie down with Timmy while playing a few games on my Nintendo Switch. Mary would come home in the evening, and we'd make a nice spaghetti dinner and have some red wine. After dinner, we'd watch an episode of Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix. And then, we'd put on a record, have some more wine, hang out, and chat in the living room before heading to bed. It's a very chill, uneventful day, but it sounds perfect to me.

**⚡Now for the lightning round!⚡**

What is the last TV show you watched?
Somebody Feed Phil

What is the last book you read?
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

What is the last song you listened to?
“Kiss From A Rose” by Seal

What is the emoji that best encompasses your vibe?

🙌

Who is a famous person you’d like to hang out with?
Donald Glover.

Who was your first celebrity crush?
Topanga from Boy Meets World.

Crafty would like to extend a huge thank you to Alex for generously sharing his time and insights with us and allowing us to write about him. Thank you so much for all you do for Crafty. We are endlessly grateful to have you on our team.

Meet Alex Trepka, Crafty’s Senior Client Support Coordinator in Chicago

**⚡Now for the lightning round!⚡**

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