Smizer Consulting

Providing Education and EdTech consulting and support services across marketing, operations, branding, culture improvement, curriculum planning and development, and user experience.

Owner

ProSolve

Product & Curriculum Manager

NextWave STEM

First Executive level hire
Managed 21 individual contributors (whole company)
Created crisis management strategies, long-term fiscal health and growth plans, and product development roadmaps including staffing and content development timelines
Owned client relationships for 175 accounts, including equipment procurement, professional development, curriculum access, customer success and support, and renewals
Identified and mitigated business-critical risks including instituting mandatory background checks for individuals providing in-classroom service, payroll risk management, cost risk analysis for services and hardware solutions, and legal issues raised by staff
Managed CRM process improvements, best practices documentation, and scaling efforts reducing procurement and service errors by 85%
Aligned RFP/Q market penetration strategy, BDR outreach cadence, lead list generation, and marketing efforts resulting in 4x more marketing mailers scheduled, an open rate increase from 11% to 18%, and an estimated 150% more M/SQLs
Responsible for filling 14 open roles across Operations & Sales

Director of Operations

NeuroMaker STEM

Leadership and People Operations
- recruited, vetted, and interviewed 40+ Contractors, part-, &  full-time employees; then played a critical role in the hiring process of 15+ Contractors, part-time, & full-time employees. My full-time hire has since been promoted to an Associate Director.
- supported 1099ers and sales representatives with marketing materials, onboarding, sales, and communication support
- responsible for process improvement across several departments

Product Management
     NeuroMaker e-Learning
- supported and now own the development of NeuroMaker’s e-learning platform & e-learning courses, including the recruitment and management of SMEs
- developed and priced the multi-path option resulting in greater sales outcomes 

Project Management
     NeuroMaker Website
- maintain and update website
- reported weekly on Google Analytics key metrics, including lead generation, user acquisition, user behavior
     Data Pilot Program
- determine 20+ critical data categories and demographic identifiers surrounding the impact of NeuroMaker curriculum and hardware-specific outcomes to support districts in meeting attendance and behavior concerns 

Business Development
     Partnerships
- independently initiated and secured a partnership with a leading U.S. 3D printing company, ensuring that our districts have a trusted vendor through which to purchase makerspace equipment
- reviewed all other partnerships that impact any department under my purview, particularly curriculum, hardware, software, and content.
     Customer Success
- owned the development and start-up of the Customer Success department, including the creation of operating procedures, KPI development, Salesforce (CRM) integrations, and customer monitoring cycles
     Sales Enablement
- owned and operated solicitation process beginning in summer of 2022, resulting in 8 completed RFPs, being awarded an RFP through Dallas ISD, as well as moving into final round consideration for a large district in GA

Director of User Experience

Product Development & Management
     HAND Curriculum Rebuild and Arduino Project (Project Management)
- owned and developed a comprehensive curriculum offering (80+ hours of interdisciplinary STEM content), ensuring the project stayed within budget and on time
- reported on the project during weekly cross-functional team stand-ups to establish ongoing needs, risks, and success metrics/KPIs
- collected critical user feedback, ranging from barriers-to-access to quality-of-life features that impacted the rollout of the curriculum, ultimately leading to the development of the Customer Success department

Project Management
     NeuroMaker Website
- crafted 150+ pages using WPBakery and a variety of WP plugins, including Interactive Maps, PDF Embedder, Redirection, etc. while overseeing a web design contractor 
- reported weekly on Google Analytics key metrics, including lead generation, user acquisition, user behavior

Business Development
     Partnerships
- independently initiated and secured a partnership with a leading U.S. 3D printing company, ensuring that our districts have a trusted vendor through which to purchase makerspace equipment
     Sales Enablement
- supported in securing nearly 50% of direct revenue during fiscal year 2022

Social Media
- oversaw graphics creation and created copy for social media across 4 major platforms 3 times a week, resulting in an increase of 210.1% (431) new followers to the LinkedIn business page since assuming responsibility on September 1, 2022 (as of January 31, 2023)

Marketing
- developed 50+ pages of marketing, testimonial, and blog content driving traffic to sales contact and website

Associate Director of Curriculum

Product Development & Management
NeuroMaker HAND Curriculum Revamp
- developed layout for updated HAND curriculum
- crafted supporting documentation for new curriculum release, including standard support documentation, curriculum progressions, Career & Technical Education documentation, crosswalks for integrating NeuroMaker material into core and supplemental STEM/CTE materials, etc.
- managed 5+ Contractors who developed critical standard alignment and curriculum documentation during the initial curriculum build
- created dozens of customized progressions based on individual school/district/organization requirements ensuring that program goals and objectives were met within the program's allotted time frame
NeuroMaker e-Learning
- produced several courses for NeuroMaker's e-learning product and managed 3 SME Contractors who developed courses for the platform

Sales Enablement
- supported sales team members by providing expert advice and support during calls with prospective customers, improving close rates

Implementation Support
- assisted implementation team by providing curriculum and integration support to customers needing aid with applying curriculum or materials into their classroom or program

Curriculum Manager

PowerSchool

managed a portfolio of 30+ enterprise-level districts exceeding 6 million dollars through SalesForce, Gainsight, and Zendesk, with 97% of all accounts engaged with a formal account review 
1.5 times the number of customer references enrolled than departmental average
$140,000 in sales referrals attained in 6 months; 70% of that translating to ARR ($96,000) processed via Netsuite
90.4% of all renewals booked with a PO or signed quote for fiscal year 2021 (higher than dept. average)
Rookie Rockstar recipient (Quarter 3, 2021)

Customer Success Manager

Illuminate Education, Inc.

used data analytics insights to support educators as well as advise senior district leadership regarding best practices for professional development and implementation plans and timelines
consistently achieved over 95% satisfaction rating from training participants
delivered trainings to educators and administrators in groups of between 2 and 250 participants, ultimately training over 1,800 users and supporting 50+ districts
preferred trainer for high-risk, renewal, and migration districts
published expert in Illuminate’s “Increasing Equity & Empowering Change” 
Illuminate Instructor Spotlight recipient - August & September 2020

Interim Lead Trainer

Content Developer and Trainer

Fruitvale School District

Multiple Subject Teacher

TCSD

Burrel Union Elementary School District

Great Harvest Bread Co.

I started out as a front of house customer service representative, helping customers select our hand crafted breads, preparing savory sandwiches, and serving delicious breakfast spreads. After a few months in the front, I was given the opportunity to work behind the scenes as a baker. This transition was a real eye-opener about the real care and time required to make quality breads and pastries. I absolutely loved the people and bread and split my time between working overnights and substituting during the day.

Baker

After 6 action- and service-packed years in the classroom, I left teaching in 2020 looking for a way to more broadly impact the lives of teachers. I got my footing in EdTech first in the contractor arena as a teacher trainer and e-learning developer for two assessment companies. During that period I worked with thousands of teachers and dozens of districts to provide high-quality and customized training and created dozens of hours of original e-learning content that would go on to serve as the backbone of an asynchronous training program. 

In mid-2021, I pivoted to Customer Success for one of the largest EdTech providers and quickly become an award-winning high-performer. I managed a book of business of over $6M while maintaining 97% account engagement with over 90% of all renewals booked with a PO or signed quote for that year. I also demonstrated my ability to play well with others, partnering with my Sales Manager to capture $140K in referrals in 6 months with 70% of that translating into ARR. 

After that, I took a Curriculum Manager position with NeuroMakerSTEM, a small Brain-Computer Interface and Prosthetics-based Edtech Startup looking for someone with the ability to take their curriculum to the next level. I delivered on that promise, kicking off and then visioning and owning the development and revamping of over 80 hours of interdisciplinary STEM curriculum with the support of a team of contractors and an instructional designer that I was responsible for hiring, onboarding, and leading. 

Since serving at NeuroMaker, I have been promoted twice, ultimately to the Director of User Experience where I now own a variety of departments including Curriculum, Social Media, Marketing, E-Learning Content Creation & Curation, Sales Enablement, Training & Development, and Website Design, Development & Maintenance. In addition, I've also created several departments, including Customer Success and Solicitations (RFPs, RFQs). I am also directly responsible for project management within the User Experience division and often serve a long-term strategy and visioning role for other departments because of my deep understanding of the Education and EdTech marketplace. 

Outside of work, I spend my time supporting the Transitioning Teacher community with Portfolio Advice and Services. I've had the pleasure of creating a comprehensive guide to portfolios and have been featured on several podcasts and vlogs as a guest expert in regard to transitioning from the classroom or as a female leader in EdTech.

Claire Smizer

Had a client call this morning. And everything was normal... 

until it wasn't... 

Unbeknownst to me, my oldest
- snuck out of bed
- crept into the basement (where my office is)
- put on a full dance-parade-vibe performance behind me

The pièce de résistance? When she hid around the corner and poked a broom into my office - as if I (or the client) wouldn't make the connection between the levitating broom and the little catburglar we'd seen run across the background several times. 

 10/10 - chaos
 0/10 - stealth
1000/10 - entertainment on a Friday morning

So #WorkFromHome #Parents - how do you handle/keep a straight face when your kid becomes the uninvited star of your meeting? 

Besides installing a laser security system...

🤪 the winner of this week's "That's my kid!" award.

Co-Founder @ BrightMinds AI | EdTech Start-up Builder and Strategist 🌀| Teacher Advocate | Oxford Comma Enthusiast

Would you rather
A. apply to a job via workday
B. play hangman with a kindergartener (who, by the way, hasn't learned to spell... but is also 100% confident that they are a spelling wizard)

Toward the end of round 3 and hearing "Oh wait... " for the 1,000th time... I was starting to feel a little on the fence. 

Totally stole this post idea from Adam Karpiak who brings a healthy dose of humor to my feed. 🙏

Question for the community:


Why does the dog only get zoomies when I'm in a meeting?

The derp in question:

taplio