ShipEngineer Spotlight: Mikayla Middleton

What is your role at ShipEngine?

I am an Account Executive for Mid-Market users. My role is to create lasting, quality relationships with our customers and provide exceptional customer experience. I bring commitment, enthusiasm, and creativity to ShipEngine everyday! (No, they did not pay me to say this) 

What does your typical work day look like? 

It changes every day but for the most part my days look like this: coffee, emails, snacking, calls, emails, emails, lunch, calls, snacking, calls, internal meetings, calls, second lunch, and… more emails. 

I’d also like to include that there’s lots of laughing with my coworkers. It’s not mundane at all. 

What tech do you get to work with?

Salesforce is my home—helping me manage my leads and stay organized! I also work with Hubspot, Slack, and Zoom on a daily basis.

How long have you been working on ShipEngine?

Fun fact! I was the first “official” ShipEngine employee. My offer letter was to work solely on ShipEngine, not ShipStation; this was before we split off into our own entity. I’m proud to say I’ve been working on ShipEngine for over 2 years. 

How did you get into this type of work?

I began working in the e-commerce space about 5 years ago, and haven’t looked back since! 

I was encouraged to apply to ShipEngine by a mentor of mine. At the time, I was looking for work that would challenge me, as well as allow me to have an influence on the business early on. Since ShipEngine was just revving up when I joined, it was a perfect opportunity for me to dive in and gain experience from all sides of a new business and learn more about go-to-market strategies. 

What is one of your proudest achievements? 

I’m the first person in my family to graduate with a 4-year college degree. GO COUUUGGS!!

What’s one feature of ShipEngine you want more users to discover?

Our Partner’s API. It’s essentially a way to white-label the ShipEngine experience within a custom-built application. It allows ShipEngine users with ShipEngine account provisioning and management tools. The amount of companies that could (and do) benefit from this is pretty staggering!

How do you spend your free time?

I’m a total protagonist—I take a great deal of pride and joy in guiding others to work together to improve themselves and their environments. Spending time in dynamic atmospheres with lots of people around makes me feel uplifted and energized. So, being around my family and friends makes me very happy. However, I also love spending lazy days with my fiancée and our 4 pets; I could hang out with them forever!

This involves watching any sports game I can get my hands on.  All sports, playing and watching! I’m a huge Seahawks and Washington State Cougars fan, and plan to WIN the ShipEngine Fantasy Football league this year. (Watch out, y’all!)

Reading is also a must. Take me to a book store and I’ll love you forever! I’m always looking for new recommendations, so feel free to send any “must-reads” my way. 

If you could have any super power, what would it be and why? 

This is so hard! Can I name a few? I’m going to name a few. 

1. Precognition. It would be awesome to know the winning lottery numbers for once. I’d also be able to see when natural disasters are coming and be able to protect people from danger. 
2. Universal Communication. I studied linguistics in college and loved it, but learning a language is a whole different beast. I’d like to have the power to speak any language—it would make immersing myself into cultures/countries a lot easier and way more fun! And, as an added bonus, I would have the ability to talk to animals. This way I could help cure their illnesses quicker, and also apologize to my dogs when I step on their feet. 
3. Teleportation. I could go on any vacation instantly! 

What did you want to be when you “grow-up”?

For the record, I would still like to be these things when I grow up; a DJ, an FBI detective, and a veterinarian. Or, better yet, a combination of the three!