First Poll

Employee Spotlight: Chelsea Mercer

Chelsea Mercer is the focus of this Employee Spotlight.

Not only is Chelsea, 20, a Student Maid employee, she is also a hair stylist at Beach Break Salon in Gainesville. It was her job at the salon that helped her discover Student Maid; she knew owner Kristen Hadeed from doing her hair. Chelsea says she was inspired by Kristen and her many goals, and Kristen was willing to give her a second job.

Chelsea has been working for Student Maid for several months. Her usual job is residential cleaning, but Chelsea also loves pets and babysitting; she has three years of experience as a teacher’s aide.

Chelsea describes Student Maid as “really classy.” She says that the business and its members are professional and take pride in what they do, which is why she enjoys being a Student Maid employee.

Student Maid Employee Chelsea Mercer (Photo credit: Mikifoto

Employee Spotlight: Andrew Alderson

This Spotlight features Andrew Alderson.

Alderson, 26, initially moved to the city of Gainesville to play music. He discovered Student Maid on Facebook, and applied for a job. With the work schedule of the company, Alderson felt Student Maid would be a perfect fit.

“I’m a super detail-oriented person,” Alderson states of wanting to work for the company. He also describes his wish to do good and to get better within Student Maid. Alderson says the possibility of moving up to managerial positions is another excellent aspect of the job.

Alderson began at Student Maid with mostly commercial cleaning; he now covers a variety of residential, apartment, and commercial cleaning jobs.

One reason Alderson attributes to his enjoyment of working for Student Maid is that he gets to help people keep their houses clean. Alderson also professes to love when he can make the customers he works for say “wow,” and to do such a good job that they want Alderson and his cleaning partner to return to do the job again.

One of Alderson’s main interests outside of Student Maid lies in being a member of a rockabilly band that plays around Gainesville. Alderson also just bought a house with his wife, Alicia.

Employee Spotlight: Pami Zelaya

This Student Spotlight features Pami Zelaya, 21. Pami is a senior at the University of Florida, where she is double-majoring in tourism and hospitality management and Spanish. Pami has been working for Student Maid since May of 2010, and was recently named the company’s operations manager.

Pami discovered Student Maid after her mother saw an article about the company in the Gainesville newspaper, the Alligator. Pami, a self-described “clean freak”, learned more about the company and liked that Student Maid “did more than just cleaning.” The party planning aspect of Student Maid especially appealed to Pami, with her given major in tourism and hospitality management.

Pami began her employment by cleaning houses; her new position as operations manager means that she is now involved mainly in training new employees, and in performing quality checks on the work done by other students. It also gives her more interaction with the clients themselves. Pami reports one of the most important aspects of Student Maid as being the input and opinions from the clients, as she says that the company itself is based on “how the community sees us.”

With her double-major and position in the company, Pami keeps busy. She states that while the job does take up time, it makes her feel like she is going in the right direction. Pami is also a member of the dance team at UF, which she says “helps keep everything in check.”

“The best part,” says Pami of her Student Maid employment, “is everyone I work with.” Pami describes the company’s employees not as colleagues, but as “kind of like a family.”

Student Maid Employee Pami Zelaya (Photo credit: Mikifoto

Employee Spotlight: Kaylee Davis

One of the most important aspects of the Student Maid company is, of course, the students! In order for you to better get to know the Student Maid staff, the blog will be posting short profiles about different company employees. Today’s centers on a new Student Maid employee, Kaylee Davis.

Kaylee has been a Student Maid employee since this September, after finding out about the company on Craigslist. The 19-year-old is currently a third-year student at Santa Fe College, but plans to soon transfer to the University of Florida. Kaylee is majoring in occupational therapy- she was inspired to switch from her original psychology major after a friend’s baby was born in a traumatic labor, which resulted in bleeding in the infant’s brain and a three-week stay in the neonate unit. When Kaylee visited, she met an occupational therapist there and “fell in love with it immediately”; she is now specializing in neonates within the occupational therapy field.

Kaylee works primarily in residential cleaning and babysitting for Student Maid. Growing up in a family with five siblings, Kaylee expresses a love for children and babies. Her other passion, she states, is in helping people, which is the reason she cites for choosing Student Maid as her employer. “I feel like I am really helping someone in my work,” Kaylee says. She enjoys the volunteering aspect of the company as well.

Kaylee maintains a 3.6 GPA and has recently received her Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.
Update: Kaylee was recently named Student Maid’s Employee of the Month!

Student Maid Employee Kaylee Davis

Painting the Wall

On Sunday morning, eight Student Maid employees were up bright and early (for students, at least) to paint the well-known 34th street wall with the Student Maid logo and website address. The group met with rollers, brushes, and buckets of bright orange and white paint to make a mark on the wall.

After choosing a spot, the painters got to work covering the chosen area with a coat of white to provide a background. Pami Zelaya provided an outline for the group, painting out the studentmaid.com url and tracing the maid girl image at the end. The other painters followed, thickening the letters so that they could be seen across the road.

About two hours later the work was done, and the group posed in front of their finished product adorning the wall. The Student Maid message, with its bright orange paint job, stood out strikingly from the street.

Sadly, Student Maid’s artwork didn’t last for long; it was painted over rapidly after being finished. Luckily for Student Maid fans, however, our section of the wall was immortalized in pictures before being covered. Check out the painting process and the finished work on our Facebook page, or look below to see a few pictures from the event!

Casting Call

On September 1o, Student Maid hosted a casting call for our first commercial! The casting call was held at The Little Shop, a children’s store in Haile Village, from two to five p.m.

Student Maid staff were on hand to provide information and entertainment while the kids, ages two through nine, waited for their turn to come. Once their numbers were called, the children were asked a number of funny questions to get their even funnier reactions, which were, of course, recorded on camera.

The turnout for the casting call was fantastic! We were excited to see many clients of Student Maid and their families in attendance! So that all of the children will be featured, a trailer will be posted on the Student Maid website (www.studentmaid.com), for everyone to see the talented tots. A few children will then be selected to air in the commercial as well.

If you came and participated in the Student Maid casting call, thank you; we’re glad you did! If you missed the excitement, some pictures from the busy day of casting are posted below (to see more photos from the event, check out our Facebook page)!

Have a great week, and keep checking back for more Student Maid events.