resume

Zach Spears

Zachary Spears

Customer service excellence, and junior User Experience Designer.

Updated as of: Mar 2021

Work Experience

Nov 2020 –
Present

Nov 2020 – Present

Consultation Agent with Geek Squad – Apple Certified

I meet with clients to discuss a wide range of software and hardware issues, and do an initial diagnosis of the likely cause. With each client I discuss our wide range of repair options, pricing, and subscription offerings to find the best solution for them. I am Apple Certified for almost all devices, including iPhone Repairs, and use Apples GSX (Global Service Exchange) System to run diagnostics, troubleshoot, and check-in devices for repair or process replacements. I also share responsibility for organizing the work bench, tracking customer devices, and inventory. In the two months I have worked with Geek Squad I have raised our teams NPS (Net Promoter Score), received exceptional client comments, and consistently have one of the highest sales numbers.

Sept 2020 –
Nov 2020

Sept 2020 – Nov 2020

Marketing and Social Media Assistant for the Douglas County Democratic Party

For the 2020 general election, I redesigned the Douglas County Democrats Website using WordPress and Divi, while overseeing a transition to a new hosting provider. I created technical documentation for the party on how to update and maintain the website after the election cycle. I assisted in building a digital marketing strategy, and managed the organizations Google Marketing. In addition, I generated numerous advertisements including graphics, pictures and animated motion graphic videos.

June 2020 –
Sept 2020

June 2020 – Sept 2020

Enumerator for the United States Census Bureau

I worked as an Enumerator for the 2020 United States Census. I utilized government issued equipment, and conducted over four hundred in-person interviews in diverse city and rural areas for the nonresponse followup operation.

Feb 2020 –
May 2020

Feb 2020 – May 2020

Consultant on the Digital Atlas Identify Project

This NSF funded project was created to give novice fossil shell collectors a tool to upload pictures of their discoveries and have professional paleontologists taxonomically identify the specimen. Users are also able to choose to make their images public and share them with the community. WordPress was used as the “maintenance free” backend because it supported all the required functionality including a standard JSON API for access from a native iOS app. I designed and built and WordPress website to support the application and its functionality. I was also responsible for the user experience and designed the user interface using Figma, in addition to assisting in building the UI using UiKit in Xcode.

Oct 2017 –
Feb 2020

Oct 2017 – Feb 2020

Forum Moderator / D2 Expert / Social Media Associate with Amazon

I was hand-picked as one of four initial Forum Moderators for the launch of the Amazon digital and device forums due to my consistently high metrics and positive customer responses. Our team, along with two additional moderators based in Spain, covered six marketplaces and were unique as the only team at the company to provide technical support for every Amazon device and service. We engaged the community and worked to build meaningful relationships with users while encouraging their repeat interaction. We handled a wide variety of activity, including product and feature announcements, providing technical and community support, and conducting internal reporting and escalating systemic issues. I also provided similar technical support in the forums for Amazon Game Studios’ game “New World”. In April 2019 my team was also trained to assist Amazon’s social media team by providing technical support for digital and device troubleshooting on Twitter and Facebook.

May 2017 –
Oct 2017

May 2017 – Oct 2017

Customer Service Associate with Amazon

I began working with Amazon as a customer service associate, listening to customers stories and diagnosing pain points and root causes. I used Amazon’s internal systems to investigate solutions and ensure the customer had a good experience, that their issue was resolved. I primarily assisted customers over the phone.

2015 –
Present

2015 – Present

Sole Proprietor of Little Cloud Cinema

Little Cloud Cinema is a local production company based in Lawrence Kansas. We focus on advertising and marketing for small businesses and local institutions such as the University of Kansas. With Little Cloud Cinema I have worked on several advertisements and marketing projects, as well as other independent contractor work.

2015 –
2016

2015 – 2016

Lead Videographer with Mycroft AI

Mycroft AI is the world’s first open source artificial intelligence. I joined the Mycroft team to produce the Kickstarter video which launched the company and became the highest funded Kickstarter in the state of Kansas at the time. At Mycroft, I created numerous marketing videos, including animated motion graphics, and assisted with community management for the company and brand.

2013 –
2015

2013 – 2015

Sales Associate with Wild Territory

Wild Territory is a small local science and nature story located in the heart of downtown Lawrence Kansas. I began as a cashier and quickly assisted with stocking, inventory, and designing shirts. I also created the stores online presence and continue to assist with their marketing around the holidays.

Independent Contractor Experience

2015 and
2019 – Mar 2020

2015 and 2019 – Mar 2020

User Experience Designer for the Digital Atlas of Ancient Life Mobile Apps

In 2015 I created designed the user interface for the Digital Atlas of Ancient Life app for the iPad and iPhone. The app was designed to provide access to the database of information offline on mobile devices. In 2019 the project received a grant to update the mobile experience and create a second app title Digital Atlas Identify to allow users to submit fossil pictures for identification. I designed the user experiences for these projects using the design software Figma.

2018
Midterm
Elections

2018 Midterm Elections

Marketing Consultant for the Douglas County Democrats

During the 2018 midterm elections I worked with a small team to promote the importance of voting as well as the local Democratic Party’s goals for the state of Kansas. I also oversaw a strong push to get out the vote and provide a place for voters to get any information they may need on Election Day.

2016 –
Present

2016 – Present

Videography / Web Design / UI UX Design / Documentation Consultant for the University of Kansas

I have worked with the University of Kansas on several occasions providing a variety of services. I worked with the Writing Strategies team to produce a series to produce a series of animated motion graphic videos designed to help teachers use software tools in their teaching curriculums. I have worked with the Specify Software project to create a web presence, two mobile applications, and wrote and designed technical documentation for their desktop software.

Volunteer Experience

2017 –
March 2019

2017 – March 2019

Board Member for the South Mass Art Guild

The South Mass Art Guild was founded on the premise of working to promote general interest in the arts by all people, especially in children. In my tenure with the nonprofit I revolutionized their online presence with a website, ecommerce store, email service for updates and marketing, and assisted with the organization of several events and art shows.

2015 –

2017

2015 – 2017

Marketing Director for the Naka-kon Anime Convention

Naka-kon is one of the Midwest’s most popular and attended Anime conventions. I joined the marketing sector to introduce video production. I created numerous commercial and videos as well as a narrative film for the convention. I also served as the director of marketing in 2017 and built a marketing campaign to reach the conventions core audience.

Formal Education

2016

2016

Entrepreneurship / JCCC

I took several entrepreneurship classes at Johnson County Community College prior to working with the startup company Mycroft AI.

2014

2014

Graduated / Lawrence High School

I graduated Lawrence High School while enrolled in the journalism program Quill and Scroll and having participated in numerous projects and activities including the organization of the Focus Film Festival and the redesign of the school newspapers website

Skills

Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, Xcode Storyboards, Apple iMovie, Keynote, Pages, Google Business Suite, MailChimp, WooCommerce, WordPress, Squarespace, HTML, CSS, FTP/SFTP, cPanel, Script Writing, Directing, Video Post Production, Google Advertising, Facebook Advertising, Spotify Advertising, User Interface Design, User Experience Design, Cobalt Forum Software, Discourse Forum Software, Sprinklr Social Media Management, Live Chat, 360 Photography, 360 Videography, 360 Tours, Microsoft Office Suite, Lego Building.