Introducing Developer Evangelist, Enterprise, Liz Moy

Introducing Developer Evangelist, Enterprise, Liz Moy

I like to joke that I’ve had four careers so far: public relations account executive, social media manager, content writer, and software engineer. But before any of those lives began, I was a classically trained ballet dancer and had hopes of making that a career. I trained for hours every day. I went to months-long summer intensive programs and practiced the same moves over and over, on the constant quest for improvement: quicker feet, tighter turns, and more exquisite expressions of artistry.

When I started college and decided to study journalism instead, I thought that meant that my dance “career” was over. In some ways, I grieved what I thought was the end of something that was once a huge part of my life. Over the years, I’ve learned that many folks get a chance to try different things and go down different paths. Whether they’re hobbies that bring you joy, or interests that take root, grow into skills, and bloom into your daily work, all of those experiences inform what you choose to do and create.

At one of my jobs, a music start-up, I had the chance to book small shows and interview indie musicians. As a music fan, that was an absolute dream. The job after that involved having a mouse as a boss, visiting “the happiest place on earth” to drum up ideas for new content and helping produce videos of musical performances and red carpet events (hard to deny that this one was tons of fun). When the opportunity arose to learn how to code and shift into a new role at Disney, making that leap was a no-brainer for me; every time I made a change previously, even if it was hard it was worth it.

Of course, this particular change came with challenges, like many nights of banging my head against the wall, poring through confusing stack traces, and debugging deep into the night with amazing teachers and mentors. It also introduced me to wonderful new communities and colleagues that I now call friends.

I recently joined Twilio as a Developer Evangelist focused on serving developers working at enterprise companies. I’ll be learning about what they need to start building with Twilio quickly, as well as the types of educational materials they prefer and how they like to hack together. Working with this community excites me because I have been one of those developers; I’ve seen the unique challenges that come with the enterprise environment, as well as the benefits and opportunities you experience being part of a large organization. When you spend some time talking to a developer from a large company you usually end up learning something unique about the company or its history — their knowledge tends to go deep and wide.

Everything that I’ve learned in each of these roles somehow finds a way to connect in the new spaces I step into. When I’m preparing for a live coding demo, it always reminds me of when I’d stay late in the dance studio, practicing a solo variation until all the moves felt ingrained in my body. Getting to that place where a performance, whether inside an IDE or on a stage, becomes natural is where it feels like magic happens.

One thing that’s become clear during these changing times is that everyone is thinking differently and using all the skills available to them. Some of my favorite dancers, like Isabella Boylston of American Ballet Theater, are hosting virtual dance classes on their Instagram accounts. Musicians like Ben Gibbard are doing livestream performances on YouTube. My friends and coworkers here at Twilio are hopping on Twitch to talk about technical topics or just to hang out and socialize. It’s a time when we’re all getting a chance to flex our cross-disciplinary skills and find new ways to connect and learn.

Ultimately, I can’t wait to give tools and opportunities to build amazing things with Twilio to the enterprise developer community. I’ll bring my whole heart, and range of experiences, to the community and I hope each developer will feel compelled and empowered to do the same.

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ecmoy
• Github: https://github.com/eclairemoy
• Email: lmoy@twilio.com