Technical.ly DC Diaries: Shanaz Chowdhery, chief of staff at Vemo Education

“One of the universal sayings that I have heard used to describe the chief of staff role is that ‘you are the grease that makes the wheel go faster and you’re the glue that holds us together.'”

On the latest episode of Technical.ly DC Diaries, edtech company Vemo Education’s chief of staff, Shanaz Chowdhery, talks about what her role entails, how she’s been managing working from home and more.

Interestingly, Vemo Education has two chief of staffs: one person who focuses on growth and product, and Chowdhery, who focuses on everything else. On a day-to-day basis, she’s dealing with tasks pertaining to business operations, HR, finance, legal, recruiting and the like. Chowdhery was responsible for all of Vemo Education’s COVID-19 planning at the beginning of the pandemic and she ultimately made that call to move the company remotely.

“My job is to remove blockers and make sure that we’re moving as quickly as we possibly can and also, sometimes to tackle the one-off things that don’t really belong to anyone in terms of a specific job responsibility,” she said.

Chowdhery previously served as the regional director of coding school General Assembly for four years before joining Vemo Education, creators of income-based financing programs for universities and alternative education providers across the U.S. She said she’s always had a passion for education and helping people.

When I asked Chowdhery which three words she would choose to describe herself, she chose enthusiastic, efficient and empathetic. Check out our full interview below for her explanation on why she chose these words, plus much more.

Here’s the audio version:

Watch our conversation here: