In our recurring Meet The Lizards blog series, we have a look behind the scenes of the Lizard Global team and meet up with one of them to find out more about their function within the organization and their passions in life. In our last interview, we sat down with Lieke, product owner at our Lizard office in Rotterdam. This time, we have a chat with David, who joined the team as an intern and recently returned to continue his Lizard Global journey as a digital strategist.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Who are you and what is your function at Lizard Global?

“Hi! My name is David, born in the Netherlands with a Dutch father and a mother from Peru. I have already seen many places in the world and am still super motivated to learn more about the world that we are living in right now. If I had to describe myself, I would say that I am a very curious person. I very much enjoy learning through travelling, reading and playing different sports. I find it very fun to try out new things and I always tell myself that I never know if I like to do something until I have tried it out.”

“Right now I am a digital strategist at Lizard Global. For this job, I assess and improve the commercial channels that we are currently using for Lizard Global. On top of that, I expand our network within Europe and find new business opportunities. Lizard Global and my function fit very well with me because we help people solve a lot of different problems in various industries. And, at the same time, I can keep on learning.”

When and how did you first come in touch with Lizard Global?

“I have two very good friends who recommended me to go to Kuala Lumpur for my internship that I could do abroad. Through Terence Ridder, our CEO Asia, I got the opportunity to work for Lizard Global as a marketing intern in 2019.”

“After 5 months, I left Malaysia and Lizard Global to continue my studies in The Netherlands. During my time as an intern, I was given plenty of freedom to autonomously work on my own projects. Together with my company coach (Terence) I set learning objectives for which all projects helped me with developing myself. Even though it was my first time working 40 hours a week, I didn't feel like I had any trouble with it because I had a great time with everybody in the team.”

In what ways did your function/role change at Lizard Global, compared to your first time and now?

“During my internship, I was mostly working on setting up new marketing channels and finding the right tools to monitor their performance. At the time I was also working closely with Lotte, our content creator, to get started with a content strategy. Since I have joined I am still working on improving our channel strategy. What has changed, is that now, together with our commercial director Markus and our content creator Lotte, we make sure that our target group is able to find us, contact us, and stay informed.”

What do you like about your current role within the company?

“What I like most about my current role as a digital strategist is that I get in contact with our target group very often. I love speaking to entrepreneurs and corporate innovators to find out how we can help them. Developing an app can often seem like a long and arduous process if you don't possess the right knowledge, time, or budget. I very much enjoy consulting people about how a digital solution could help solve their problem in their company or on the market.”

“When I was asked to rejoin the company, I felt really flattered. I knew that I worked hard during my internship so I was happy to hear that I was welcome to come back again. Also, to this day we are still using some of the marketing channels that we set up during my internship in 2019 because of their success.”

How would you describe your typical day at Lizard Global?

“On an average day, I start working around 08:30 in the morning. When I work at the office in Rotterdam, I can get my breakfast (yoghurt with cruesli) from the kitchen of the co-working space. After having gone through all of my emails, I start working on marketing projects or attend meetings with colleagues or potential clients. Around 11:30 we often go to the nearest supermarket to get our lunch. I love bread and avocados, so I never really need to think about what I want to have for lunch. After lunch, I check my email again to make sure that I never miss any. In the afternoon, I often have (online) events to attend. Most of the time the themes of these events are focused on digital transformation within a certain industry.

Sometimes I need to prepare a bit to find out who is attending the event. When I leave around 16:30, I say goodbye to my colleagues in the office and head to the train station. Most of the time I don't have much creative thinking left at the end of the day so I try to do my administrative tasks around that part.”

You've been active in both the KL office and the Rotterdam office. How would you compare one another?

“The working culture in the Rotterdam office is not that much different from the KL office. We have a bigger team in KL, so naturally, there are more people to talk to. One of the first things you will notice when you enter any of both offices is that you could talk to anyone without having to knock on a door. There is a very clear open culture within the entire company. I would say that the biggest difference is that I always used to have rice for lunch in KL, rather than bread.”

Where would you like to see yourself 5 years from now?

“In 5 years, I would love to still be part of the commercial team but also be involved with the development of our digital solutions. I would especially like to have extensive knowledge of digital transformation in a certain industry. If I had to choose an industry now, it would be something in the direction of Industry 4.0. and its energy transition. For now, I am aiming to stay in the Netherlands, but in the future, I might be open to moving to another country if we get a new office.”

Meet more Lizards!

Want to know more about our different departments, offices, our Lizard Family and their daily occupations? Check out our previous interviews with our inspiring Lizards:

- Product Owner Lieke
- Head of Product Delivery Roelant
- Content creator & content manager Lotte
- Commercial Director Markus
- Our software development team and technical expert Chathuri
- CEO and CO-founder Jeremy
- CTO and Co-founder Guido
- CEO Asia Terence
- Senior Software Engineer Kenny.
Keep an eye out for more interviews and find out more about our unique and skilled Lizards!