Olivia Antonelli MassMEP Employee Highlights

Olivia Antonelli is an Administration Coordinator at MassMEP.  Olivia cheerfully says that she has a variety of tasks in her job. “The biggest task is monitoring Salesforce to make sure all the data there is accurate and accurately represents what our Business Development Advisors (BDA’s) and the project managers are doing. You might find me pestering them when projects show as past the end date. I’ll reach out to them to check in on where that project stands. I also ask about contracts to be sure they are signed. Really, I am just making sure that Salesforce is full of accurate information. Another big piece of my job is working on our course descriptions and product descriptions to be sure that they accurately reflect what our project managers are delivering. I’ve also been working with Emma, who’s on the marketing team, to make sure those course descriptions are in our digital product catalog, so our clients are able to access them easily. Another element of my work that I really enjoy is working with our BDA’s and the clients to get the client a manufacturing NAICS code, which ensures that they can work with MassMEP. This enables the NIST survey process for the work that we do with them. I also really enjoy supporting whoever needs it, whether its Robin who I report to, or others on the MassMEP team.”

Olivia continues, “My career path has been a little bit of an unconventional road. I graduated in 2020 and actually taught third grad for two years. So, I was in education, and I really enjoyed my time in that field and learned a lot about myself as a person and where I saw myself going professionally. When I looked 10 years down the road, I didn’t necessarily see myself in that career anymore, so I was looking for a change and thinking about what my next step might be. I reflected on other things that I’m interested in as well as what I find joy in. In my senior year at college on a whim I joined an entrepreneur competition. It was kind of like Shark Tank. You had to come up with an idea and develop a business model and business plan over the course of a few weeks which culminated in presenting to a panel of judges. I dove in headfirst and absolutely loved it! I had to do a lot of research on how businesses run, and different business models and it just didn’t feel like work. At the end of the competition, I was the winner. I thought to myself, okay, I’m studying education because that’s all I’ve ever really known, but maybe there’s another avenue I could take. So, I realized that business was going to be that next avenue. I was fortunate to hear about the MassMEP job opening and thought that the administration coordinator position would be a great opportunity to be behind the scenes and see how a company runs. I applied for the position and got the job.”

When asked about what her passions are at work and in her personal life, Olivia didn’t hesitate in her response. “There are two things about my job that I love the most. The first is supporting people at MassMEP. I truly love when my phone rings and I see a name pop up and when I answer they are looking for help with Salesforce, or they have a project they just can’t get to, and they want to know if I have time to help them out. I really love that and feeling that I’m helping somebody in their day. Helping is a passion of mine. The other passion that I’ve discovered since starting at MassMEP is that I am intrigued by data analytics. We have a Salesforce data analytics meeting every other week and I find it fascinating to see the data presented in a variety of ways. Then we take a step back and hear from our colleagues about what they can learn from that data and what are next steps for MassMEP.”

In closing, Olivia shares, “Of course I love hanging out with my friends and family and going to the beach and spending time near the water. I also love all things sports and have ever since I was a kid. Watching, playing coaching, you name it, I really love sports. I’m an assistant field hockey coach at WPI so you’ll find me there most days after work helping with the field hockey team.”

How well do you know Olivia? Two of these statements are true and one is not. Can you guess which one?

• I love going lobstering and fishing with my dad.
• 2 summers ago, I went to Italy with my siblings
• My favorite singer is Patsy Cline