Meet the Staff: Jen Thomas (Worldwide) & Lizz Giordano (Daytona Beach):

Hi, my name is Jen Thomas and I was born in Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area and was raised in the Bay Area until my family moved to a rural town outside Sacramento when I was in junior high school enabling us to have horses, pigs, chickens, and a sizable garden. I stayed in the Greater Sacramento area, at one point living downtown, across the street from the State Capitol building, until my husband, son (5 months, at the time), and I moved to the Daytona Beach area in the summer of 2013. We moved because my employer shut down the campus at which I had been working (while I was on maternity leave) but offered me the same position at their (then) campus in Ormond Beach. My mother and my only sibling (my sister, who is my best friend) still live outside Sacramento.

I am married to a chef/magician/entrepreneur who runs the various branches of his business from our home, enabling him to be at home with our son, for which we are very grateful. Our son is 9-1/2 and just started the fourth grade in a gifted program, which is another blessing we gratefully accept. He enthusiastically participates in the Musical Theatre Club, writes mini-books, and is already becoming an accomplished guitar player, taking after my father (who passed away before our son was born).

I love music (I sing at every available opportunity!), love to read, all variety of puzzles, travelling (just about anywhere), and the mountains (yet, here I am in Florida, go figure!). I also love to write, which will figure into my retirement life considerably, I’m predicting (I have a true crime novel project that is on the slow track, while I am still in school).

I got my AA right out of high school, but it took me 35+ years (through six different institutions and six different program changes) to complete my bachelor’s degree, which I finally did in 2021. I am now a little less than a year away from completing my master’s degree, so my pace has definitely improved!

Throughout my professional life, I have coached a high school drill team, been a janitor, worked in retail, been a bookkeeper, worked in banking/accounting, been a small business Controller, been a Contract Administrator and a Project Manager at a Fortune 500 company, been a Sign Language Interpreter, been an Office Manager, and worked in Student Affairs in various capacities, bringing me to where I currently am as a Career Support Manager within the WW Career Services team. I love working for ERAU and hope to spend the rest of my career here!

What is your favorite quote?

This changes, from time to time, but I’ve always been a fan of this one:

“The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.” – John E. Southard

What keeps you motivated?

Hands down, my son (age 9). Everything I do, I do to ensure a bright future for him.

Lizz Giordano serves as a Program Manager in the Career Services Office in Daytona Beach, FL. She works with Aeronautics, Aviation Maintenance Science, Master of Science in Aviation (Aeronautics), Spaceflight Operations, Homeland Security, and Global Conflict Studies. Lizz has worked in Career Services on campus since March 2022 but for 5 years prior at other institutions. She graduated with her Bachelor of Health Science in Community Health from the University of North Florida and with her Master of Education in Higher Education Administration from UNC Greensboro. She previously worked in the healthcare field in many capacities including medical scribe, quality metrics analyst, and internship preceptor. Lizz grew up in Palm Coast, FL right up the road from ERAU. She is excited to work with you on your career development journey! 

Discuss your background prior to starting at ERAU.

After graduating from undergrad, I received a job offer to stay at the site I interned with, Angel Kids Pediatrics. I had always wanted to work in the medical field, but being a practitioner was no longer in my sights, so I tried to find something else in the field that fit my interests of helping people. When I volunteered for my sorority's recruitment process back in Fall 2015 was when I realized that I could work in higher education. A few months later, I was given the opportunity to serve Angel Kids Pediatrics as an Intern Preceptor where I interviewed, selected, and trained interns from my undergraduate degree program. That was my first glimpse into career services. I quickly realized the path to my career goals was through graduate school, so in 2017 I went to UNC Greensboro for Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education and worked as a Graduate Assistant in Career Services. It was there that my passion grew for the field, and I continued that work after graduating in 2019 at Georgia College & State University, a small public liberal arts university in their Career Center. It was a great experience, but the pandemic showed me that family is important, so in March 2022 I was given the opportunity to work at Embry-Riddle and live closer to my family in Palm Coast and Jacksonville, FL. 

What is your favorite musical artist?

I am a huge fan of Taylor Swift. I started listening to her back in high school when she first started in country music. I would say my top two albums of hers would be Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version) and my favorite song is All Too Well. I cannot wait for what she does next!