From day one: how EF became more than just a job

Lexi, Amy, and Kelsey all started at EF (Education First) on the same day in 2014 as Tour Consultants for EF Educational Tours. Eleven years later, much has changed, but their friendship has remained stronger than ever. I met with the three of them as they picked up their EF suitcases—a gift to colleagues who have reached the 10-year milestone.

With the entry level sales roles starting in cohorts, it is easy to form a community while in training. Our Sales Development Program is designed for those who are both launching a new career in sales and those who want to build upon existing sales skills. “You spend eight or nine hours a day with the same people for a month, you're going to be friends with them. It turns out that a lot of us had a lot in common too” Amy stated.

Read on to hear how these three best friends reflect on their friendship, career growth, and favorite EF memories.

How has EF played a part in your friendship?

“I think one of the reasons that we're all so close is because we really got to be our full selves here at EF every single day. We’ve seen over the last eleven years that sort of transformation at EF, and really intentional change to try and allow more people to show up as their full selves. That's something that I still love EF for, and it's definitely a reason why we're so close because we just got to be us and not fake work us.” – Kelsey

How has your friendship helped support your career growth?

“I admire them both because they are obviously leaders as people, but they also lead other staff more formally in their roles as managers. I don't currently manage staff, but I'm able to watch how they navigate tough conversations and foster community on their teams. Kelsey very kindly featured me in a team meeting as someone to potentially learn from, you know, highlighting the various career paths we've all taken and sharing lessons. I think we've gone very different directions, but it is really helpful because now that I've been in a central role, I want to understand what they're doing in their products, what’s the sentiment of their staff, how can we better support someone and so forth.” – Lexi

“Recently, Kelsey messaged me and said, ‘Hey, my team is doing this mentorship program, would you want to be a guest speaker?’ I think that we've all had slightly different, but overlapping career paths and choices in many ways. Coming from the same background and growing up in Educational Tours, I definitely lean on them for challenging team conversations or staff decisions. It is really nice to have somebody who's not in the same division as you are anymore.” – Amy

What has been your favorite moment at EF?

“Watching Kelsey at the keynote at D-Day. For the 75th anniversary of D-Day, we were at Utah Beach, and we had some veterans there who were 98, 99 years old, and Kelsey was working in Canada at the time. He was heavily involved because of the Anniversary of Vimy Ridge. Watching him up on the stage, with the mic, and coming into his own at a really pivotal point in his career, talking about such impactful history and being able to share that with our future generations of young people that were visiting was a beautiful thing.” – Lexi

“I came back from maternity leave about six weeks ago, but these two were at our house over the weekend meeting Margot now that she's like a real baby since before she was a newborn. And at one point Kelsey was on the floor with her and he said, ‘I’m going to be in your life forever,’ and he was holding her little finger.” – Amy

“I've got to say, it's got to be some random Thursday night at Lingo in our first or second year here. That's really where we solidified our friendship and memories. Had some of those tears, more laughs though. There’s been a lot of good times.” – Kelsey

What advice would you give to someone who is hoping to have a long term career at EF?

“Very early on we shared a mentor, Mark Mercer, that we loved very much and admired. He passed away in January 2022, but he was able to give us lots of work advice. We learned from saying yes to the crazy things he would put in front of us like, ‘Hey, do you want to do a seven-mile run at 7 A.M. on a random Tuesday?’ So I think as long as you feel comfortable, and you feel safe doing so, just saying yes to whatever comes your way opens so many doors for you.

But I also think it's equally important to recognize when that door is not the right one to step through. Don't just take everything as it comes, but make sure it's in line with your values and your goals.” – Lexi

“Not to be cliché, but what we do is actually very amazing, and I think remembering that's why I'm here is definitely what's kept me at EF. Like there's been moments where, sure, I've been down on my job and then I staff an EF trip, and I'm rejuvenated for the rest of the year. So, I think just remembering why. I also would say, if you're someone who wants to stay at a company for a long time, I think the best career advice I ever got was if you're thinking about making a jump, build yourself up and make a pivot when you are feeling at the top of your game, not the bottom.” – Amy

“Understand that EF is an incredible organization to work for. It's a really safe place to try new things, new job opportunities, live in another country for a year or two. It's been a treat to be able to jump around to different divisions and try a new brand for myself and work in almost these little startup communities, but inside a larger, very supported network of all your friends and your coworkers. Being able to just pivot when you get to the top of your game has afforded me a lot of opportunity that I don't think I would have had elsewhere.

Also, the 'why' is so real. The more people that we help travel to a culture outside of their own, the bigger chance we have to reduce xenophobia in the United States, and that's what we need. We need more understanding, more empathy, and I think that we really contribute to that mission. I’m a big why person, that's really important to me, so I've really hung on to that.” – Kelsey