Aida Manzi didn’t know what to expect when she was hunting for her first job post-college.
She was ready to work hard, but she also wanted a sense of fulfillment.
She thinks she found that with Divisions Maintenance Group.
“If you’re the right person for this job, it really is great,” said Manzi, an operations coordinator who joined the DMG team in June 2021.
Manzi was born in New Hampshire but moved to Northern Kentucky when she was 4. She graduated from Boone County High School in 2016 and went on to study at Northern Kentucky University.
She started in accounting at NKU but quickly realized that wasn’t for her (“It’s just numbers,” she said). She then dipped her toes into marketing and general business before finding and falling in love with organizational leadership, in which she earned her degree in 2020.
Manzi has always longed to be a leader. She loves finding leadership qualities in herself, developing them and learning how to use them as an advantage. And she loves caring for and mentoring others, helping them grow into leaders, too.
Even among her friend group, Manzi has always been the default “mom,” making sure everyone is comfortable, safe and prepared for whatever is coming.
“I always saw myself as a leader, but I never really knew in what,” she said. “I used college to figure that out.”
Facility maintenance first responders
At DMG, even though she is a newer employee, Manzi feels like she is being mentored as a future leader, with plenty of opportunities for growth and development.
And she’s learned a lot about herself during the process. She’s learned that she’s a good communicator – and just how important those communication skills are. She’s learned the value of being part of a good, supportive team. And she’s learned how important it is to care about what you’re doing.
“I learned that it takes loving what you do to be committed,” she said. “Because I enjoy what I’m doing, the amount of commitment I have is way more than I could have imagined. I’ve never worked at a job where I cared this much.”
Even on a tough day, one small win can make it all worthwhile, Manzi said.
“That’s kind of what keeps me going,” she said. “I didn’t realize how important it is for companies to have people they can count on when there’s things like overflows or they’re locked out – something as simple as that. I do feel like we are, in a way, first responders.”
Manzi has no idea what’s next for her career. She doesn’t have a five-year plan or a 10-year plan so much as she has a continuous plan to just keep learning and growing. She might like to be a lead operations coordinator for DMG one day. Or maybe she’d like to try her hand at training, helping new employees learn the ropes just like others helped her.
After all, her first couple weeks at DMG were a little overwhelming, she said – “Two weeks in, I was like, ‘Whoa’” – but she’s happy she stuck with it.
“I feel like this job showed me what I’m capable of,” she said. “I didn’t know I had it in me to work so well under pressure.”
About Aida
Age: 23
Residence: Hebron, KY
Start date with DMG: June 7, 2021
Position with DMG: Operations coordinator on the Walgreens team. I am responsible for handling Walgreens’ maintenance needs by assigning jobs to technicians and seeing the job through from beginning to end.
Favorite hobby: I love listening to music, especially Afro beats, R&B, and hip hop.
About DMG
Divisions Maintenance Group is a technology company that provides facility maintenance for tens of thousands of sites around the country. Our customers include many of the biggest names in the retail, distribution and real-estate industries.
Visit our website to learn more or to apply for current openings.
Founding year: 1999
CEO: Gary Mitchell
Headquarters: Cincinnati, Ohio
Employees: 600-plus
Annual revenue: $433 million in fiscal year 2020
