Feature: Liz McVoy
February 15, 2019 | Sophia Trout
Photo: Virginia Tech
Since 2013, Liz McVoy has been working for the Virginia Tech Libraries and offers up some insight on how she’s come into her career. Throughout the conversation, she gives a perception of her progression from business to video production, how to adapt to the ever-changing industry, and what it means to be a woman working in media. Having the drive and passion to pursue storytelling and help build a program from the ground up is a task daunting to most, however, McVoy followed her passion and ended up in a career that fulfills her current needs as a creator.
Before ending up in Blacksburg, she began her journey into the media industry with a more unconventional approach by going to school for a degree in business and marketing at Michigan State University. After deciding that wasn’t her path, McVoy transferred to Grand Valley University and graduated in 2012 with a degree in film and video production. “I really enjoyed acting so I figured okay, well, that is potentially something I would be interested in doing [and] I'd love to learn the other side of the camera, the technical side,” states McVoy when recalling what initially drew her to the media industry, “[I figured] I'll at least study something that I think would be enjoyable and who knows if there will be a career out of it, but I'll start there.” Media advances rapidly every year, so needless to say the program at Grand Valley had some catching up to do. “4K wasn’t a thing when I was in school...when I first started my film degree, they were making freshman record on tape” McVoy laughs as she thinks back on her early learning experiences. She talks about how video is being integrated into social platforms like Instagram and Facebook and how five years ago that wasn’t the case. Ads are being tailored more and more for their changing audience and now many mediums have cut the time length. She explains, “your audience is used to consuming things in an easier, low barrier fashion, and they also give you less time.” In college, there is a lot of emphasis on details, crisp editing, and imaginative shots and while those things are still prominent, getting the message across quickly and efficiently is where the industry is turning. From where video production was a few years ago versus where it is now, McVoy wishes she had gone to college and been able to study anything and know that she could still have access to many of the video tools she uses today. It’s become very accessible for people to become hit YouTube stars and travel vloggers and while she’s thankful her degree is in media, she expressed how the times and resources have changed. “I’m so thankful that I have the degree because media, as you know, is being integrated into everything.” That certainly wasn’t the case when McVoy first approached Virginia Tech about employment after graduating college.
“I’m in a different role then what I was in when I started at Tech, but I was not a job that was on a job board,” she explains after speaking on moving up to Blacksburg to let her then-fiancé, Justin, finish school. “I had actually applied to a communications job at the library in February of 2013. And then in June...I received an email from one of the Associate Deans about a media position that was not even in existence yet and he had kept my information from February.” Goes to show how it never hurts to try and see what can grow from an opportunity. From there, McVoy refined the libraries Event Capture service and added more creative elements and marketing since “they really didn’t have a program or department.” Being given a task of that nature at such an early stage in a new job shows how McVoy carries herself with a sense of professionalism and confidence. Having a sense of self-assurance has helped her throughout the years, especially when it came time for her and Justin to relocate to Michigan.
“[I approached] my boss at the time saying...here's the circumstances, I'm going to be moving, I'd love to stay on the team, here's how I see this working for the next six months... having that means...that you're such an integral part of this team you know, obviously, I know everybody is replaceable. But having value and having people fight or work to keep you on board has been something I've been super thankful for.”
Thinking back, McVoy recalls that moment being one of her proudest accomplishments. Being able to work remotely for the past three years and still be an integral part of the program shows the strength of the relationships she’s built, the quality of work she’s produced, and the value she adds to her team. All this talk about how supportive her coworkers have been led the conversation to address some of the issues currently happening with women in the news industry.
After discussing the flexibility with her job being remote, McVoy was asked whether or not she had received any type of discrimination in her profession. “I’m really fortunate to have really good leadership around me that sees and develops talent” she states. “[However], I would say because of circumstance I look younger so, I’m almost thirty, but often times get mistaken for a student which is fine. But, you know if you look younger and sound younger...people tend to perciece you being younger and therefore less experienced.” This situation is more likely to occur since McVoy works in academia where the rooms are usually full of men in their forties or fifties. She says she has learned how to be “assertive in a positive way and also speak up.” There was one instance in particular that she explained in regard to the question. She was nine months pregnant at the time and was planning out some upcoming projects with her male boss and male coworker. When she requested some work to stay busy her boss said: “I don’t want you to be overwhelmed.” McVoy explains her boss was a genuinely kind person and that he probably meant no malintent, but how she knew he wouldn’t have told her male coworker he was worried that he would be overwhelmed. “I just said ‘hey I’ll let you know when I feel overwhelmed.’ Let me make that decision” she says. As for what’s happening to women getting underpaid in the workplace? McVoy stresses being able to have the confidence to negotiate and fight for a larger starting pay to coincide with the male employees is one of the things women can do to try to fix a broken system.
Liz McVoy has achieved so much in the past seven years working for Virginia Tech that her response to ‘where do you see yourself in five years’ came a bit as a surprise. While striving to achieve a creative director or art director role in the future is apart of her professional goals, she stresses that“it’s important to have a good life balance...I think it’s really important to maintain the friendships that are important to you.” She says sometimes it can feel like people close to you drift away as life transitions, but having a core group of people in life is a hope she has for her future. Whether or not she’ll be at Virginia Tech in five years? She says “only time will tell.” However, it’s clear that even if she does leave the creative team at the library would not be the same if she hadn’t come in with such passion and imagination to tell stories, give back to the VT community, and create such a strong foundation for the program to grow for years to come.