Every unique and talented Avantee is a co-creator of the Avant culture we love. We hope the @Avant series helps you get to know who we are, how we do what we do, and what it looks like to build your career at Avant.
Ellen Liao
Associate on the Loan Risk Origination Team
Joined Avant in 2022
What’s it like to work @Avant? We asked Ellen for her take on our culture, and here’s what she said:
1. How would you describe Avant’s culture?
The first word that comes to mind is flexibility, because we don’t really have strict lanes. It’s not like, “this is what Ellen’s good at, and don’t touch anything outside your space.” During my time here, I’ve worked across the Growth team and the Risk team, and I have loved both environments. Both teams encourage me to think beyond the immediate scope of the project and to explore new ideas, try different approaches. For example, some of my current projects overlap with data science or modeling. I’m learning from the methodologies used by the Data Science team and thinking about how these techniques could apply to my Risk work. I’m pushed to broaden my perspective instead of just relying on approaches that I already know.
That brings me to a second point, which is that we are collaborative. Across teams, people are very friendly and approachable, and willing to share their expertise. Explaining concepts to other teams, walking us through business decisions, helping us connect the dots between different parts of the company and different projects—there’s a pretty strong willingness to help each other learn.
To me, those are the best part of Avant’s culture. It’s an environment where you can grow, not only by just doing your work, but you can learn from people around you who bring different strengths and perspectives.
2. Why are you happy/successful here?
There’s two parts to this answer. First, I’m happy and successful largely because of the people here. I’m very fortunate to work with supportive managers and also friendly and supportive teammates. It’s easy to connect with each other. We are genuinely invested in each other’s growth, we have lunch together, we talk about the World Cup and TV shows and travel plans. It creates a very positive and welcoming environment and makes coming to work more enjoyable. I’m surrounded by smart, thoughtful people. We come from different backgrounds, and that mix of perspectives has helped me learn a lot and think about problems in new ways. Because of that, I don’t see success as just promotions or titles but also how we work together and approach different challenges and grow along the way.
Leadership invests in our personal individual growth, and managers are very open to feedback, to talking about the projects or interests that you want to focus on. That kind of support makes it easier to take ownership of your development and move in the direction you want to. We grow together as part of the company.
3. If you were to describe who you are and not mention your work at all, what would you say?
I would describe myself as a travel enthusiast who is always planning the next adventure. I really love discovering new destinations—I barely go to the same place twice. And I really love to capture the moments through photos! I love how photos can have a story or a mood or a memory behind them. When I travel to beautiful places, I try to find iconic picture spots with a vintage or cinematic feel. I especially love to escape from Chicago winter and spend a full week somewhere warm and sunny like Maldives, Turks and Caicos, Puerto Rico—somewhere with clear waters and sunshine.
And then when I’m in Chicago, my mode is more active. I play badminton and tennis and I do trapeze. It’s a fun way to challenge myself. I was afraid of heights when I started! But now, every time I finish, I feel a lot of satisfaction. And I love hiking and skiing too, but you can’t really do those in Chicago. Which just gives me more reasons to travel.
4. What’s something Avant is really good at? What’s something you’d like to see us get better at?
We’re really good at being willing to listen. From management to colleagues to peers, from company town halls to monthly surveys to department meetings, there are so many opportunities to be heard, ask questions, share feedback, and understand what is happening across the company. It’s not just that the leadership takes the questions, but they give thoughtful responses, even when the questions are difficult and some of the answers are not what people hope for. Leadership takes time to explain the rationale behind their answer, and that transparency helps build trust, even in moments where a decision is challenging.
I think what I would like Avant to continue to improve is finding the right balance between pushing forward and pausing for reflection. I think that balance is very difficult in an industry environment like ours. It’s striking the balance between controlling for risk and pursuing the right growth opportunities. I think that’s how we build for the long term.
5. What’s a super power you get to apply at your job?
My superpower is connecting the dots and finding the root cause of problems. I like taking a complex problem and breaking it down step by step, like a scavenger hunt. You trace it back, piece by piece, looking for evidence that leads to the cause.
Working across the Growth and Risk teams, I’ve learned that a lot of the problems don’t come from just one perspective. I like understanding the business, the impact, the data behind it, and how all the pieces come together to give a bigger picture of how to solve a problem. That cross-functional perspective helps me approach projects with creativity so that I can not just solve it, but also connect the ideas of different teams’ inputs and build a stronger solution.
6. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I think my dream job changed a lot throughout elementary and middle school. But my very first one was teacher. I really loved my elementary school teachers, and I think my math teacher in particular. So now, one of my goals is to mentor people and help them out. I’m really happy that at Avant, I have the opportunity to learn from others and also share my expertise with others as well.
