Meet the Team: Liz, Laura and Janie

Get to know the team behind Bodyswaps.

Here at Bodyswaps our team is evolving faster than ever to support the growing demand for our immersive soft skills training platform. This is the first in a series of blog posts where we’ll introduce you to a few of the faces at Bodyswaps - if you’re one of our customers then a couple of these may be familiar to you!

Today you’ll meet Liz, Laura, and Janie. To paint you a full picture of our team, we asked them about their work at Bodyswaps, as well as life beyond the headsets.

Liz - Immersive Learning Designer

Liz started with Bodyswaps in January 2023

Before joining the team at Bodyswaps, Liz was a Learning Designer for 8 years at an e-learning company. As her first full-time role post-uni it’s where she developed her passion for learning design. In her 8 years there, she worked on courses and blogs for just about every topic you can think of - personal development, safeguarding, healthcare, health and safety, and so much more.

As an Immersive Learning Designer at Bodyswaps, Liz’s job is all about taking course ideas and transforming them into fully realised learning experiences - often together with the support of a client and/or subject matter expert. While many pieces make up the puzzle of learning design at Bodyswaps, researching, mapping, and scripting content, working with voice actors, and reviewing Alpha and Beta builds of the courses are the main responsibilities of the role of an Immersive Learning Designer.

In summary, as Liz says, “If you were a fly on the wall, you'd probably see me deep diving into a topic to soak up all that knowledge, or clacking away at my keyboard preparing a conversation or scenario!”

For Liz, what is most admirable about the ed-tech industry is how technology is increasingly facilitating our ability to be guided by the science of learning - something vital for creating long-lasting learning experiences. For example, active application of learning is vital for retention, which can be difficult to achieve in traditional education where time and resources are limited. VR, AR, and AI all create opportunities to create immersive atmospheres where learners can practise their skills or behaviours in a way that's truly memorable

What do you enjoy most about your job?
Learning design is a very intricate and creative process. It involves gaining a good grasp of the subject matter, and crafting that into believable, engaging content that is underpinned by clear learning goals. Here at Bodyswaps, we approach learning in a unique and highly effective way. Our learners develop their skills or behaviours by actively exploring or practising them in a range of interactive scenarios. That makes for an engaging and at times very entertaining experience for them, which is an excellent way to learn. Bringing that to life is incredibly fulfilling to me.

When not crafting courses at Bodyswaps, you’re most likely to find Liz in a ramen or sushi restaurant. If you’re in Leeds and looking for a tasty Japanese-inspired dinner, Liz recommends Sushi Waka, Wagamama, Fuji Hiro, and Blue Sakura (and of course you can never go wrong with good old Itsu!). If you can’t find Liz in these restaurants, well then it’s likely she’s on her sofa, buried in a good book

Finally, what’s something we’d never guess about you?
I'm half Italian as my mum is fully Italian (she was born and raised in Tuscany). You'd never guess I'm half Italian from meeting me - I'm a Northern Brit through and through! I don't speak Italian though unfortunately, unless you count one or two phrases like hello and how are you! I think it was too difficult for my mum to teach all seven of us kids (Bonus fact that you'd probably never guess - I have 6 siblings!).

Laura - Customer Success Manager

Laura started with Bodyswaps in September 2022

Before Bodyswaps, Laura worked at an ed-tech company that provided a theatre performance streaming service for English and Drama Studies. Working in the New Business team, she worked with schools across the globe on their e-learning platform to provide access to the arts for individuals who wouldn’t normally be able to.

Now, as Customer Success Manager at Bodyswaps, Laura’s key responsibilities are to ensure that our customers have all the information they need and provide support for them along their journey to help them be as successful as possible, helping them achieve their goals. That can mean a range of things, such as providing training on our platforms and creating resources that allow our customers to be independent, while also keeping them on track and being able to use their feedback to ensure that Bodyswaps delivers the product and features that they need.

Internally she’s the customers’ voice to us, and externally she’s our voice to the customer.

As we mentioned, the Bodyswaps team is constantly evolving - and a part of this means a bigger Customer Success team. So, in future, Laura will also be making sure the team has all they need to provide the same level of connection. Equipping them with the right tools, the right information, and the right skills to foster our community, encouraging connections and learning from one another as we learn from our customers.

In fact, when we asked Laura one of our questions in preparation for this blog post, she said that what she admires most in the ed-tech industry is the individuals we work with, the educators at ground level whose passion is to lead the way for a better future for their learners. Whether that’s students in a college, people looking for employment, or whether that’s corporations looking for more inclusive managers and diversity in terms of their workbase. In Laura’s own words: “I think the thing I admire most is those that are taking that next step in a direction that maybe no one else, no organisation, has taken before. Their belief and willingness to innovate, and the way that they approach that with the passion and enthusiasm that they do.

What do you most enjoy about your job?
I enjoy most the human connection and I’ve really missed it over summer where most people are on holiday or there’s a slowdown. But I think it’s being able to be a part of someone’s journey, especially when there’s normally so much excitement around what they’re doing and this is a whole new area for them to unlock. So, working through challenges and helping them identify the different ways that work well for them and seeing them be successful, and hearing the learner feedback as well.

When she’s not helping our customers succeed, you’re most likely to find Laura on a run, on a walk, or in a pub (and with those last two, she’ll often be accompanied by her one-year old Jack Russell Bernie).

The Beautiful Bernie

Shopping is another favourite pastime, but the running, walking, and pub-ing usually take priority! And while she has a self-admitted preference for a cosy countryside pub (you can take the woman out of the countryside but you can’t take the countryside out of the woman), there’s lots to love about the busy London pubs, too

Finally, what’s something we’d never guess about you?
I struggle with this one because, well, if you look at me and talk to me most of the things you find out about me are pretty, I would say, not surprising. However, maybe the fact that I used to be a young farmer and did competitions in a very agricultural focus is a surprise. And in the long term I probably wouldn’t mind going back, having a small holding or something like that - when I’m beyond my London and working years! I used to compete in the National Federation of Young Farmers in performance, cookery, and a range of different things. I mainly won cookery awards, but I was also often in pantomimes and other performances.

Janie - Account Executive

Janie started with Bodyswaps in February 2023

Prior to joining the team at Bodyswaps, Janie worked at a Leeds-based SaaS company specialising in website monitoring. Before that she worked at a large B2B networking agency, managing tech thought leadership events and nurturing relationships with members.

Janie also went travelling around South America for 3 months in 2022 - her highlights being the 4-day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and visiting the world’s largest salt flat in Bolivia.

Inspired by a desire to connect to her Spanish heritage and fuelled by her travels around South America, Janie’s been hard at work learning Spanish and so to help her in her quest she downloaded Duolingo. The app impressed her as a consumer, but also in how they’ve grown their customer base and introduced strategies to engage users through gamification and habit building - something that Janie highlighted when we asked her who she most admired in the ed-tech industry.

At Bodyswaps, Janie helps Education and Healthcare institutions execute our soft skills VR training within their organisation, by running pilots and mapping out deployment strategies. Her key responsibilities revolve around helping prospective customers to deploy Bodyswaps, in turn growing our community. She’s often on the go - attending on-site workshops and partner events (a personal highlight, according to Janie!)

What do you most enjoy about your job?
I love helping people on their immersive learning journey, whether it’s those who are VR-savvy and have lots of headsets already, or those who are just starting to dip their toes into the world of VR. It’s really exciting to understand their goals and challenges, and show them the huge impact that our platform can have in education, healthcare and beyond! With a background in events and networking, I also really enjoy visiting our existing customers on site to see the real-world impact of the software and how it’s helping learners to develop all-important soft skills.

When not hard at work helping to build the Bodyswaps community, you’ll often find Janie hiking in the hills and mountains, or just generally being in the great outdoors! For those rainier days, though, you might find her at the theatre watching the West End’s newest opening, or with her nose in a book or catching up with family and friends

Finally, what’s something we’d never guess about you?
In 2019 I went sky-diving in Australia, and jumped from a plane at 15,000ft!

Open opportunities at Bodyswaps

Are you a go-getter with a passion for the potential of virtual reality looking for a role where you’ll make a real impact? Looking to help drive the future of education technology? If that sounds like you, then it’s good news - we’re hiring! Take a look and see if your next step is waiting for you at Bodyswaps.

Browse our open roles today.