Meet LT Quality Assurance Project Manager Yaz Badri. Born to Palestinian parents in Kuwait and raised in the US, Yaz studied Apparel Design & Merchandising from SFSU and joined Le Tote right after college, four years ago. She worked her way up from steaming clothes and packing boxes to working in merchandising and apparel design, and is currently the Quality Assurance Project Manager. Read on to find out about her 9-5 world, how she thrives on perfecting fit and her love for travel and photography.
Can you explain your role in Le Tote as Quality Assurance Project Manager?
The role is multi-faceted and while I mostly focus on improving and maintaining our quality standards, I work on improving fit for our members, collaborating with the engineering and merchandising teams to improve overall fit in our algorithm and also the products we purchase. I also work on projects that may pertain to my field of expertise such as improving and maintaining cleaning standards and processes and anything fabric, fit or quality related.
What is a typical 9-5 like?
I grab Starbucks and a pastry on the way to the Distribution Center and start my day around 8am. After 30 mins of emailing, I head out to the floor for a check in on the teams. By lunch, I have already dealt with multiple products that need my attention and training. After lunch, you will find me working on fit improvements. I usually round the day out at about 5pm. Fridays are spent at our headquarters in San Francisco.
What are the three things you want to tell the Le Tote customer to ensure their best LT experience?
1. Always enter your measurements in your style profile: The more accurate your measurements are, the better your fit results will be. We use it your measurements to figure out what would be the best fitting size in each product for you, specifically. Not all products are created equal and vanity sizing is pretty much meaningless as there’s no standard measurements in the industry for each size, and even within a brand you could have a variance in measurements for different styles.
2. Always rate the fit: Every single time you rate a product’s fit, our size recommendation engine takes that information and uses it to fit you better in the future. If you rate a product as fitting too tight in the bust and we find another product in the same size with the same measurements and same stretch, our engine will know that it will be too tight for your bust and will recommend a size up.
3. Trust the best fit icon: It means that the size we’re recommending should be the best fit for you in that style based on your measurements, previous ratings, and the product’s measurements and style.
What does your personal closet look like?
It’s a tiny thing, my closet. So I actually have clothes kind of all over my room, which is embarrassing to admit. But I try to keep my closet organized by color and I noticed I tend to lean towards either pastels like light grays, blues and pinks, or darks like black, navy, burgundy and olive green. My usual go-tos are skinny jeans, nearly all of which are from LT now, and an oversized top or sweater. Oversized tops tend to flatter my slender frame by giving me a little volume and actually, this might sound counterintuitive, but they make my boobs look bigger. Plus, they’re just super comfortable and I’m all about that comfort life.
And finally, what are five things that we should know about you?
1. My favorite thing to do in life is travel and I try to take at least 1 big trip and a few smaller ones every year.
2. My favorite places I’ve ever travelled are the Philippines (even though I had a crazy ordeal where I lost my passport there and was anxious about it for 4 days while on a remote island) and Norway where I got a chance to see the Northern Lights with a group of my best friends.
3. I love espresso, but am super sensitive to caffeine so I can only drink decaf — which for me is like drinking regular espresso for anyone else.
4. I fell in love with photography four years ago and it’s become an obsession since (see my work on IG: @yazbadri)
5. I have a (probably unhealthy) obsession with the Harry Potter series — like I literally choke up at happy moments in the books and films, but I haven’t been to Harry Potter World yet which is a shame.