About this program
The Alyce All-Stars program exists to highlight Alyce Customers and Friends who have mastered the art of “personal experience.”
An All-Star prioritizes Building Rapport, Earning Trust, and Generating Loyalty over making someone feel like just another face in the crowd.
All-Stars challenge the status quo and – while they’re not officially Alyce employees – we consider them an extension of our team. They find creative ways to infuse our core values of Give First, Give Consistently, Be Crafty, Seize the Present, and Unwrap the Possibility into their unique way of doing business.
This week’s All-Star is Cathy Estabrooks, Head of Revenue Enablement at BirdEye!
Learn More About Cathy Estabrooks
Q: Share with us some of your personal interests (eg., knitting, unicycling, horticulture)! How and when did you pick these interests up?
I’m a massive fan of international traveling. Whenever I can, my brother and I pick the craziest place in the world we can think of, and we go and we do it every year in November because we have the same birthday. So we go as our birthday trip. My brother’s a planner so he kind of plans the whole trip up until we get there and then I like to play things by ear. I’m a huge fan of going to local favorites instead of doing touristy stuff. Like we went into the Louvre and I was like, cool, Mona Lisa, can we go? And then we found some side street eat dinner at, it was the best meal ever.
Q: Describe to us in detail your perfect day.
My perfect day involves a lot of cooking and people in my kitchen. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a work day or not. I want people over. The ideal scenario is there’s 15 kids running around and 10 adults and everybody likes wine. If I can cook and serve people and watch them eat my food, I’m happy.
Q: What’s playing right now on your favorite streaming service?
Because I’m not commuting anymore, I’ve got a ton of books just waiting in my Audible account and I haven’t listened to any of them because it was my commute thing. But, I’m a biography nerd. I was in the middle of a George Washington biography when the coronavirus hit. I just finished watching Imposters on Netflix. It’s kind of fluffy but school was over and I just needed a mental vacation so watching that show was airy and light and what I needed. I also watch documentaries all the time. I love Planet Earth and that whole series. Another thing that I’m absolutely obsessed with is musical theater. I have a problem…I’ll fly to New York and watch two shows and fly home so I don’t have to pay for a hotel.
Q: Best gift you’ve ever received and why.
My favorite gift was when my husband for my birthday surprised me with a trip to see Hamilton, and we went for the weekend and just had an amazing time. We went behind the scenes, we met the cast and it was just—for a theater nerd—amazing.
Q: What is your go-to karaoke song?
Oh, it’s hilarious. I go with ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ by Bette Midler because it’s so tragically, syrupy, silly that I can’t even deal.
Q: If you could instantly teleport anywhere in the world, where would you go? What would you do?
I would go to Clonakilty, Ireland and stay at the Dunmore House Hotel. It’s a magical place on the South Cliffs in Ireland and they’ve got these miniature horses, and you can play golf. It’s just this amazing, magical, beautiful place, and it’s privately owned by a family. And they’ve had it, I think, since 1953. And it was like going back in time. It was just so peaceful.
Q: If you could be an extra in any movie ( past, present, or future ) what would it be and why?
I don’t want to be an extra, I would have to be a lead because they would fire me for singing all the music in the background. I would definitely love to play Angelica in Hamilton, for sure.
Q: If you could live through any event in history, what event would that be? Why would you want to live through that event?
I would have loved to go to the 1933 Chicago World Fair. So many things were developed and presented during that time. I think even the ice cream cone was presented, just really innovative things that we take for granted today were introduced to the world and I would’ve loved to see the reactions to them.
Q: Tell us your life motto. How has it factored into your life?
Where there was fear, there is faith. And it’s not a religious thing it’s more so to have faith in yourself. Just do it, try it, go for it, don’t be a chicken.
Q: What talent would you most like to have? How and when would you use this talent?
I would love to have a strong singing voice. I mean, I can carry an Alto. But like, Christina Aguilera level, you know what I’m saying? I would love to be able to just sing the way I feel.
Q: Which would you choose: the ability to fly or the ability to read minds? How would this come in handy?
Oh, I already know how to read minds. I would say fly. Because then I could travel wherever, whenever.
Q: Tell us about your hidden talents! Where did you get this talent? How has this talent come in handy throughout your life?
I can remember details back to when I was four years old. Even small details, like how things smelled and felt. I remember everything. So I have a crazy memory which has not served my husband.
Q: What do you value most in a friend?
Honesty. I don’t have a lot of friends and it’s because I’m terribly honest with people and they don’t receive it well. So if I can find somebody who will tell me, yes, I look fat in that dress, that’s somebody I actually cherish and then I go change clothes. But in all seriousness, I think honesty is the most important thing.
And even if it’s not what you want to hear. That’s good. That’s a good friend.
Q: Who is your favorite writer?
My favorite biography ever was Katharine Graham’s—her husband ran the Wall Street Journal and then one day killed himself and she took over the business operations and she did so with so much humility and grace and made the company run, despite so many challenges internally and externally. I also loved Becoming by Michelle Obama.
Loved Cathy’s interview? Find her on Linkedin!
