For the second installment of Faces of Formally, we sat down for a chat with Olivia Otto, our former software intern! Currently a rising junior at Stanford, Olivia is a Computer Science major but brings to the table the unique perspective of a specialist in human-computer interaction. Originally from New Jersey, she “ended up at Formally because throughout my sophomore year I was feeling really disillusioned with CS because I felt the community was very profit-driven.” After months of feeling disheartened, she embarked on a quest to find her community of students that enjoy computer science “for the fun of it,” and want to “work at the intersection of computer science and social impact.” So, after joining the group CS for Social Good at Stanford, and taking a related class, Olivia happened to connect with our founder, Amélie, through a mailing list that landed in her Inbox. The relationship quickly led to a year-long internship during which Olivia worked on both the frontend and backend of Formally’s website.
Olivia’s talent was only in its nascent stages at the beginning of her internship. Of this time, Olivia recalls, “the first project I was given was a backend-heavy project, and I was so nervous, but by the end, I could complete those scary tasks in an hour rather than in a week. I became more fluent in the coding languages of React and SQL.” With Noah Picard, our CTO’s, guidance, Olivia slowly but surely built up her arsenal of software tools. One of Olivia’s most impressive traits, besides her kind nature and intelligence, is her willingness to learn and improve. Looking back on her time with us, Olivia smiles as she says, “I learned so much about web development throughout the course of the year, especially working on the backend with the server.”
Of course, there were challenges to Olivia’s time with Formally, it was not all smooth sailing. The main roadblock she experienced was remote work. But, unsurprisingly, she found ways to cultivate a community despite lacking face-to-face interactions with the team. Olivia “felt like everyone who joined the team was amazing to work with, and not just a good coworker in terms of intelligence and talent, but also friendly, welcoming, and supportive of each other.” The community Formally has fostered is incredibly rare, especially during a remote internship, and Olivia believes this is what truly made her year with us unforgettable. Speaking to the friendships made, Olivia fondly remembers, “the whole last week of working I was thinking to myself ‘I can’t leave you guys, I’ve been having such a good time!”’ Olivia speaks of often feeling isolated as a woman studying computer science, a male-dominated field. But at Formally, a woman-led company, Olivia “felt so comfortable and uplifted while being surrounded by women, especially the computer science interns who were majority female!”
Although Olivia left us just earlier this June, she had an immense impact on Formally’s development and as a presence on the team. In such a short period of time, Olivia has truly left her mark at Formally. In terms of the website, Olivia remarks, “functionally there is no comparison to from where I started to when I left, it’s kind of crazy!” She arrived at Formally just a week after our product designer, Briana, and together with Amélie and Noah’s mentorship, they built the website from the bottom up. “When I started the site was literally just a form filler — you could fill out your information and get a PDF, so it really has changed and grown so much since I’ve started,” Olivia exclaims. Her accomplishments at Formally are numerous, and an exhaustive list would fill many pages. Just to describe a few key points, Olivia says, “the document storage, messaging between client and lawyer, the bundling of documents to create one big PDF for USCIS, and having the attorney be able to review the client’s form — it was all created over the last year.”
And don’t forget about our core values of accessibility and data privacy! Olivia is passionate about these too, saying “while creating a new feature, I really felt Formally’s values being present in my work. Every detail on the website has been thought out so carefully to make sure the product is the most accessible it can be, especially in terms of digital literacy.” Olivia’s favorite memory really encapsulates everything that makes Formally unique — our dedication to the mission, tenacity, and empathy. She recalls one weekend that resulted in the creation of our client and attorney messaging feature. “Basically the team organized a meeting on a Saturday morning and ended up spending the entire day working on one project. We threw out ideas for what the website could use and what would be the most impactful. Eventually, we decided on messaging. Then Saturday rolled into Sunday, and we spent the weekend together making the messaging interface come to life. By the end of the weekend, the messaging feature was 75% done, and normally this would take about a month to get finished and working, but in this case, it took less than a week to create, something we are all so proud of!” This endeavor, a truly collaborative effort, is a testament to the team’s grit and dedication — without which Olivia could not have helped create one of our most beloved features,
Even though Olivia is currently interning in a more corporate setting, she remains an important part of our Formally community. On her own self-development, Olivia remarks, “I feel like I grew a lot as a software engineer and as a person — I gained a lot of confidence in my work.” We are sad that Olivia has left us, but are proud to strongly believe that Olivia will keep building and producing incredible software to change businesses for the better. We are lucky enough to have had Olivia’s talent on the team, and are so grateful for all we have learned with and from her!
