Meet Erica Cleaver
Customer Service Representative, Information Center
I grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia in the Hampton Roads area. I love Portsmouth. It’s creative, quirky, and there is water everywhere.
What brought you to Richmond?
I moved to Richmond almost three years ago. My husband was given an opportunity in the Richmond area, and we decided as a family to go for it.
What brought you to Reynolds?
It was kismet. I had been living in the area for about three months and we were all just riding around getting to know our surroundings, when I passed Reynolds on Parham Road. My husband said you should work there the campus is beautiful. I went home looked for jobs at Reynolds, found one, applied, and was working in the Information Center about three weeks later.
What is the most unusual customer service situation you’ve had to handle (no names, please!)?
We have a caller who has called the office for years, well before I ever worked here. She will call sometimes three times a day up to maybe eight times a week. She frequently requests college catalogs and literature about the college, but as far as we know she has never attended. She is extremely friendly and now the office has come to expect her calls. If we don’t hear from her we get a little worried. When we do get her call we announce it to the office just so everyone knows our favorite caller is doing okay.
What are the most rewarding aspects of your job?
The most rewarding aspect of working in the Information Center is that we really get to help so many students. The services the Information Center provides are instrumental to the student who doesn’t know how to set their user preferences in order to make a payment, or the student who can’t log in to do their homework because they need a password reset. We are able to offer this help right over the phone saving valuable time especially to our students who are unable to make an in-person visit.
If you had one extra hour a day, how would you use it?
If I had one extra hour a day I would either go to the gym or pleasure read. I’ve been slacking heavily on both recently.
What do you like to do outside of your work at Reynolds?
I really enjoy spending time with my family. I have an 18 year old daughter (who is in her second semester at Reynolds) and 14 year old twin boys. My twins play a lot of sports and that keeps me busy most of the year. I also, enjoy cooking, going to the beach, and painting.
What do like most about Richmond? Favorite places to visit? Favorite restaurants?
I love exploring Richmond. My favorite thing to do is to wander the city without an agenda and just explore. I love the Canal Walk, the Pipeline Trail, Pony Pasture, Libby Hill, Brown’s Island, Maymont, etc. And even as an ODU alumni have grown to love, support, and follow VCU basketball.
If you won $100 Million in the Mega Millions lottery what would you do with the money?
If I won a $100 million in the Mega Millions lottery I would of course have the splurges like a beach house in Ocracoke and lots of traveling, but then I would look to invest in the communities that invested in me. I would donate to my Little League in Portsmouth, my high school sports teams, and of course set up scholarships at ODU and Reynolds for students plus donations to make sure college projects can be completed.
