In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, I’m excited to dive into the world of building and leading a high-performing assistant team. I’m joined by Elizaveta “Liz” Usyaeva, who shares her experience building a team from scratch at Yandex. We discuss everything from hiring strategies and stress-testing candidates to the art of balancing executive support with team leadership. If you’re looking for practical advice on motivation and fostering a human-first, supportive culture, you won’t want to miss this conversation.
LEADERSHIP QUOTE
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
CONNECT WITH ELIZAVETA
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- Gmail: elizaveta8308@gmail.com
- E-mail: liza-usyaeva@yandex-team.ru
- Telegram: @Elizaveta1811
ABOUT ELIZAVETA
Elizaveta Usyaeva is a team lead and business assistant to CEO-1 at Yandex, Russia. Her assistant experience is 5+ years and consists of Johnson & Johnson, McKinsey and Company, IT-startups and big Russian metallurgical companies.
Elizaveta is a part of the Business Assistants group from Yandex — one of Russia’s leading technology companies, known for its innovations in search, mobility, e‑commerce and AI. They develop business assistants’ community in Russia: organise professional events and meetups, share expertise and best practices.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
00:22->01:00 Jeremy
Hey friends, welcome to the Leader Assistant Podcast.
It’s Jeremy Burrows and this is episode 386.
You can check out the show notes for this conversation at leaderassistant.com/386.
So today I’m excited to talk about creating and leading a strong assistance team.
I’m talking about motivation,
Hiring strong performers and building a team lead and all the things in between.
01:00->01:17 Jeremy
So today I am really excited to be speaking with Elizaveta Usyaeva.
Hopefully I got the name mostly right.
I’ll call you Liz per your recommendation.
But Liz, welcome to the show.
01:18->01:33 Elizaveta
Yeah, thank you very much, Jeremy.
It’s a great honor to be a part of this great show and great initiative idea of the Assistant Association.
It’s brilliant and it’s priceless for us.
01:34->01:44 Jeremy
Awesome, awesome.
And just so that since I didn’t do your name justice,
why don’t you say your full name so that everyone can hear how wonderfully pronounced it should be.
01:45->02:04 Elizaveta
Well, it’s a complicated one.
So in Russian, my name originally sounds like Елизавета Усяева.
Um, sometimes people call me Lisa, sometimes people call me Liz.
So whatever I like it in, in any way.
So you can call me Liz as we previously mentioned.
02:05->02:20 Jeremy
Awesome.
Sounds great.
And I definitely like it.
It sounds, sounds wonderful when you say it, uh, compared to my, uh, my attempts.
So thanks for doing that.
So tell us, uh, yeah, tell us where you’re located and what’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working.
02:21->03:06 Elizaveta
Well, right now I’m located.
I do live and work in Moscow, Russia.
I work in Yandex, the biggest Russian leading technology companies known for its innovations in search, mobility, e-commerce.
And we also learn machines.
We go for AI.
So pretty, pretty big, you know, IT technology company.
And it’s hard to say what do I do for life when I’m not working because being an assistant means working 24-7 and being
03:06->03:21 Elizaveta
always here, always there for your bosses, for your team, for your company.
But I do gym.
I like singing when I have time.
And I love cooking for my husband and family.
03:21->03:25 Jeremy
Love it.
What do you like to cook?
What’s your favorite dish?
03:26->03:44 Elizaveta
Well, surprisingly, I’m into Italian cuisine, so I do brilliantly different pastas, you know, lasagna, pasta bolognese,
and tiramisu sounds nice and pretty delicious for my family as well.
03:44->04:10 Jeremy
Wow.
Yeah, you’re making me hungry.
It’s almost lunchtime here in Kansas City.
I’m so sorry about that.
Awesome.
Well…
I’m really excited to jump in and chat a little bit about your career and talk about leading a strong assistance team and motivation
and what we mentioned before.
But first, just tell us how did you get involved in the assistant career?
04:11->04:47 Elizaveta
Well, to be honest, it was never my dream job.
I was never thinking about being an assistant because I studied in the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of International Affairs.
So I was really thinking about being a diplomat and I studied different languages.
German is my second language.
But after all, I was involved into part-time work in different international companies like Johnson&Johnson, Berger, Ingelheim.
04:47->05:22 Elizaveta
And after the university, I suddenly became a receptionist at McKinsey&Company, the big three consulting firm.
And I didn’t quit.
So I stayed there.
And after a year and a half, I got a promotion to business assistant.
And I started to work with partners, like consulting partners, you know, big bosses, big guys.
And It was so interesting for me because the tasks they give you,
05:22->05:57 Elizaveta
it’s all the time complicated and at the same time different and amazing.
So it’s always a challenge to do it.
And I worked for McKinsey for…
Three years as an assistant.
Then I changed my company.
I worked for IT startups, big Russian metal companies.
And three years ago, I started my career as a business assistant in Yandex.
05:58->06:35 Elizaveta
So Be you know not really being an assistant well it’s it’s my you know always job um but not only i was thinking what
can i do more i was thinking about adaptation on boarding of new um onboarding of new employees and it was really it was
really interesting for me so um
In a year, I got a promotion to a team lead and I started building my own team, a team of, well,
06:36->07:07 Elizaveta
let’s say team assistants.
So my team supports bosses of the CO-2 level and each supports three people in a row.
And each day it’s…
It’s different from another because every day I get my own tasks from my own two bosses and I get different stories,
different challenges from my five girls, from my, you know, from girls from my team.
07:08->07:16 Elizaveta
And it’s always so amazing.
So it became really my dream job after time after time.
07:16->07:21 Jeremy
Wow.
That’s great.
So you lead a team then now?
07:23->07:28 Elizaveta
Well, I do lead a team and at the same time I support two executives, two bosses.
07:30->07:46 Jeremy
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
That’s great.
So what would you say is maybe a good characteristic of a strong assistant team?
07:49->08:26 Elizaveta
Well, first of all, you have to be a team.
So it’s fun to say, but you have to be a team.
You have to support each other.
You have to be helpful, not only for your executives, but also for your teammates.
Because sometimes you know more than another person.
So you have to share your experience.
You have to…
Um to grow this networking system let’s say um you have to communicate with different people and sometimes you have to communicate with yourself
08:26->08:49 Elizaveta
as well because you need to you need to check stuff you need to check whether this is more this is more important than
another thing so you
You really need to be a good player for your business team and your core team.
I would say that.
So that’s the main characteristic for me.
08:49->09:13 Jeremy
Nice.
And what do you…
How does it work…
Maybe organizationally, is it because you still support two executives, you said?
Yeah.
Do these assistant team members report directly to their executive or do they report directly to you?
Or is it kind of a both mixed hybrid approach?
09:15->09:45 Elizaveta
Well, I would say that our system is pretty complicated because sometimes even us, we get confused with it.
But originally, my team, my girls, they report directly to me.
But the feedback I get from their executives is the base for their, let’s say, performance review in the end of the year.
09:47->09:59 Jeremy
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
Cool.
Well, what is the…
Did you already have those people on the team?
Did you have to find and hire people to add to the team?
10:01->10:08 Elizaveta
Now I built my team from scratch.
So each girl was hired by me, myself, and I.
10:08->10:24 Jeremy
Okay, okay.
So what did you…
How did you find strong performers?
How did you hire?
Any tips on looking for or interviewing or vetting and hiring strong assistants?
10:26->10:59 Elizaveta
Well, it’s very…
Complicated as well process because you need to think about different spheres.
First of all, you have to think about hard skills.
Then you have to think about soft skills.
After all, you have to consider, will there be a match between an assistant and a team?
Will there be a match between an assistant and bosses, like business bosses potential?
11:00->11:34 Elizaveta
So you have to do like this puzzle every time and it takes…
It takes lots of time and lots of, I wouldn’t say nerves,
but I would say lots of patience to find the great CV to get from the first interview to the last one.
We, by the way, have like five.
And it takes time.
11:34->11:56 Elizaveta
It takes time, but I’m ready to invest this time.
So in the end, I get the nice team player and the assistant who works, who supports the executives the way they want it.
So…
11:58->12:19 Jeremy
Nice.
So how are there certain interview questions that you really like to, to use or maybe interview?
I don’t know, tests or assignments?
Or, you know, what are there may be certain things that stand out when you’re looking at a CV or slash resume throughout that process?
12:21->12:54 Elizaveta
Well, I would say that I like stress interview formats.
I like to do cases.
For example, I always ask, you have dinner with your family and your boss texts you,
I’m at the airport flying in like three hours, but I forgot my passport at home.
What do you do?
Hmm.
And it’s always nice to see how people begin thinking out of the box.
12:55->13:33 Elizaveta
So they start creating different situations from going home
Like going to boss home and get his passport and go to the airport bring him the passport or uh for example i will
call his wife i will call his driver uh i will change the tickets to the passport he has so it’s it’s very different
different every time um but it’s it’s pretty fun you know
Sometimes I hear the answers to my questions and I ask myself, oh, well, why don’t I do like this?
13:33->13:36 Jeremy
Oh, right.
So you learn.
You learn a lot.
13:37->13:40 Elizaveta
I learn a lot.
My team is my best teacher, actually.
13:40->14:00 Jeremy
That’s great.
That’s great.
Well, what about the…
Maybe motivation?
How do you build an environment or an atmosphere for your team to keep them motivated?
14:02->14:34 Elizaveta
Well, first of all, I should say that I’m loyal to my team.
We don’t have a certain dress code at the company.
We don’t have certain working hours, so they can come whenever they want to the office.
But at the same time, I ask them to be on the phone, so…
Like it doesn’t matter where they are they they’re available every time um i try to do little you know little events like little
14:34->15:05 Elizaveta
parties uh each month uh so we can have like karaoke party together or we can talk about different things we can share uh
complicated cases and we can discuss them in the team so all these little things keep this motivation growing
And I think the most important part to stay, well, a human, a human being, a person,
15:05->15:22 Elizaveta
like it’s not about working all the time.
It’s about being emotionally warm to another person, because after all, he or she is a person.
And that’s the most important thing at work and in my team for me.
Yeah.
15:24->15:40 Jeremy
So how has it been for you then personally, you know,
being an active assistant to a couple of executives while also leading a team?
What’s that been like?
What are your challenges?
What’s gone well?
What hasn’t gone well?
15:42->16:17 Elizaveta
Hmm.
I would say it’s a challenge every day because you have so many tasks and you have to be nice to different people.
You have to be a great boss for your team.
You have to be the role model, first of all.
And the most complicated thing for me is to catch all the tasks.
So I’m not…
100% Into my executives and I’m not 100% into my team.
16:17->16:50 Elizaveta
So I have to be all the time somewhere in between.
And I…
I sometimes learn.
So I can go to any part more or less every day, but then I have to stabilize myself.
I talk to my team.
I talk to my bosses.
I also have my executive, which I report to, who I report to.
And this communication is the…
16:53->17:23 Elizaveta
Um, the most, um…
The most, um…
Let’s say, core part of being stable between these two parts,
being a good assistant to your bosses and being a good team leader for your team.
So you just have to communicate.
You have to talk when you are angry, when you are tired, when you are happy.
So you just need to share these emotions, these…
17:27->17:36 Elizaveta
Situations with people because after all as I said previously we’re all people yeah so like that open open communication hey you know what
17:37->18:01 Jeremy
I’m I’m gonna get right to that but I’m working on this over here with the team you know or vice versa just being
open about it no that’s great
Well, is there anything else that you’d love to share with assistants of the world, you know, related to your job or your experience,
again, as an assistant directly or as the team lead?
18:02->18:34 Elizaveta
Well, first of all, I’d like to say thank you to each and everyone who will be listening to our podcast very soon.
And I would like to say that assistance community is the greatest and strongest professional community for me because multitasking, we can do everything.
We can be travel manager, we can be doctors, we can be
And then we can be, let’s say, interpreter.
18:35->18:57 Elizaveta
We can be team leads.
We can be event managers.
We can be everything.
And that’s the greatest thing about being an assistant.
So I would like to say, keep going.
And if you’re going through tough times, as Nike says, just do it.
So…
18:58->19:09 Jeremy
Love it.
Love it.
Well, is there any way that people can reach out to you and say hi if they want to connect?
Or what do you recommend there?
19:10->19:28 Elizaveta
Well, yeah, I can share my email or my Telegram so people can get to me straight in Telegram or in my email.
So I’m open to any communication, any networking will be happy.
19:29->20:02 Jeremy
Great.
Well, I’ll put that in the show notes at leaderassistant.com/386.
And yeah, Liz, thank you so much for the work that you’re doing with your team and your company and organization and in the assistants
group that you’re a part of.
And just thank you for encouraging the assistant community and participating in the assistant community and really just appreciate your insight and sharing a little
bit of your story.
And hopefully we’ll get the chance to connect again in the future and maybe even in person.
20:03->20:10 Elizaveta
Yeah, sure.
Thank you so much for your time and for the initiative again.
Thank you.
It was priceless.
Thank you.
