Jacquelyn Bauer

Point2

By Leah Etling on May 31, 2013 in People

We can almost guarantee that within one click of your mouse, we can convince you that Point2’s office in Saskatoon, located in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, is a pretty fantastic place to work. Why? Well, the company is known for its team cohesion and spirit. And then there’s the secret weapon: the cooking abilities of Jacquelyn Bauer, Point2’s Director of Customer Relations.

The Gourmet Housewife is the food blog that Jacquelyn maintains in her free time, but her lucky coworkers often get to sample leftovers. Not much helps wear off the chill of a sub-zero Saskatoon winter day like a warm loaf of homemade bread. In other words: if you’re ever invited to a Point2 company potluck, be sure to attend. There will be a near-certain chance of encountering a Jacquelyn-made treat, like a sautéed kale salad with panko and pine nuts, chewy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, or homemade bagels. That’s right folks, she makes her own bagels. Totally awesomesauce.

But even if we can’t all work with Jacquelyn at Point2 or invite ourselves to her house for dinner, we can still enjoy the gorgeous food photography and creative original recipes to some of her favorite dishes via her blog. She focuses on “simple gourmet” fare that you can recreate without too many trips to the grocery store or hours spent stirring sauce on the stove. It is easy to forget that good food doesn’t have to be sacrificed due to a busy schedule, and Jacquelyn makes preparing such dishes look easy.

A self-described perfectionist, Jacquelyn applies the same loving care and attention to detail to her work at Point2 as she does to her kitchen creations. She’s been with the real estate software firm for 13 years, starting when she was just a high school student. Back then, her responsibilities included emptying wastepaper baskets, washing coffee mugs, and data entry. Before long, she began filling in for the front desk receptionist, answering telephones. Next she tackled search engine optimization, and then moved to customer support.

As a natural people person, interacting with customers is a perfect fit for Jacquelyn. In her current role, she’s an intermediary between customer feedback and the Point2 software development team. Based on the experiences that customers have using Point2’s products for real estate marketing and listing syndication, changes are made that improve the software.

She audits interactions between real estate professionals and Point2 customer care staff, and also holds beta test groups to talk to users about which aspects of the Point2 platform work best, and which could be improved. The company offers simple solutions that help real estate agents market listings, distribute those listings across the internet, and respond to leads generated. There’s also a consumer-facing property sales and information database where you could find your next home or access information about any piece of real estate.

Making customers happy and helping them improve their business is her favorite part of the job.

“When they say: ‘I love Point2, I get all these leads from you and I’d be lost without it,’ that makes me smile, because that’s what we strive for,” Jacquelyn said.

When she’s not working to improve the user experience of Point2’s customers, Jacquelyn can usually be found spending time with her husband, Jesse, and toddler son, Connor. They love to be outside whenever possible, walking, playing in the backyard or heading to the park. Jacquelyn also enjoys reading, and attributes her attention to workplace editing details to a lifelong love to books.

A native of Saskatoon who is part French and attended French immersion school during her childhood, someday Jacquelyn would like to open her own bistro. Her talents would combine perfectly for a great restaurant experience: excellent customer service, and fantastic food!

Learn more about Jacquelyn:

What is your favorite type of music?
Definitely 90’s country (hate me if you must). But my husband doesn’t appreciate it (being formerly part of a few metal bands), so we settle on Jazz and Blues for the most part.

What is your favorite book of all time and (optional: why)?
Recent favorites are: Room, The Book of Negroes, Still Alice.

If you have an hour of free time to spare, what do you do with it?
If it’s nice out, I’d go for a walk or take my son to the park. If it’s cold and/or rainy, I would either do some baking, or if I was feeling especially indulgent, curl up with a book.

What kinds of food do you like?
A better question would be, “What kinds of food don’t you like?”, because at least it would be easier to answer. I hate having to pick. But if I must…Indian food is definitely at the top of my list – curry cannot be beat. Next up, any type of fish or seafood, though it’s one thing I haven’t totally mastered in the kitchen yet. And 3rd – fresh bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. If I could eat it for every meal without worrying about putting on weight, I would!

What is the most interesting place you’ve ever traveled?
New Orleans for NAR 2006. Definitely the coolest place I’ve ever been. The food was amazing, and the culture fascinating. I hope to make a trip back with my family soon.

What do you like best about your job?
Working with our customers and Point2’s development team to plan new features is exciting. I like speaking with our customers, whether that’s in person, on the phone, via email, or on our social media sites. Learning how each customer conducts their business and what features they use the most is fascinating and helps me keep up with the ever-changing real estate industry.

If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or historical, who would it be?
My husband. Date nights at a nice restaurant without a 2-year-old in tow are rare and precious.

What are the words you live by?
“Everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
– Victor Frankl, ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’

What do you want to be when you grow up?
When I grow up, I want to own my own bistro.

Do you speak any other languages, and which ones?
I was in French Immersion for 13 years in school, but I don’t use it, so I’m slowly losing it.

What online sites do you visit?
Any type of cooking, recipe, or food blog site. Other than that, Wikipedia to research all kinds of weird things.

What’s something about you that few people know?
I write a cooking blog called The Gourmet Housewife and attended the International Food Blogger Conference in Portland, OR last summer, which was so much fun!