Origin Stories Archives · Gravity Payments

Alternative Education

Mitch Esplin is still surprised. It’s been five years since he began working at this company, and he still can’t believe it. Talking to him, you get the sense he wakes up each morning feeling a little like Rip Van Winkle. “It’s hard to believe I’m still sitting here today,” he says. “It’s been a … Continued

Code Nerd

Growing up in Santa Cruz, California, Grant MacLeod knew from an early age that he didn’t quite fit in. “I would describe Santa Cruz as a skater or surfer-bum town,” he says. “It’s very relaxed, almost like an upscale hippie town. But I was a fairly straight-laced, gay nerd, so I wasn’t like one of … Continued

Freedom from Work

Modern society delights in hating on Millennials. Although plenty of research has shown that this generation is worse off financially than their parents, despite being more educated and skilled, a stereotype persists that they are lazy, entitled, and expect success to be handed to them with a gold star and a participation trophy. If any … Continued

Veterans at Gravity: Part 2

Emery Wager never considered joining the military until he had a random conversation with a stranger at a party. After some small talk, Emery was surprised when the stranger, a senior at Stanford University, mentioned that he was planning to join the Marines after he graduated. It wasn’t that Emery, who had graduated from Stanford … Continued

Veterans at Gravity: Part 1

The “Veterans at Gravity” series profiles employees at our company who previously served in the military. The series is part of an initiative by our in-house diversity group, Diversity and Inclusion at Gravity (DIG), to promote issues surrounding veterans in the workplace. Any views expressed are the employee’s own. “Once I became a rescue swimmer, … Continued

Kaitlynn Vincent

It’s not easy to summarize what Kaitlynn Vincent does in her role at Gravity’s Boise-based subsidiary ChargeItPro. But, when she describes a typical day, phrases like “putting out fires,” “detective work,” and “diplomacy” spring to mind. Her title of “Sales Assistant” on the Sales Assistance and Operations (SOPS) team doesn’t really help to explain things … Continued

Careers at Gravity Part 7

As any newly-minted college graduate entering the workforce for the first time soon learns, you can’t really know what you’re supposed to do with your life until you actually get a job. At least, this was what Ylan Muller discovered when she first started working at Gravity Payments in 2013. Having graduated with a degree … Continued

Careers at Gravity Part 6

“Hmmm….a few months is a little longer than we’d hoped. What could you do in a week?” The question took Oliver by surprise. He’d just informed his colleague, Emery Wager, that he’d be happy to help Gravity build an API that would allow new clients to onboard with the company more quickly. Oliver was … Continued

Careers at Gravity Part 5

“I walked into work one day and realized I didn’t care how much I was getting paid. I didn’t want to put my moral compass in jeopardy just so I could pay the rent.” This was the moment in which Jose Garcia says he made his first “adult decision.” For the past five years, he’d … Continued

Careers at Gravity Part 4

Rosita Barlow hates being bored. “I’m kind of a workaholic. I don’t want to be bored at a job. I’d rather come in and have to work fifty or sixty hours because that’s going to really get me going.” It was Rosita’s hatred of boredom that motivated her to chart her unique career path at … Continued

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