419 acres, one goal: How Lizett Martinez helps keep UCLA beautiful

Native Angeleno Lizett Martinez is a true Bruin. After earning her bachelor's degree in history and sociology from UCLA in 2009, she landed her first job out of college at facilities management on campus and has served in key staff roles here ever since.

Martinez started out as an administrative assistant in the carpentry shop, helping her teammates implement technology into their roles. She was quickly promoted into another facilities management role that focused on preventative maintenance at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. While there, her primary focus was keeping fire and life safety procedures in compliance with the Joint Commission, an accreditation agency that ensures hospitals deliver the highest standard of care.

Now director of custodial and grounds for UCLA Facilities Management, Martinez oversees custodial and grounds crews across our 419-acre campus, making sure services are delivered consistently, safely and in support of UCLA's mission. She works with colleagues across campus on strategic planning, service continuity, workforce development and more while keeping her teams aligned with university policies, labor agreements and safety standards.

Newsroom sat down with Martinez to learn more about her and her role. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

It's Earth Month, so let's talk a little bit about how UCLA maintains and meets sustainability standards.

I make sure we adhere to our landscape plan, which involves a lot of cross-functional work with sustainability and water conservation to keep our campus beautiful while also meeting sustainability standards. Part of my group manages the diversion of waste, compost and recycling to stay aligned with those standards. Our custodial and grounds crews do continuous work on sustainability - they obtained a native plant certification in 2022, and we are looking to recertify incoming team members. Our custodial and grounds crews take pride in our campus and see themselves as the caretakers of UCLA, which is known internationally for being a beautiful campus.

How do you approach your work?

Through collaboration. I thrive in this environment because I love helping those around me, and I accomplish a lot by working in tandem with my colleagues. The opportunities I've been given to succeed here are enormous, and I try to extend that to my team as much as possible. I firmly believe in UCLA's mission to foster community and maintain the highest standards as a research institution.

What has been inspiring you lately?

I love what I do as an operations person who figures out and solves complex problems. That requires a lot of collaboration with my peers because custodial and grounds teams must work across campus and within facilities to make things happen. So no two days are the same. Each day brings its own challenges and rewards - and what also inspires me daily is that I see this campus as my second home. My brothers and cousins are UCLA alumni, and when I was accepted here, I was reading the Harry Potter series at the time and considered it my "Hogwarts letter." After all, we do have beautiful gothic architecture. UCLA was the dream I had always wanted.

What's the best advice or insight you've received from a mentor that impacted your career here at UCLA?

Not to fear the next opportunity. I have often second-guessed myself given my background in history and sociology - I never envisioned myself where I am now, but I had the right people push me. I was shown how to read drawings, how to work with tradespeople and others across levels and professions, so I could advocate for them. So I tell people that instead of expecting or waiting for an opportunity to present itself, they should go after it and seek out mentors who can help. I earned an M.B.A. at Cal State Northridge while working here, and it has given me even more opportunities than I thought possible.