Spotlight on Success
Featured Interview
Liz Shepherd
“Spotlight on Success” is an interview series created by David Levine of I Am Your Virtual Professional. Its purpose is to amplify the voices of today’s business leaders. Each interview provides actionable insights that readers can implement immediately. No fluff, just practical wisdom that enables individuals to move forward with clarity and confidence.
Liz Shepherd
| Company | Kidault Kar |
|---|---|
| Role | Founder & CEO |
| LinkedIn Profile | https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-shepherd-55763a5a/ |
| Company Website | www.kidault.com |
Liz is the founder of Kidault, a child and special-needs transportation company created to fill a critical gap in New York City’s school transportation system. She launched the business in 2017 after discovering that many families had no reliable transportation option at all, forcing difficult tradeoffs between work, caregiving, and safety. Under her leadership, Kidault has built a transportation model centered on consistency, accountability, and the specific needs of children and families. Her perspective deepened further after helping her own family navigate the city’s special-needs transportation system following her nephew’s autism diagnosis in 2023. Today, she works with families, schools, attorneys, and institutions that see transportation not as a convenience, but as an essential part of family stability.
Who Should You Nominate?
- Leaders doing meaningful work
- People with insights others can learn from
- Voices worth elevating
Interview Questions
1. What’s one strategy your business used recently that created meaningful growth?
We launched a direct outreach campaign to D75 schools across the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Instead of waiting for referrals, we went straight to the principals and administrators who see transportation breakdowns up close every day. That proactive approach opened conversations that would have taken years to find organically.
2. How has AI or technology changed the way you operate or serve clients?
We use AI to build our outreach systems, Content, and internal SOPs so our small team can operate like a much larger company. It lets us stay focused on what actually matters, which is making sure every student gets where they need to be safely and on time.
3. What’s one thing you stopped doing that actually helped your business grow?
We stopped trying to serve everyone and got laser focused on D75 schools and the families they serve. That decision sharpened everything. Our driver training, our communication approach, our outreach, all of it got better because we were building specifically for one population instead of trying to be everything to everybody.
4. What’s a customer insight you discovered that changed the way you do business?
Families were not just worried about whether the car would show up. They were worried about who was driving their child. Once we understood that the driver relationship mattered as much as the ride itself, we made recurring driver assignments the foundation of how we operate.
5. If a business had to improve ONE area to grow faster in the next 90 days, what should it be?
Know your customer’s real fear, not just their stated need. In transportation, families say they need reliability. What they actually need is peace of mind. When you solve for the emotional need underneath the practical one, your service and your messaging both get sharper.
6. What’s one thing you do consistently that keeps your pipeline healthy?
We show up in the spaces where our customers already talk to each other, which means staying connected to D75 school networks, special needs advocacy organizations, and family groups. Relationships built in those spaces generate referrals that no ad budget can replicate.
7. What’s a decision you made in the last year that had a bigger impact than you expected, and what led you to make it?:
Investing in AI to build out our sales and Content systems. I expected it to save me time. What I did not expect was how much it would sharpen my thinking about the business itself. Building those systems forced me to get clear on our voice, our offer, and who we actually serve.
8. What’s one process you streamlined that made a noticeable difference in efficiency or results?
Systematizing our school outreach. We built personalized email cadences for D75 schools across three boroughs so that consistent follow up is happening without me having to manage every touchpoint manually. It turned a scattered effort into a repeatable system.
9. What book, podcast, or resource has influenced your thinking or business decisions lately and why?
I spend a lot of time in community with other operators and founders who are building in overlooked spaces. Those real conversations, more than any single book or podcast, have shaped how I think about scale, sustainability, and staying true to the mission while growing.
Who Should You Nominate?
- Leaders doing meaningful work
- People with insights others can learn from
- Voices worth elevating
I am Your Virtual Professional's
3 Key Takeaways
# 1
Go where the problem is felt most—and act early.
Direct outreach to D75 schools replaced slow, organic discovery with immediate, high-value conversations, proving that proximity to the problem accelerates pipeline and trust.
# 2
Build systems that scale clarity and consistency.
AI-powered outreach and SOPs didn’t just improve efficiency—they created repeatable processes and sharper positioning, allowing a small team to deliver with precision at scale.
# 3
Design your service around emotional outcomes, not just functional ones.
Understanding that families value trust in the driver as much as reliability led to operational changes that deepened relationships, strengthened retention, and fueled referrals.
Who Should You Nominate?
- Leaders doing meaningful work
- People with insights others can learn from
- Voices worth elevating
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