Loyola Magazine

When your home is your castle

Elizabeth Dodson, MBA ’97, shares story behind creating personal finance software HomeZada

As a new homeowner, Elizabeth Dodson, MBA ’97, was trying to keep track of all the paperwork and information that comes with buying, maintaining, and improving a house.

When she started looking to see what was available for organizing assets online to manage her home, she saw a need—and an opportunity.

“I value my house and I really want to take care of it, and I can’t be the only one,” Dodson said. “And I want everything available digitally.”

Dodson and her husband created HomeZada, an online home management solution that allows homeowners to track home inventory, home maintenance, and home improvement projects. Today HomeZada has tens of thousands of users around the world and has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens and the Washington Post.

In her work, Dodson feels she has used her Loyola MBA. “Some of my professors were real-world professors. They were working and could relate the material beyond academia into real-life lessons,” she said.

“Sometimes you just have to do trial and error. You have to use the knowledge that you have and make the most educated decision that you can. Because of that, I had the confidence to go start my own company.”