Rebecca (Becky) started her career in advertising, creative and media agencies working on global brands. Then she landed her ‘dream’ job at one of Australia’s leading social enterprises, Thankyou. As Senior Marketing Manager leading brand and digital teams, combining her skills with purpose and passion to make the world a better place. That’s when she got a taste for using business for good and the power of collective action leading to the birth of Harvey.
My reflection on working and running Harvey
Culture and ethos; ‘curiosity done well’; progress over perfection and no-fluff approach
It’s been the greatest privilege to build this company from the ground up and shape a culture that is supportive, curious and driven by impact (and our love for dogs, of course). Our guiding principle ‘curiosity done well’ underpins everything we do. Instead of looking inward or accepting the way things have always been done - we take the time to genuinely learn from others, ask why, notice and be curious without judgement to uncover true insights and craft impactful solutions. We cut the fluff - making sure we deliver top value by taking quality ingredients (great people, research, tech, etc) and cooking them just right. And above all, focus on progress over perfection.
Diverse and impact-led clients
I love the diversity I get at Harvey - learning and working with people from various industries; from consumer products to clean cooking technology (ATEC), Indigenous education (Studio Schools Australia) to sustainable architecture (The Sociable Weaver), electric vehicles (Felten) to financial services (Bank Australia) all innovating and using business to improve people and the planet.
A typical day for me
Morning check-in, deep work - brand strategy, new business opportunities and mum mode
After childcare drop-off, I grab a much-needed coffee, check in with the team on Slack for our ‘morning stand-up’ questions, catch up on Slacks / emails and update my work schedule if required.
Then I turn on my ‘🧠 deep focus’ status on Slack to pause notifications and get stuck into drafting a client’s brand strategy - a Victorian social enterprise and Learning Centre for social entrepreneurship and community asset ownership. I have fun with the challenge of distilling the insights and founder’s passion from the workshop the week prior into our brand model framework, like the example below;
After deep focus time, I check back in Slack / emails, then it’s time for lunch (and possibly hang up some laundry - because, as every parent knows, it’s bountiful, always).
The afternoons are full of meetings - first a new business ‘discovery’ call with Common Ground, a First Nations not-for-profit working to shape a society that centres First Nations people by amplifying knowledge, cultures and stories. We learn more about what they’re about and ask questions to understand their challenges, needs and how we can help.
I roll into the next Zoom call with Simon and Sarah for our weekly management meeting where we kick off with a check-in on how we’re all honestly feeling (good or bad) then get into our agenda; new business pipeline, work forecast/resourcing, how we’re tracking with financial targets, client and health team check.
Then, it’s 5 pm and time to wrap up work - Simon goes to get the kids from childcare and I try to whip up something quick for dinner. Brace myself for the post-childcare reunion and rollercoaster of emotions.
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Recent project highlight
Learning from Studio Schools Australia ‘On-Country’
I had the privilege of travelling up to The Kimberleys to visit our client, Studio Schools of Australia for the school’s open day on Bunuba Country (5-hour drive from Broome). I interviewed students, students’ families, staff and Bunuba elders to learn how Studio Schools of Australia are empowering Indigenous children to create a future of pride, belonging and success through a new model of education grounded in culture and language. I learnt so much about Indigenous culture and the value in ancient wisdom, how broken our current education system is for serving the remote Indigenous communities and how all children need is just one person to truly believe in their potential and develop them as a whole person (beyond academic outcomes).
My biggest lessons
Understand the customer, segment the audiences, and narrow your focus - “a good brand should turn people away”
To understand your audience, always start with the customer. Truly understanding who you’re trying to serve - what do they care about? What are their pain points? How do they talk?
Within each audience (customer or staff) some segments care about and behave differently, understanding those differences and who is most important to your strategic direction is essential. If you try to be everything to everyone you’ll be nothing. By focusing on key segments you’ll be more relevant, and meaningful and attract more of the right people who value similar things, if you go broad you’ll find the organisation having to meet so many conflicting needs. Conversely, a good brand should turn people away and that’s a good thing. We share more about this in our article ‘Branding unzipped.’
Don’t fake it until you make it
In my experience, the times that I have been my most honest and vulnerable self, I’ve been able to share my experiences, lessons and journey which have helped others on their journeys. If being uncomfortable and putting myself out there means I’ve been able to help just one person by sharing my experience then that’s worth it. Times of honesty & transparency:
Impact Reports
Bearing it all in our annual impact reports as part of our commitment to transparency and accountability. We share the good, bad and the ready-to-improve aspects of Harvey.
Sometimes new parents can’t finish their senten….
I shared an article about my struggles returning to work from maternity leave, navigating the identity shift of becoming a working mother and how ‘baby brain’ messed up my self-esteem. I shared how I did it differently the second time around and what workplaces can do to acknowledge and support this transition for parents.
Yay! I Failed
The first Harvey blog article I wrote about how a brief stint with improv play gave me the courage to take risks, embrace failure and step out to start Harvey.
Brands and content that caught my attention 👀
AWWA, re-framing how we talk about periods and offering a great product
I recently came across a Māori brand AWWA - reusable period undies. Their co-founder Michelle spoke at the B Corp Assembly gathering in March 2024 and I loved how she re-framed how we talk about periods. Māori referred to their period as te awa atua - the divine river, and this is the foundation of their brand. AWWA offers a world where every person can feel divine and empowered during their period. More than just a product, they advocate for, break down the barriers, unpack the stigma around periods that we have all faced and donate 2% of revenue to ending period poverty. Importantly, it’s also a great product - beautiful high-quality material, sustainable and so comfortable.
AWWA is a great example of a social enterprise doing it right - rule number 1; make a great product, rule number 2; don’t break rule number 1. *Never use a good cause to sell an average product. (From: “Do Purpose: Why Brands That Do Good Matter More”).
‘The Chinese Farmer’, to help me embrace the twists and turns of life
The last few years have been huge - starting a business, having 2 kids under 2, the pandemic, navigating motherhood and running a business, moving regional, and building a house.
For a person who likes a plan and ‘control’ - this season of life has challenged my resilience in more ways than one. I came across the story of The Chinese Farmer that changed my perspective - it helped me embrace the twists and turns life brings and when things don’t go to ‘plan’. The story teaches us a radical scepticism because it is impossible to tell whether anything that happens is good or bad.
