Rach has extensive experience across ecommerce, growth & digital marketing, working in companies across the globe since 2016. A core Harvey member, she joined the team in 2022. In the first of our series of team member profiles, we asked Rach what it’s like for her working at Harvey (and also got to know more about her love for music and bouldering!). Over to you, Rach.
An environment of transparency and honesty
Two words summarise my experience working at Harvey - transparency and honesty. In one of my recent end of week wraps, I shared this reflection:
This is just one example of how our end of week wraps allow us to openly express what we think, feel, and need. It's a great way to end the week, reflecting on how we’re feeling and celebrating / acknowledging what we’ve done the past week. I'm really grateful for the environment of transparency and honesty at Harvey (all thanks to the efforts of Bec and Simon!). It’s made work a positive, welcoming environment where we can all be ourselves and support each other.
A typical day: Morning rituals, Shopify, Klaviyo and bouldering
My work day starts off relaxing - a little meditation, a morning stroll, and of course, coffee (an oat flat white, of course). As soft jazz plays in the background, I join our morning stand-up on Slack and jot down my main tasks for the day.
Then, I dive into setting up a Shopify website for a brand (see an example, Farm My School Case Study) - configuring everything from shipping settings to fonts and colours. Guided by Celine's fantastic wireframe designs, I kick-off with building the homepage - choosing the right panels, and making design/content adjustments as needed to bring the brand’s vision to life (while ensuring an excellent user experience). Making good progress, I'm on track to launch a fully functional ecommerce site to the world!
After leftovers for lunch, and fuelled by another cup of coffee, I jump into Klaviyo to create an automated welcome email flow for a client and build a neat template for the emails before populating it with relevant content. The rest of the afternoon, I power through any other priorities on my list before hitting the bouldering gym and hanging out with friends over dinner. Then I wind down for bedtime and it’s lights out :)
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Learning about clean cooking & being ‘On Country’
A cool thing about Harvey is that we aren’t just teaching our clients, they also return the favour by teaching us about their incredible organisations. I learn so much about different ways organisations are helping to combat social and environmental issues.
A great example is ATEC, in the way that they’re making clean cooking accessible to those living in countries like Cambodia and Bangladesh who traditionally cook with wood (this causes 3x more deaths annually worldwide than traffic accidents – with the majority of fatalities being women!). My learning went even deeper on our impact trip in Cambodia and Bangladesh in 2022.
Another example was while uploading a series of blogs for our client, Studio Schools Australia, where I came across a fascinating concept of being 'On Country' among Indigenous Australians.
It's a way for Indigenous Australians (particularly youth) to connect with their traditional lands, cultures, and communities. Living together as a community in this context is believed to have a healing effect, fostering deeper connections and enabling more impactful responses to challenges. It's moments like this where I’m reminded that we’re doing cool work which enriches our understanding of the world!
Uncovering awesome, actionable insights
One of my favourite projects recently was working on a research project for a large publicly listed travel company - it’s one of our biggest research projects to date and involved sending out a survey, managing interviews and comprehensive analysis of hundreds of charts!
I created the survey, corresponded with interview participants and analysed the data. I enjoyed playing a key role in analysing the collected data, transforming it into actionable insights and recommendations for the team. Very excited about the prospect of future research projects and the opportunity to apply my skills to them.
Impact lessons: Is it right & good; Setup foundations; and Little things matter.
These three fundamentals help me improve my impact day to day
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Does this feel right and good?
For example if all the buzz is about reels, pause and consider if it aligns with your brand and if making a reel is the most effective use of our time. Maybe a simple static social post resonates better with your audience. Just because something's trending doesn't mean it's a fit for your brand.
Before diving into any task, ensure your foundations are set up right instead of jumping in.
Jumping in or winging it usually results in less efficiency / more time spent on the task. For example, when crafting title tags and meta descriptions for your web pages (for SEO), set up a simple table in a Google Sheet (we do this in our information architecture doc for all our sites) to ensure you've got everything you need before diving into updating the website (it’s a lot easier for others to come in and review the content too.)
The little things matter.
Take uploading a blog, for example. It seems like a simple, straightforward task but making sure it looks good, reads well, and is formatted properly can impact how a brand is perceived. It’s not just about uploading the blog and calling it a day - but taking a moment to check if everything looks and feels right (even if a bunch of eyes have already reviewed the content.)
My inspo: Koskela with their beautiful aesthetic and commitment to impact
I love Koskela (check them out on Instagram) - they make sustainable homewares and furniture (and are Australia’s first B Corp furniture & lighting company which is very cool).
One of their posts which showcased their Mirii (Star) hand woven lampshades caught my eye - each piece hand woven by Indigenous artists with locally sourced materials. The grass on the lampshades also naturally change colour over time from a deep green to a natural sandy yellow. I found it very cool and unique - definitely something I’d love in my new apartment.
I particularly love their ReHome initiative which lets you trade in Koskela furniture for credit towards your next purchase. Koskela then makes sure it’s almost as good as new and releases it back into the market for a lower price than a new item. So you save money, get beautiful furniture that still looks good and you help minimise waste.
Love it.
The content I consume: Striving to be better
As a music enthusiast, a lot of my time is spent immersing myself in audio (including both podcasts and music).
One of my favourite podcasts is "How to Be a Better Human" by TED. A recent episode I listened to and enjoyed was “How to lead a happier, more fulfilling life” with Dr. Robert Waldinger. He talked about the keys to a happier life, emphasising the importance of relationships - and how happiness in our relationships - more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives. I spent a moment reflecting on the episode, and realised that I needed to buck up and be intentional in creating strong foundations for my relationships. I then made a list of close friends I wanted to make a point to call at least once each month, and put it as a recurring reminder in my calendar. Then, I reached out to one of them and we’re catching up this weekend. I love podcasts that give me actionable insights, and this one definitely did.
As for music, I’m going through the albums in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time to expand my appreciation of different musical styles / genres. I’ve particularly enjoyed listening to The Beatles’ White Album (which the band wrote at a meditation course in India)!
