Meet our Email Marketing Manager, Ashton — Introducing the Koala Digital Team
For our inaugural interview with a member of the Koala digital team, we are lucky to have Ashton Pereira. Ashton joined Koala early August of 2018 and have already been making an impact on our email automation funnels across Australia and Japan but more importantly, he’s taken round 2 title of our ping pong tournament!
What exciting project(s) are you working on at the moment?
I couldn’t say a specific project that’s more exciting over another if I’m being honest. All of my work is different from day to day and that’s because of the stage of the business and the product range we have (and will have in the future). I do find however that our work in Japan is something that motivates and challenges me to approach the world of CRM and Email Marketing differently than I would have at another business. This is due to having a strong brand and tone of voice established in Australia but thinking what does that mean in another country that has itself, renowned retailing and customer service standards.
What do you like about working for Koala?
In two words: Autonomy and Ownership. On one hand I’ve been brought on as the so-called “expert” in CRM and Email Marketing, but any business you join will tell you that, rarely will actually have the autonomy to do what you believe is best for your part of the company. I’m very happy to say that Koala has continually proved they support and nurture autonomy and it’s seldom found to be the case in other business I’ve worked at (sorry not sorry).
The other side of this is the tale of Ownership. What does it means to take ownership on something that’s your livelihood? People (our fearless founders) are paying me to take care of these areas and ideally show growth and opportunities as they become available. It’s both daunting and exciting to have these values at such a young business and feel invested in them yourself.
Describe what a typical day looks like for you in the digital team.
I’m usually in just before our stand ups start at 9:15 and we breakdown the tasks for the day or challenges that are facing the team. Traditionally in other businesses, I would be in the Marketing team but because of the nature of my tasks I work more closely with our great engineering and user experience team. I’ll usually get stuck into work and get out the most pressing tasks or campaigns. After an hour or so of doing work, it’s usually time for a break and you’ll probably find me out for a walk in Alexandria or playing ping pong.
Yes, I enjoy ping pong and long walks.
The afternoon usually is a mixture of preparing for upcoming automation or campaign work and/or meetings. I do spend time during the day looking for inspiration for certain work that I’m doing on…nothing booked into my calendar but as I get stuck. Looking at what others have done on something completely different, industry or otherwise strangely gives me the answer or a solution to test rather than stalling. If it fails, we can just change it back or try something new.
How is Koala different to the previous places you’ve worked at and what motivated you to join Koala?
Koala is different from previous places I’ve worked for as it’s only 3 years old and everyone is the bringing all their own previous experiences to build a better business for the future, rather then just thinking solely on the present. What motivated me to join Koala was the opportunity to work on advanced technology and processes that you won’t find in other ecommerce businesses, let alone other startups.
It’s very rare that someone gets the opportunity to work on projects that can shape the future of the business and the industries that the business also participates in. From a marketing perspective, the team is one of the best assembled that I’ve worked with and we’re always investing time in understanding the next big thing to help more people learn, shop and enjoy Koala products.
Plus we have a great Branch Manager, Thor. The o.g Koala office dog who can just make your day!
What do you do to get to know your team better?
Being a small team, it’s been easier than I thought it would be to get to know the team… I’m a quiet person and somewhat shy. I think within the digital team when you’re working with some people closely you start learning about them in social and work settings. We do make an effort to hangout and do things at the office or the neighbouring areas when possible. That could be a birthday lunch for a team member or end of month team activity or just playing some basketball on the local courts.
I joined the business as a company wide ping-pong tournament started and I gained infamy for bringing my own bat. To be clear, I only have one because my former employer had a table and the sales team had a habit of breaking bats, so I bought my own… but the tournament has been a way for me to get to know others and have fun. Also there is a certain awkwardness of beating your managers and founders.
Koala is an Australian startup based in Sydney with a passion for changing the furniture buying experience online because life’s too short to worry about dumb stuff like wasting a whole day waiting for the delivery guy or whether 20 minutes in a showroom was enough to make an educated decision…
Try Koala today at koala.com.
