Meet the Harbingers: Rachelle Su

Siriphone Maldonado, Director of Marketing & Communications, recently sat down with our newest Harbinger, Rachelle Su, Marketing & Communications Coordinator, to learn more about her background and interests. Rachelle will be focusing much of her time on marketing activities including writing and developing various online materials for Harbinger’s website and social media channels. She will also be working closely with Siri on several internal engagement initiatives and will be supporting other members of the team as needed.

Tell us more about your role at Harbinger.

My role at Harbinger as a Marketing and Communications Coordinator assists in developing the overall marketing strategy of the brand, while supporting other creative and design functions in the company. Ensuring marketing materials are both attractive and meaningful are within the scope of my responsibility, along with increasing Harbinger’s online presence. As the company continues to grow, it’s important for the brand to grow with it. This means engaging with our audience, developing our voice, and portraying an accurate and consistent image of who the company is and what it represents. I help express the Harbinger story and shed light on our values to encourage a strong, trustworthy and impactful brand.

What was the last book you read?

The last book I read was Stephen King’s Skeleton Crew book. I don’t usually enjoy scary novels but I thought I’d give it a chance, I would recommend it because it’s a super creative and well written book. It’s not as scary as it seems if you’re afraid of anything remotely horror themed like me!

What are you happiest doing when you’re not working?

When I’m not working, I’m happiest spending time outdoors swimming or doing water sports up north. I love going camping with my friends and being by the water whenever I can.

What do you enjoy doing the most as a communications and marketing practitioner?

I enjoy the creative liberty marketing and communications enables, I get the opportunity to transform information into concise, attractive, and creative components of a brand. For example, I like doing anything related to visual design. This means everything from rebranding logos, creating visual content, designing infographics, to creating a website! Although I can be very visual, I also enjoy focussing on marketing strategies and looking at the big picture and hard facts before creating content that makes the vision come to life.

What are some of the values that drive you?

Some of the values that drive me are curiosity, compassion and responsibility. I am a curious person, who enjoys learning and asking questions. I try to figure out how different pieces of a bigger image fit together or why something does what it does. My role with Harbinger is my first job out of university and the environment allows me to be a sponge and take in as much as I can as a young professional. In addition, having responsibility and accountability is something that drives me because I like to personally feel I can make meaningful contributions to my community through hard work. Lastly, compassion is one of my core values because it complements other important principles such as respect, inclusivity, kindness and more, which are all important to practice everyday. Being compassionate to others helps build my personal and professional relationships to be stronger and more meaningful.

How will you leverage your past school and work experience at Harbinger?

I will leverage my past school and work experience at Harbinger by using some of the marketing tools I became familiar with throughout my university career. Through the varied internships I’ve completed that either focussed on sales or a design-based role, I’ve learned some valuable skills that are transferrable to this role. Some of which are my technical abilities, research aptitude, problem-solving skills and initiative. My experience has prepared me to be successful in both creatively supporting the Harbinger brand, but also in contributing to the more strategic aspect of the company’s goals.

Do you have a special talent?

My special talent is that I can draw and paint quite well. This artistic ability has always been an asset to my role in marketing positions because strategy and design in communications goes hand in hand.

How do you like to learn?

I like to learn by doing. I find that by doing something independently I am able to learn from my mistakes or challenge myself to solve a problem on my own.

Define change.

Change is trying something new, challenging the status quo or the regular routine of doing things. Sometimes change can be something small but other times, it pushes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to learn or take a new perspective. Change encourages you to discover your potential.

What makes you most excited to be a Harbinger?

I am most excited about the opportunity to learn with Harbinger. Being surrounded by experienced professionals at this company will allow me to learn more about thriving industries and best practices in the workplace. Harbinger has a valuable network of people that I have the opportunity to connect with and learn from which is definitely an asset in developing my own career, especially in these early stages.

If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

If I could visit anywhere in the world it would be Indonesia. The hot weather and crystal blue waters seem like an awesome time!