Over the past four months, we’ve introduced you to three of our four GMs: Rob, André and Leens. This month, we’ll be completing the set, and you’ll be meeting our final General Manager, Charlie.
Charlie has been at the helm of the Aus team since October last year after GM’ing the UK since 2022. She had a couple of months out to travel between the two, visiting South Africa and France, but now she’s fully settled into the Sydney office and is ready to lead the team in smashing 2024 and helping more kids than ever.
And now, over to Charlie to tell you a little more about her progression through Elevate, and what she likes to get up to outside of work.
How are you finding Australia so far?
I absolutely love it! It’s the outdoor lifestyle I enjoy the most; I’m living near Centennial Park which is such a beautiful spot to run around and means I can get down to the beach every weekend. I have a huge Aus bucket list of places I want to visit, and it just keeps getting longer as I discover more things!
What has your time at Elevate looked like so far and what brought you here?
I was working in Education Policy and Student Engagement at a university and was actually applying for a Teaching and Education role in the army when my friend told me about Elevate. He was working as a presenter and kept raving about his new job and how much I would love it because he knew how passionate I was about education. And that was it! I joined the office, pulled out of the army application and here I am!
I started in an operations role before progressing to CSM, then Head of Coaching, and eventually, GM. In 2023, an opportunity came up to move to Australia to be GM here. I remember in my first interview at Elevate talking about how I had always wanted to live in Australia, so it is truly a dream come true to move here!
What degree did you study and why?
History and Politics. Studied it quite simply because I was interested in both and I always said I wanted to study something I loved.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
The people; it’s a joy to work with a team who are so passionate about helping the kids - from the office team to presenters and coaches, and of course also the teachers we work with. This combined with seeing the impact of what we do through feedback from teachers, students, and parents makes the job incredibly rewarding. I keep all the awesome feedback that comes through - I have a folder dating back to 2016! And I love that every single day there is more that just keeps coming.
What's your secret talent that no one knows about?
Surfing.
Haha no, the whole office knows that I'm notoriously bad at this, but I want to learn in Aus!
Go-to karaoke song?
Jolene by Dolly Parton every time (Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton singing it together in Backyard Sessions is potentially my most-played song).
What are you most excited about at Elevate at the moment?
I’m most excited about Adam Diprose’s (former SA GM) new role as Head of People - Operations and Culture. Having Dip dedicated to improving the presenter experience is going to have a huge impact on the team and the students we work with. I can’t wait to see how this transforms the way we work in 2024!
Thanks, Charlie, for that awesome insight into your time at Elevate so far! If you’d like to check out some more progression stories from the Elevate office and services teams, you can find them on our brand-new Working at Elevate page, here.
And now we’ve ticked off all the GMs, in next month’s Meet the Team, we’ll be catching up with a familiar face in a slightly different role...
Any guesses? Comment them below!
Comments