Every unique and talented Avantee is a co-creator of the Avant culture we love. We hope the @Avant series helps you get to know who we are, how we do what we do, and what it looks like to build your career at Avant.
Julie Nolan
Senior Manager on the People Team
Joined Avant in 2021
What’s it like to work @Avant? We asked Julie for her take on our culture, and here’s what she said:
1. How would you describe Avant’s culture?
We are fun, smart, hardworking, and we care about each other as people. We enjoy being around each other and collaborating. That’s why I like it here.
The Fun committee is a really good example of this. People from all walks of Avant who want to contribute, who want to help everyone to get together, around something they care about. People really show up in their own very unique ways. Steven Lang did the World Cup, Alicia Anjum Aleem just did a watercolor event, we have our Diwali clebrations—there are so many ways that people are bringing their own personality. “Fun” here really means actual personalities showing up.
2. Why are you happy/successful here?
I think I’m happy because at my core, I’m quite silly, and here that’s, dare I say, encouraged? I’m allowed to have a big, loud laugh at my desk and then our COO Margaret will message me, saying, “We hear you in the boardroom. It’s infectious.” Nobody says, “Be quiet. Mute yourself.” They’re laughing with me.
And just generally, you get to try stuff here. You can bring your ideas and then implement them in a way that’s not just cookie cutter. At the end of the day, I don’t feel like I have to come in and be buttoned up into something that I don’t know how to be. That’s how you lose your creativity.
3. If you were to describe who you are and not mention your work at all, what would you say?
I’m a woman, so this is the hardest question on the planet. I’m a mom, but I’m also a baker and a cook, and I like to watch hockey and read books and be outside. I like a nice glass of wine and I have all the hobbies—I want to try every hobby.
I definitely don’t have just one thing that defines me. I’m back on my sourdough kick. I have a calligraphy set. I didn’t bake my own cake for my birthday but I thought about it. I made my husband Kev go to pottery with me (and now I’m trying to steal my daughter’s Play-Doh). I just love to be creative and find out if I can do something, just to see if I can. Turns out, I can decorate these cookies, I can airbrush, I can do crosswords, and I cannot do calligraphy. It’s fun to see what you’re capable of, but also there’s so much going on in life that it’s hard to stick with one thing.
4. What’s something Avant is really good at? What’s something you’d like to see us get better at?
I already talked about how we’re fun—and I know a company that says it values authenticity could seem cheesy or sugary. But here, it’s really true. People do bring their ideas, bring themselves, and challenge other people to try new things. We get to show people who we are in big and small ways, and I think that that makes for a place where people feel safe being themselves.
For what I’d like to see us get better at, I work on our employee satisfaction survey every month and I’d love for us to continue getting better at turning that feedback into action, or “get sh!t done,” as we like to say. I think we’re already pretty good at this but the positive impact of getting even better can’t be overstated. We’ve got some amazing talent here with things to say, and the more we act on what we hear, the better we’ll be.
5. What’s your favorite thing about the way your unique job role works on your team?
My favorite thing is how much stuff I get to learn and do. I started on the Talent Acquisition team, recruiting and doing talent programs. My role has evolved so much since then. I get to do so many things and talk to everybody, and I interact with so many different areas of the business. I can see the gears and inner workings of it. It’s just really cool, learning about our people, seeing how we all weave this really interconnected web of human creativity and weirdness. Because people are weird, we’re weird! And being in HR, you really see everything that makes this place tick. We hear from people about their experiences, and then we actually get to do stuff with the data. That’s so cool.
6. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A cashier! It was all I wanted. We had a little school store and I was a cashier at it. It was the satisfaction of hitting those old-school buttons and hearing them click! Even today, I’m so incredibly particular about my keyboards. I do like to switch them up every now and then. I think it helps me think differently.
