Rachael’s work experience ranges across different fields, from child care to the restaurant and beverage industry to education. She was a full-time nanny, and she also helped manage a winery’s tasting room. Rachael worked in several small, family-owned businesses (winery, cafe, wine bar) in their early stages of opening. This built her interest in developing systems and processes that help a business grow in a sustainable way.
Her work in education began when she was a part of a small team in the Office of Education Abroad at a university. In being a part of a small, agile team where she wore multiple hats in her role, she realized how useful it would be for her to have more technology skills like WordPress web development. So Rachael began to take classes in HTML, CSS, and web development.
This led her to change roles and work in EdTech for an international nonprofit organization that aims to support and increase the number of women in computer science. In this role, Rachael supported teachers and community members who were running after-school coding clubs for girls through teaching Computer Science.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rachael, like a lot of folks in the nonprofit sector, was let go. While getting laid off was a difficult circumstance, it caused Rachael to know two things for certain: 1) she wanted to continue working in EdTech, and 2) she wanted a role within Operations and Customer Support since that is where her strengths are. This event, combined with her previous work experience in education and technology skills, led her to Goalbook. In this Q&A, Rachael tells us about her role on the Customer Support team and what she enjoys about being a part of the Goalbook team.
1. How did you learn about Goalbook, and what attracted you to Goalbook’s mission?
I grew up in a small town in East Tennessee that didn’t have a lot of resources for teachers or students. Education has always been important to me, and I even contemplated going to university to be a teacher or a counselor. Subconsciously, I knew those roles didn’t play to my strengths. I am stronger at making an impact from behind the scenes.
I had just come out of an EdTech role in the computer science space and was looking for a role within operations and customer support since those play to my strengths. I found Goalbook after taking a deep dive into EdTech companies on LinkedIn.
When I learned about Goalbook’s mission to empower educators to transform instruction so all students succeed, it made me think about how that could translate to a school system like the one I grew up in. It can make a difference for teachers to have more resources that make an impact on students and support students with their needs.
2. In your eyes, how does your work support Goalbook’s mission?
The work we do on the Customer Support team is collective, meaning we work together closely as a team. For example, part of the work includes collaborating with district administrators to ensure educators have access to Goalbook Toolkit. We help streamline the process and work to remove any barriers that come up so educators have access to resources in Goalbook Toolkit that make them more effective in their daily work.
Another part of the work is to support educators in their inquiries around how to access and navigate Goalbook Toolkit. They may be looking for specific resources or assessments they can use, and we help them find those. In this way, we advance Goalbook’s mission forward from behind the scenes.
3. Tell us more about your role and what your favorite parts are.
Our work in Customer Support requires a lot of internal collaboration because we have multiple touch points along the partner journey: from supporting the purchasing process of Goalbook Toolkit, to setting up accounts so educators have access and are ready to go when our Success team leads trainings.
On any given day, I may work with multiple teams. I connect with our Partnerships and Finance teams regarding purchases of Goalbook Toolkit. I check in with the Success team about implementation details. I work with the Content team to discuss alignment on content questions educators may ask. And I’ll connect with our Engineering team for help with troubleshooting.
I have always enjoyed working behind the scenes in this way. I like sitting down, thinking through scenarios, and working towards the best solution. The work I do involves collecting information from various systems and putting puzzle pieces together, so I am viewing the whole picture and providing the best response or solution to our partners.
I also support our team internally with support ops, data work, and training. I really enjoy this part of my role. I support operations by optimizing the systems we use, aligning processes, and creating and updating our internal knowledge base for optimal efficiency. I also like collecting and analyzing data to identify trends, pinpoint areas of improvement, and inform decisions. And I love to collaborate with folks and to ensure they have the resources they need to support our partners to the best of their ability.
“We think about failure as a learning opportunity. Across the company, this mindset is supported in that we’re learning and growing from our failures.”
4. What have you learned in your role so far?
We think about failure as a learning opportunity. Across the company, this mindset is supported in that we’re learning and growing from our failures. This is not vocally appreciated at many companies. For me, I’ve learned to embrace this.
We have managers who respect autonomy and give us independence in our work. They trust us and give us space and time to reflect and course-correct on our own.
“There’s something pretty powerful about this many people coming together who are passionate about making an impact on other people’s lives.”
5. What are one or two things you love here?
The people. There’s something pretty powerful about this many people coming together who are passionate about making an impact on other people’s lives. Everyone comes in with their own experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, yet we all come together to work and collaborate across teams to make an impact.
Another thing I respect about Goalbook is the intentionality of the company. There is a lot of intentionality at a higher level in terms of relationships, personal and professional growth, building community, and ensuring people feel like they’re belonging within their workspace. The transparency provided around company-wide initiatives is something I’ve never experienced before. Goalbook sources feedback from people who are working here and then builds initiatives around what teammates say they need/want or would like to see.
6. What’s your favorite memory during your time at Goalbook?
When I first started working at Goalbook, it was January 2021. The company was operating fully remotely with travel restrictions in place, so I joined in a remote space. I didn’t have in-person onboarding. I didn’t actually meet anyone in person until I’d been with the company for about a year and a half.
The team weeks had been turned into virtual team weeks because of the restrictions. I don’t have one specific memory from my first team week, but I felt like everyone was very motivated to keep team week alive even though it wasn’t in person. There was a lot of creativity and planning into the events that we were doing.
For example, we were doing scavenger hunts on our own or breaking up into teams doing scavenger hunts. Everyone was submitting a video of them doing a thing like reading a book, or doing parkour on the front porch or bench. It was fun and silly. It was bonding in a new and different way. I had never met a lot of these people, and I was doing these activities with people I didn’t really know, but it felt like a very warm and inviting space to be.
7. Which team activity has been your favorite?
We’ve had a lot of great ones, and our Operations team is really amazing with planning activities. We participated in a glassblowing class during our summer Team Week 2023. We were able to choose between making a glass, a bowl, and a vase.
The class was hard. It was a very challenging thing to do, but it was a very fun experience. The class was in this outdoor space, so we were all hanging outside and watching everyone go through the process of choosing what they wanted to make and the different colors they wanted to incorporate into their piece. We then got to watch each individual person get a feel for what was being asked of them in the process and create.
I think only one of us had ever done glassblowing before, so it was a new experience for most of us that day. It was a fun experience seeing what people chose to make and their color choices. It was also fun watching everyone learn something and try something new. Plus, we had a material piece to take home with us because we all created something. I made a glass, and it sits on my desk with my pens in it.
8. What’s something that made you laugh while at Goalbook?
During winter Team Week in 2024, the Operations team made candles, and then we sat around and played Jenga. But it was Jenga with questions on it, so every time someone pulled a piece, there was a question. We went round-robin style for the questions, and everyone had to say what their response to the question was.
It was informal and relaxed, and a real team-bonding experience. It made me laugh that day. I mean, there were tears of laughter. Everyone sharing their experiences or responses and then other people responding to their responses is where most of the laughter came in. It was an enjoyable afternoon, for sure.
9. What are you watching/reading/listening to right now?
Watching: My mom, two of my sisters, and I recently took my niece and nephew to watch the movie The Wild Robot. I would highly recommend it.
Reading: I have just started reading Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines by Joy Buolamwini.
Listening to: Greyhounds (musical duo), Gary Clark Jr., and a playlist called “Bonfire.” Last night it played Tom Petty, Traveling Wilburys, Noah Kahan, and Bob Dylan.
10. Early bird or night owl?
Throughout a good portion of my life, I’ve been a night owl. I find I have more creativity at night.
These days, I am more of a morning person. I do find that first thing in the morning, I can really zone in to work before the distractions of the day kick in.
I’m also a sunlight person though, so maybe that’s what has changed now that I live in the Pacific Northwest. I want to be up in the daylight and get as much daylight as I can.
