Even after they’ve moved on to new opportunities, every Avantee leaves their mark on our culture. Britt, we’re proud of everything we did together and we know you’ll keep thriving! You’re in the Avant Alumni Club for life.
____
Brittany Watson
Former Senior Associate, Digital for the Marketing Team
With Avant 2021-2023
What’s it like to work @Avant? We asked Brittany for her take on our culture, and here’s what she said:
1. How would you describe Avant’s culture?
Avant’s culture is very results-oriented, supportive, collaborative, and ultimately just fun and friendly. People check their titles and their egos at the door, and the best idea wins. No matter if you’re just starting out or you’re the CEO, it’s really an open place to collaborate. They hire you for your uniqueness and your ideas, so you can show up as your full self. We want to do big things, and we need people to be big thinkers who feel free to express themselves.
An experience that stands out: one Summer Friday when I first joined, I got a Slack message from Matt Bochenek (our CEO) just checking in and seeing how my first few months at Avant had been. I thought it was so personal, and very on-brand for Avant. You always feel welcomed. It helps you relax, get comfortable, and feel empowered to drive change.
2. Why are you happy/successful here?
I love working collaboratively with different teams. That is something that I also really enjoyed doing when I worked at Zero Financial, before Avant acquired us. Yes, I was the marketer, but I was also involved in Product Development, I had a lot of interfaces with Compliance, Legal, Engineering. And at Avant, if you show interest and want to understand how other areas work, the sky’s the limit. You’re never going to be turned down if you want to learn something about a different org, and there is tons of room for lateral movement. I was previously on the deposits team as a product marketer, and then a spot opened up on the Marketing team that would be a fit for me, and here I am now! Avant empowers you to follow your passions, and they are very willing to make a spot for you at the table.
3. Do you feel like you can be yourself at Avant? What’s that like?
I can show up 150% as my authentic dorky self. I think what makes that possible is that everyone else shows up as themselves as well. When you accept yourself and all your little quirks, you’re able to really see others and extend them that same grace. That’s part of why I love working here. There are so many interesting and cool people who have such niche, fun interests.
One thing that really struck me was you could search for literally any hobby or word on Slack and there is likely a Slack group devoted to it. You bet the first one I joined was #cats, and I’ve also had so much fun at Book Club, and #Social-While-Distanced is one of the most fun channels ever. It’s so helpful being a remote employee, having that as a conversation starter. I have made friends with people in different functional areas who live far away from me and I would likely never even interface with in my day-to-day, even if I did work in the Chicago office. We bond over plants, or cats, or Real Housewives. It’s really great. There are so many people with shared interests or new interests that you can meet and soak up and ultimately just enjoy with each other.
4. If you had to describe who you are and not mention your work at all, what would you say?
I think my friends and family would use 3 Cs to describe me: I’m very curious, I’m creative to my core, and I am an unapologetic cat lover. During Covid, I was able to blend all of those interests by launching my own little side hustle where I draw people’s pets. It was just a passion project, but it blew up into something a lot bigger than I expected it to be, and now I’ve started drawing people’s engagement photos and wedding photos, too. It’s really neat to be able to combine my interests. And I get to draw cats, which is awesome.
5. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
This all stems from my mom’s love of pop culture—I was a die-hard Grey’s Anatomy fan because my mom and I would watch it every Thursday night. So I decided that it was my calling to become a neurosurgeon. I quickly realized that blood kind of freaks me out, so that was not the path for me. But I am really, really jazzed about where I ended up because I’m very analytical and very creative, and Marketing allows me to flex those muscles in a very fun way.
