Have you ever meet someone and felt like you’ve known them your entire life? Or you walk into a place and immediately feel at ease, like this is where you are supposed to be?
That feeling basically sums up my first day at Radish Lab. The Radish folks, my new team, felt like people I have known for years. With their reassuring smiles and warm laughter within hours of meeting me, I knew my time at Radish would feel like home.
These feelings came as no surprise though. When doing my recon on the company during the interviewing process (aka shamelessly stalking social media accounts and reading what seemed to be the entirety of their website content) my overall impression was that Radish was a place that encourages a close knit and collaborative team. Yes, it’s an open office environment and there are a limited number of people inhabiting the space, which already sets the groundwork for forming better coworker relationships-- but Radish takes that a step further by specifically carving out time for team activities and bonding.
My Duties as the Radish Admin
One of my jobs as the new Admin is to plan some of these events! From volunteer days, to team drinks, running club, craft nights, and everything else in between, if a few or all of the Radish team want to participate, it gets put on the calendar. Not only do I get to spearhead group social activities, but I will also be responsible for office management, scheduling, research, and business development. I’m thrilled to really get into the groove of things here at Radish Lab and excited to wear more and more hats as my role grows within the company.
Team Lunch
On my first day, everyone gathered in the conference room to eat lunch (newbie’s choice - indian food from Desi Grill!) and we kicked off the meal by going around the table and sharing our high/low/and stress level. High being something that we are excited about or looking forward to, low being the opposite, and stress level on a scale from 1-10. This weekly team lunch tradition is a great way to give everyone an opportunity to share life happenings with the group and serves as a general check in of how everyone’s feeling, so that perhaps someone with a 2-3 stress level can relieve some of the workload or anxieties from another running at a 6-7. Hearing each team members’ updates and sharing my own gave a real sense of the support system you have as a Radish Lab employee.
“Ask questions”
“don’t hesitate to seek out what you need”
“we care about how you are doing"
“if you have an idea, run with it”...
These have all been both implicit and explicit messages Alana and the rest of the team have given me and I can’t help but feel grateful that Radish Lab has been so welcoming. In addition to the incredible projects I get to be a part of (like working with organizations such as Landesa and Climate Central that are changing the world) I get to work side by side with people who are filled to the brim with passion, drive, and kindness. It’s always good to be excited to go to work in the morning...and what could be better than getting to use creative design to help inspire and catalyze social change, while being surrounded by such a great team?
Maaaybe a herd of corgi puppies and unlimited white chocolate raspberry truffle Haagen Daaz ice cream, but not much else.
So, here's to new adventures!!
With love and excitement,
Jenna