From Uber Driver to Eater Experience Lead ANZ, Kate’s remarkable career has followed the same exponential growth as the start-up itself.
We catch up to discuss an early career journey that started delivering Uber Eats in Brisbane with travel stops at Lima, San Francisco, Tokyo, Lima and Singapore – with some Sex Drugs Rock ‘N’ Roll at uni along the way.
Can you sum up in one or two sentences what you do in your job?
I work for Uber Australia and have done for the last four years. Currently I’m Eater Experience Lead ANZ and work to understand the Uber Eats user journey and insure the best possible experience, verifying with both quantitative and qualitative data. I’ve also worked on major Uber Eats brand campaigns for Australia and New Zealand including restaurant co-marketing and work closely on campaigns together with brands like Subway, Ben & Jerry’s and McDonald’s.
What made you choose this career/organisation?
For the last few months of my Creative Industries degree, I actually drove for Uber on the weekends. When I graduated, I went and handed my printed resume in at Uber’s Greenlight Hub here in Brisbane. I started in support but quickly moved on to strategic project work, which led me to launching Uber Eats in Brisbane and eventually to my current role.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I’m very creative and love to be challenged. I thrive on working in a high energy and fast paced environment – which Uber certainly delivers on. I also love being surrounded by people smarter than me and soaking them up like a sponge.
I have also had the chance to travel to San Francisco, Tokyo, Lima and Singapore.
What are some of the major projects you have been involved in/career highlights to date?
- Seeing Uber rideshare being regulated in Australia and Queensland
- Ride-share campaigns like Uber Ice Cream and UberJet
- Switching to Uber Eats launching Brisbane, Gold Coast and Peru.
- Local Queensland marketing campaigns like an in-app Easter Egg hunt together with the Children’s Hospital Foundation.
- Developing and implementing the launch marketing strategy for Uber Eats in Lima.
- Working on 20+ brand campaigns including Uber Eats Tonight I'll be Eating.
What course did you study and why?
Bachelor of Creative Industries (Music & Entertainment Industries). One of my high school teachers studied a Bachelor of Creative Industries. She was a champion for me as an adolescent and inspired me to think bigger and better. My first subject in my first semester was ‘KMB003: Sex Drugs Rock ‘N’ Roll’ so as a 17 year-old, my university life was off to a pretty exciting start.
During your course did you have the opportunity to develop industry contacts or gain experience through events or internships?
I took part in QUT’s exchange program and studied business, marketing and Spanish at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Viña Del Mar, Chile for six months. I can’t recommend the exchange program (or South America) highly enough! While I was in Chile in one of my business units I did a case study on the wine industry, which required a lot of ‘field research!’
Something I’ll never forget was a few years post-graduation I was catching up with a friend who also studied creative industries and now also works in the industry. We were reminiscing on how uni seemed so long ago and then one of us made a comment like “work feels like I’m just doing assignments every day”, and it dawned on us that the Bachelor of Creative Industries did set us up for success.
How did your learning at QUT prepare you for career challenges or help you get to where you are today?
The cross-functionality of my entertainment industries major has really helped when working with many stakeholders in different parts of the business. I think one of my lecturers in entertainment law said something like “These unit’s won’t make you a lawyer but they’ll make you a much better client” and it couldn’t be more true.
Learn more about the Bachelor of Creative Industries.
