Dec 4: Meet the team — Bek

This is the fourth post in the Fastmail Advent 2024 series. The previous post was Dec 3: On moving house — bringing a new data centre online. The next post is Dec 5: MySQL InnoDB innodb_trx is cached.

Meet Bek, our Head of People and Culture based in Melbourne.

Name: Bek Fraser

Role: Head of People and Culture

What do you work on?

Anything people related, including all our policies, processes, compliance. All the really boring stuff. Also, how to keep our team members happy.

How long working at Fastmail, how did you get involved?

10 months. I was looking for a role in an IT company. I heard of Fastmail many years ago when I first started my IT degree, and Fastmail was leading the email industry.

I’m Fastmail’s first people and culture hire. The exciting part was starting from a blank slate — it’s been a good opportunity to look at how to align our teams, which are global with many remote team members.

What’s a project you have worked on that you’re particularly proud of?

Implementation of a skill and career framework which has created equality for all our team members globally, and is allowing us to look at what skills we need for the future.

Who is somebody who inspires you?

Early on in life it was Mother Theresa, because she just wanted to help everybody — but she didn’t hesitate to break the mould. Something I learned being a female in IT, you never can hesitate to break the mould.

What are your favourite Fastmail features?

Memos! It means I can keep information about something without having to go out to a separate tool. It took me a while to get used to conversation mode, but I’ve found it useful to help my husband manage his time better — I’ve taught him how to use conversations and colour coding to keep track of things.

Other than Fastmail, what’s your favourite or most used piece of technology?

My robot that mops and vacuums at the same time! It notices when it’s on carpet and lifts the mop. It saves me tons of time and I can vacuum the floor every day.

What are you listening to these days?

John Farhnam — I did the backing for Age of Reason! You can see tiny little me in the music video. I also enjoy Guy Sebastian, Adele, that type of music. I also love musicals. I’m old school, I love music that wasn’t created by computer. My grandfather was a concert pianist.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I like to challenge myself. I built outside stairs last week, now I need to repaint the whole deck to match them. I love working in the garden. I make resin chopping boards and sell them at the market.

What’s your favourite animal?

My puppy dog. I love dogs, especially my puppy Baxter.

Any Fastmail staff you want to brag on?

All of them. We’ve achieved a lot in the last 12 months, and everyone really lives the Fastmail culture.

What do you like best about working at Fastmail?

The people and their commitment. It’s been great helping everyone find the type of growth that works best for them, and creating a culture at Fastmail that truly aligns with what we believe in.