FareHarbor Career Growth & Development

Tell us about your recent promotion or role change. 

After working as a client dashboard specialist or “builder,” I recently transitioned into the team lead role where I am leading and mentoring other builders on my team. Working as a client dashboard specialist, I built a strong foundation in understanding the in’s and out’s of our product and our clients’ needs. Now, in my new lead role, I’m focused on developing my queue management skills and learning how to best support my team. This includes things like ensuring we’re maintaining SLAs, understanding prioritization, process improvement, mentoring new team members, reporting on metrics and more. 

This new role has allowed me to level up and gain an even deeper understanding of FareHarbor, and also how an efficient team runs and operates to maintain its highest level of output. It’s been exciting to find new ways to fine tune the success of the team and identify opportunities to increase our efficiency. It’s a steep learning curve, but I’m excited about the growth opportunity.

What will this new role or skill let you do?

This new role empowers me to directly impact both our internal team as well as long-term client success. Within my new position, I’m training and onboarding our team’s new hires, which allows me to build connections with my colleagues and ensure they have the knowledge to thrive. It’s been an exciting opportunity to find new ways to conduct these trainings, prepare materials and work through different iterations to ultimately allow our new hires to be more prepared and equipped as efficiently as possible. Preparing for these training sessions has also opened up valuable cross-team collaboration opportunities and is strengthening communication across departments. Finally, having the opportunity to mentor others has taught me a lot about leadership and how I want to show up as a leader. It’s been a great way for me to take on this next level of responsibility.

How would you describe the culture regarding internal mobility or upskilling? 

FareHarbor’s culture strongly supports internal mobility and upskilling. They provide a variety of resources, from learning libraries and coffee chats to cross-functional office hours and development maps, all designed to empower employees to learn and grow. Our Learning, Development & Culture team is committed to supporting development in a number of ways and provides different resources for learning opportunities for both growth in your existing role as well as future career aspirations. I also participated in FareHarbor’s Womxn’s Mentorship group, which allowed me to pair up with another employee within the organization to work through things like career guidance, skill enhancement, cross-departmental insights and more, all while promoting a more inclusive and diverse environment. Between the LD&C team, our leadership team and colleagues across the business, there is always a high level of support when it comes to learning opportunities. This support has been instrumental in my own development, enabling me to expand my product knowledge, become a team resource and ultimately move into a leadership position.

What new skill or role did you want to learn? Explain why this was important to you.
I aimed to refine my workshop presentation skills, focusing on engagement through delivering cohesive and clear presentations. This was important to me because I strongly believe that proficiency in facilitation is essential for effectively communicating ideas, guiding conversations and sharing knowledge, which are skills that are universally valuable in any professional context, regardless of role or company.

How did your employer help support this time of learning?
FareHarbor’s commitment to learning is evident in our core value, “Be Curious and Learn,” and in the many opportunities available to grow. I was named “Top Learner” in 2024, a recognition that comes with a one-year MasterClass subscription and, more importantly, reflects a shared dedication to learning both from myself and FareHarbor.

One key contributor was my role as a “Learning Champion,” where I boosted employee learning motivation and gained a deeper understanding of tools like LinkedIn Learning, Mindtools and Blinkist. By spreading awareness to the organization about these tools, I was also able to get first-hand experience with how effective they can be. These helped me build a foundation for the skills needed to be a strong facilitator.

I then combined my personal passion of Hawaiian culture with a business need, leading to the creation and delivery of “Pronunciation with Purpose: Hawaiian Language & Business Essentials” — a workshop designed for teams to practice pronunciation, understand cultural values and build client trust. This workshop was both a learning opportunity for other employees while simultaneously a development opportunity for my own personal growth.

What was the outcome of this experience? How did it impact your future growth in your profession?
The creation and delivery of the workshop allowed me to directly apply the skills I had been working to develop in a meaningful, real-world setting. I now am more confident in my ability to facilitate, honed my presentation skills and am better positioned as a point of contact for teams looking to learn how to support our clients in Hawaii. These opportunities have shown I can blend my personal passions with business needs to contribute professionally to FareHarbor.

What originally attracted you to FareHarbor, and what has kept you here as you’ve grown in your career?

I joined FareHarbor more than seven years ago because of the people, the energy and the opportunity to work in an industry that helps create unforgettable experiences. What has kept me here is that the company has never stood still. I’ve watched FareHarbor adapt through rapid growth, industry shifts, a global pandemic and continued innovation. Every challenge created new opportunities to learn, contribute and grow alongside the business.

One thing I’ve learned is that growth here isn’t tied to a title; it’s tied to how you show up. If you’re curious, willing to step outside your comfort zone and embrace new challenges, people notice. Leaders invest in you, trust you with meaningful work and encourage you to explore new paths. My career has evolved because FareHarbor kept evolving, and I was fortunate to grow right alongside it.

How have you grown or developed professionally during your time at FareHarbor?

When I joined FareHarbor as a business development associate, I was new to both the travel and tech industries. I had a lot to learn, but a strong onboarding experience and a manager who encouraged me to stretch beyond my role gave me the confidence to dive in. Whether facilitating internal training, taking on special projects or jumping in wherever help was needed during the pandemic, every opportunity expanded my understanding of our product, our business and the industry.

Over time, I realized what energized me most was helping people grow, so I pursued a position on the people team. As a learning and development specialist, I embraced opportunities to keep learning myself. I took advantage of our learning platforms, shadowed leaders across FareHarbor and Booking.com, and sought mentorship from our chief of staff to the CEO. Through her guidance, and by seeking out increasingly strategic work, I developed skills in project management, stakeholder partnership and strategic planning that ultimately led me to my current role as chief of staff for the people team.

Can you share a moment, project or experience that made you realize how much you’ve grown in your role?

There have been several moments, but two projects stand out.

The first was taking ownership of our Work Abroad Program. What started as an idea on paper became a companywide program that I built and led during its first two years. It required navigating operational complexities while partnering with leaders across FareHarbor to strengthen connections across our global offices. Seeing the program come to life and help employees grow professionally has been incredibly rewarding.

The second was leading the development of our Leadership Anchors. It wasn’t just another project; it helped define how we expect our leaders to navigate change, develop their teams, collaborate and deliver results. Collaborating with senior leaders to shape something that will influence the company for years to come strengthened my stakeholder management, strategic thinking and execution skills.

Neither opportunity came with a playbook. Leaders empowered me to turn ideas into reality, giving me the confidence to tackle other challenges that ultimately led me to my current role. Today, I’m excited to serve as a mentor in our mentorship program and support others in their career growth.