When Jacqui McCullough accepted a job offer as a Senior Brand Designer at Kit in 2024, she had no idea she’d be walking right into a major rebrand. This is what her onboarding experience was like and what her first impressions of working at Kit have been so far.
This article is part of the Life at Kit series to help job seekers learn more about the team and gain a deeper insight into the behind-the-scenes of what it’s like to work at Kit.
Jacqui has always been artistic, from taking art classes in high school and working on the yearbook to the hand-painted ornaments she made this year for the holidays.
I always knew I loved art, so when it was time to go to college I wanted to do something with art, but I was really scared of not having a job.
She initially majored in art therapy, hoping it would allow her to be close to art and have a stable job.
But then she went to a mandatory lecture where a designer gave a talk. Jacqui doesn’t remember what the designer said, but all she knows is that she left that lecture knowing she wanted to be a designer.
“I wanted a creative leader I was excited to look up to and learn from.”
Jacqui changed her major and has been designing for companies like The Skimm, Teachable, and Rokt ever since. Along the way, she fell even more in love with design.
She led a creative team at a global e-commerce technology company and loved mentoring her team members and helping them grow. This experience made her think, “What do I want next?”
She wanted to be a Creative Director one day, and while she was investing so much in her direct reports, she realized she needed to learn from an inspiring Creative Director if she was going to grow in the way she wanted.
I just didn’t feel like I was getting that same level of investment in myself, so in my next role, I wanted to make sure that I had a creative leader I was excited to look up to and learn from, and that was a huge part of what brought me to Kit.
Jacqui was also burnt out and wanted to find something to help change that.
“The interview process was lovely and so transparent.”
One day, one of Jacqui’s former colleagues at Teachable, who now works at Kit, posted that we were hiring a new designer, and Jacqui immediately started researching.
I liked the idea of working in the creator economy again and empowering people to run businesses. It aligned with my values. I think when you believe in the impact you’re having, you’re motivated differently, and you’re a little less likely to burn out because it’s more intrinsic.
Then I looked up Charli [the Creative Director at Kit], and she has so much inspiring content, podcasts, and press. When I was thinking back to that big goal of wanting leaders who I can learn from, this felt like it was starting to hit the mark. I really wanted to get an interview.
While interviewing can be stressful, Jacqui loved the interview process at Kit.
The interview process was lovely and so transparent. The team does such a good and thorough job of prepping you for what you’re going to be talking about. They even send you a lot of the questions ahead of time, which is a great sign of how they approach different things like accessibility in the workplace. That alone was something that really stood out to me as being so different and really allowed me to feel very comfortable during the process.
And in my final interview, the two people leading it were so welcome. I felt really comfortable being vulnerable and explaining lessons that I’ve learned throughout my career. They really encouraged great conversation, and I felt incredibly comfortable throughout the whole process. It didn’t feel like there was this huge power dynamic; we were just enjoying a great high-quality conversation.
“A very peaceful onboarding process.”
She loved the interview process and everything she learned about the company through it. Her only hesitation before accepting the offer was that she was “a little nervous to be remote again.”
She’d just spent two years working in an office in New York, and she had gotten used to the communication style where she could just go up to someone’s desk to ask a question.
But, since that was the only hesitation, she decided to take the job, and since then she says the remote work culture at Kit has alleviated those fears.
Everyone’s very organized: creating SOPs and explaining how and why things are done. And the way people embrace Loom videos so you can save time and not have to hop on a call and interrupt somebody’s day has been really impressive. Really quickly, those fears calmed down. And then I got to go on a retreat and meet everyone in person, which also helped.
Jacqui says her onboarding process was also seamless.
I had a really great onboarding doc that was organized by themes I should be learning for the first three or four weeks and resources for each of them. It was a very peaceful onboarding process, which I have not had in most other roles.
Then, by week four, I started interviewing teammates to find out what they needed for the rebrand to be successful.
“Everyone came together and was so unified on how to solve problems.”
When Jacqui first applied for the designer role, she didn’t know the company was about to embark on a major rebrand.
I had actually already accepted the role when I found out about the rebrand, but it made me even more excited. I think rebranding is such an exciting and pivotal time. I think the rebrand is also a great indication of the team and leadership knowing this is a booming and evolving economy and that we’re prepared to grow with it.
Jacqui played a major role in the rebrand and was encouraged by how she was immediately embraced into the process.
First our design team asked me to look at our system and make recommendations of what I would improve as somebody who is learning it for the first time, and all of my suggestions were met with open arms. I also jumped right into meetings with Koto [the agency we hired for the rebrand] and was in meetings with our exec team pretty quickly. Even there, I would weigh in on things and be encouraged to continue speaking up and calling things out.
She was also impressed with the way Nathan, the founder and CEO of Kit, communicated with the team.
Just yesterday, Nathan said, “I really want to launch this ASAP,” and I filled him in on the next steps, the delays we encountered, and the plans for moving forward. There are plenty of times when a senior leader or executive will respond with, “Okay, but I want this tomorrow,” and they need you to drop everything. But Nathan respected our process and plans and knew that pushing for a quicker deadline could mean a lower quality outcome, so he wasn’t going to derail us. We found a really solid compromise that still fits within our scope. It was a genuine and reasonable response, which you don’t always get at really senior levels.
Jacqui says she saw that kind of communication play out throughout the rebrand process.
Even when there were decisions that were really hard, like when we were having disagreements on how to approach our color palette or logo, we used a decision-making framework [where everyone discusses options and then votes, but ultimately, one person makes the final decision].
Originally, Nathan was going to be the decision maker, but then he said, “You know what? This is Charli’s project; she is the design expert, and she will be the decision maker on this.” It really showed the best of Kit in every facet of leadership, production and execution. Everyone came together and was so unified on how to solve problems.
Jacqui also appreciates how, in addition to making the most of collaboration time, the team values time to focus and own your schedule.
I have fewer meetings than I’ve had in almost any of my roles, and if I’m in meetings, they’re geared towards using the time as a mastermind to solve a problem and only using status check-ins when needed.
Other than meetings, the team embraces the concept of working on your own time. So if I need to leave at 4:45 p.m. to go to a workout class and come back to finish something up, that’s completely fine. It’s allowed me to take a little bit more control over my schedule, which has been good for me and my health.
Things I was stressed about in my past roles are not issues for me anymore. And the idea of the Sunday Scaries… I just don’t have those. It’s allowed me to spend more time going to workout classes just for my own enjoyment and health or spend time with friends after work. It’s allowed me to feel like I can plan things on weekends because I’m no longer reserving them for recovery. I feel like I can live my full life as a fulfilled human in and outside of work.
Jacqui also credits some of Kit’s benefits, such as Mandatory Fun Days and Creator Fridays, with helping with that. A few times a year, everyone in the company is asked not to do their regular work on a particular day and instead do something they find fun (Mandatory Fun Day) or spend time creating (Creator Friday).
But overall, Jacqui says her favorite part of the job so far has been the people.
The people here are really encouraging. They genuinely encourage you to try new things, pitch new ideas, and are also encouraging if you’re not feeling well. People will actively offer to take things off your plate so you can take sick time. That genuine response to human needs is sadly rare in a company.
So often at other companies, you are viewed as a number defined by your output. With Kit’s very human-focused culture, people’s lives are respected. We know that there are tough things that we go through in life. We have a generous natural disaster leave policy because everyone lives in different parts of the world that experience different things and sometimes you need that time off to ensure you and your family are healthy and safe.
There are some parts of the role that feel too good to be true, but I’ve found they truly don’t come with strings attached. You’re genuinely encouraged to enjoy the benefits and the culture of the team. I see it as such a privilege to work here, and I hope other people coming to Kit feel that way as well.
Want to be a part of a driven, creative, and fully remote team that focuses on serving creators? Check out our careers page.
