Meet the Whereby Team: Meghan Gallagher

This week we caught up with Meghan Gallagher, our Chicago based customer support specialist. We asked her to share her experiences working remotely from Chicago. One thing she loves about her team is that they encourage her to do bigger things than just speaking to customers.

Let’s start with what your role is at Whereby and where you currently live.

Meghan: I am a Customer Support Specialist. I live in Lakeview which is a neighborhood just north of downtown Chicago. Lucky for us we live one block away from Lincoln Park and we are near the lakefront!

Have you always worked remotely or is this the first job you are working remotely?

M: I have actually been working remotely since 2016. When I moved to Argentina as an immigrant the job market was very limited so I started exploring the idea of working remotely. Previous to Whereby I was mainly working for E-commerce companies in Customer Support.

Nice, so you’re familiar with working remotely! Has it changed your personal life?

M: It actually has- I feel like I am in more tune with my own feelings especially when I need to take breaks when needed. Not to mention the flexibility allows for me to make time for my family or friends whenever needed!

That’s great. Were there challenges when you started working remotely?

M: When I first started working remotely, I over focused not allowing myself to take a break, luckily now I have a team which encourages me to take breaks when I really need them. This also might sound corny but I am really inspired by my teammates in the support team. Every single one of them brings something different to the table!

And, how has it been working at Whereby?

M: Whereby has a very special place in my heart because my team is always uplifting me and acknowledging my work. As a remote company, this can be extremely difficult because the communication needs to be very intentional.  Not only do I feel appreciated but I’m grateful to have a team which allows me to be flexible and inspire me to do bigger things than just replying to customers’ emails. Plus everyone is super easy going and you can strike up a conversation with anyone on the team!

So do you have an allocated office space at home?

Yes! I currently have my “office” in my living room where my desk is the largest piece of furniture. Having your own work space is definitely crucial for working remotely because it allows you to separate work from home even within the same walls. I don’t have too much of a hard time trying to stay focused, I think where my desk is situated helps with this since I am looking out a window.

And what does your day typically look like?

Depending on if there is a meeting or not I typically start my day around 08:00 - 08:30 CT. On average I have 2 meetings a week. The very first thing I do when I start is check up on slack and write in my notebook the tasks I need to complete my day. I hop into the support queue up until lunch time around 13:00 CT. When I come back from lunch I either wrap up what is left in the queue and/or work on the tasks I made myself for the day. The tasks I work on are typically for some of the bigger projects I’m working on such as managing user feedback. I don’t actually have coffee until I have a good break in the morning which is very surprising for some team members who have their coffee as soon as they wake up 😂

What do you do to give yourself a boost when you’re feeling you need a pick-me up?

Snacks and Coffee! When I’m working and find myself either getting too distracted or feeling antsy, typically preparing coffee soothes me and so does food haha.

Do you like to listen to music when you’re working?

I definitely need music - cannot stand the quiet! I’ve recently started listening to lo-fi beats such as Flamingosis, Hamilton’s soundtrack or The CHI’s soundtrack.

And outside of work, what do you like to do in your free time?

Recently I have taken up knitting this last winter and has been a great activity after work giving my eyes a break from the screen. Aside from knitting, I love watching anything related to true crime on netflix and working on some UX design skills :) oh and eating… haha

So, last question. Do you do anything with the team outside of work?

Every Friday we get together for about 30 minutes and talk about either a topic or play virtual games. This is something that I look forward to every single week because it allows everyone to get to know one another and enjoy each other's company. Aside from our Friday-Friyays, our in-person offsite is always a blast - hopefully we can have one soon!

Meghan’s favorite picks

Absolute Favorite Movie: American Beauty

Absolute Favorite TV Series: Breaking Bad

Books recommendations: The stationary Shop and Reina Roja for spanish speakers