It Takes A Village - Meet Bronte
BACK TO FUN STUFFMeet Bronte, our Marketing and Brand Manager. After four years cutting her teeth in Marketing and the beer industry at one of the leading breweries in WA, Feral – Bronte joined Eagle Bay in August 2021.
I was originally going to study journalism, but then I realised that I enjoyed the strategic business side of things equally as much as the communication side. So then I switched into a commerce degree majoring in public relations and marketing. So it was like a double whammy.
Then I had the idea that I wanted to work in the city in a high end marketing firm or PR firm or something along those lines. I did an internship in my final semester, and at the conclusion of the internship, the woman who was running the place was like, “You talk too much about your social life. If you are getting into an industry like this, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up. You’re not going to be able to have the luxury of going out as much as you go out and all this stuff”
That was not what I was thinking, but then I took that advice and twisted it on its head and thought I still want to work in Marketing and PR, but for a social industry, then I saw the job ad for Feral Brewing Marketing & Sales Support.
Just before my last semester, I had gone on exchange to Germany and I was hanging out over there, drinking beers and learnt about the Monastery breweries there. I fell in love with the long history and traditions of these brands and the beers. During University I was working at Mecca, the brewing industry is exactly the opposite of this – I was working in beauty and retail with a hundred percent women all of the time, and it’s all about how you look. Then you’re going into this rough and ready beer industry with a bunch of passionate human’s (with majority men at the time) who’s number one passion is creating great beer to drink and sharing it with those who want to appreciate it. I was like, This is interesting. This is a challenge. This is different. And this ticks the social aspect because I’m literally expected to work festivals and events on the weekend. That’s part of the job description that’s right up my alley. So then I went for that job at Feral.
So your first role in the brewing industry was at Feral Brewing, what was that like & how long were you there for ?
I started as a Marketing and Sales Support graduate type of role and I remember on my first interview, I told them that I didn’t have any graphic design skills. Then on my first day at Feral they were like, here’s your Photoshop login – we’ve got a new beer coming out in a couple of weeks and we need you to design the decal of his beer so I had to self teach myself Photoshop in two weeks and be able to do anything we needed.
I was there for four years overall and when Feral were purchased by Coca Cola Amatil in 2017 and I had a great sense of pride in the brand and not wanting the brand to lose it’s essence, integrity and connection with our fans. I was doing a lot of over and above work, and it was identified by Coca Cola that “Bronte seems to know what she’s doing” and 12 months after that I became Feral’s Marketing & Brand Manager.
What was the thing that surprised you the most about working in the beer industry ?
I think it was probably going to my first festival and realising that everyone’s best friends in the industry and that sense of camaraderie, even though they’re technically your direct competition, but also your best mates. It was really bizarre, but super fun. I remember thinking, wow this is amazing and the atmosphere and the energy is so fun and interesting, I wanted to meet and hang out with everyone and I really thrive off that kind of extroverted energy. So this is my dream and ha ha random PR woman from the marketing firm that said you can’t have a social life and get a good job. You are wrong.
How long have you been the Marketing & Brand Manager at Eagle Bay ?
It’s been 14 months now – time flies !!
What do you love about working at Eagle Bay?
I think just the culture and the crew. It’s always the team, isn’t it? If you have a good team then really, it doesn’t matter how amazing your job description is, but if you don’t have a good team, you’re not going to enjoy your time in that role. The team at Eagle Bay is so collaborative and really support one another. I guess you would say is we are like a little family, everyone’s got one another’s backs, which I think is really nice and you don’t necessarily get that everywhere. You’re not necessarily expected to go over and above, but everyone does go over and above because they want to help each other out and make sure that everyone’s having a good time. So I think that’s really special.
Coffee or tea?
Definitely coffee.
Sunrise or Sunset ?
Definitely sunset. Not awake at sunrise.
Summer or winter ?
Definitely summer.
What is your favourite Eagle Bay beer at the moment ?
At the moment, I would probably say India Red Lager, I tried that the other day and it was banging.
What are you currently watching on Netflix or Stan or whatever your personal preference on online streaming is?
Oh, I’ve been watching Alone. I’ve been watching the Swedish version of Alone. It’s a reality TV show where these people go out into the wilderness and they have to survive alone. They only have 10 things they can take with them. So they have to fish for themselves, create their own fire, find and build their own shelter, and whoever lasts the longest gets like $300,000 or something, but they don’t know when people have dropped out. So it’s a real mental game because once you’re settled in, you’re just kind of hanging around and they don’t know whether there’s only two people left or eight people left. It’s really good.
Where are your favourite local go-to’s in Perth ?
That’s a hard question. My top five are St. Brigid Bar because it’s down the road from my house, the cocktails are really good and their range of beer, wine, spirit offering is awesome. El Grotto for burritos and spicy margaritas. Madalena’s in South Freo, Besk in West Leederville and then I’d say for one that isn’t booze related, Chu Bakery for grabbing some beautiful pastries and having a little picnic and Hyde Park to enjoy them.
What’s some of your favourite local go-to’s down south ?
Probably the best meal that I’ve had down south since I started working at Eagle Bay was at Blue Manna. I think that might be also because I’ve given up being vegetarian and full-time pescatarian and I was like, this is amazing !!!
And then obviously for beer, I’d say Wild Hop is always beautiful for an arvo.