Rachael Garnick ’17 is launching her communications career in the tech startup hub of San Francisco. A political science major, she will work as an assistant communication strategist for Swirl, a brand marketing and advertising agency, analyzing methods of consumer outreach.
Swirl works with companies such as EBay, Walmart, and Peet’s Coffee and Tea, emphasizing the importance of “brand actions.” These “brand actions” have included launching a cooker-capsule for Soy Vay, a brand of sauces and marinades, into space. Garnick will board the Swirl ship this summer to help “serve as the bridge between the creative and business sides of the company.”
The Bay Area-based company is also focused on local philanthropic projects and donates its marketing and advertising services to organizations in the area. Swirl is dedicated to environmentalism as well, inspired by its base of operations standing on the Presidio, a U.S. National Park in San Francisco.
“Swirl is a company that places a lot of emphasis on giving back to the local community and on bringing the philanthropic spirit to life, and I’m excited to be part of that,” Garnick says.
The Philadelphia local is also excited to work under Swirl’s Director of Communication Strategy, Stacia Hanley, whose work warranted the formation of a whole new department. She is also looking forward to being part of a company that encourages collegial employee culture and “outside the box thinking.” She will be collaborating with several of the company’s teams, garnering creative, accounting, and business experience.
Though she is passionate about public policy, advocacy, and education, an internship Garnick took on the summer after her junior year with Philadelphia-based marketing startup Curalate sparked her interests in “the innovative and disruptive potential of tech and the private sector.”
“Working at Curalate expanded my horizons beyond what was familiar to me—law, government, politics, etc.—and completely changed my career path,” she says.
Garnick first heard about Swirl last summer from its president and CEO, John Berg ’84, who spoke about the company at Haverford’s Ethical Leadership Summer Institute last year. After keeping in touch with Berg over the course of her senior year, she received an offer for a communications job.
“I knew Swirl was filled with leaders worth following,” says Garnick, “and mentors from whom I could learn a lot.”
Photo by Melis Cin ’17.
“Where They’re Headed” is a blog series reporting on the post-collegiate plans of recent Haverford graduates.