EPeeps Nikita Palmer | Business Operations Manager

Kia ora everyone! I’m Nikita, the Business Operations Manager at EP. I’m a Dunedin girl, born and raised who enjoys getting up at the crack of dawn and heading to the gym (shout out to all the early birds out there!). With a love for crime shows, I studied at the University of Otago many years ago and completed a BA in Sociology and Criminology. After studying I went to apply for the Police and picked up temp work at Education Perfect. I enjoyed the work, the environment and the people so much I stayed on a bit longer, and this year I celebrated my five year anniversary! Outside of work I enjoy reading, gymming and living the cafe life on the weekend. You can’t get enough of them in Dunedin!

Why do you love working at EP?

Where to start! I enjoy the busy environment and love that no two days are the same. The range of work is so varied and I’ve been lucky to work in a number of roles over the time I’ve been here. I started as an Inbound Assistant, moved into a sales support role across ANZ, developed into a management position for our Support team, moved into marketing and for just over a year now I’ve had a focus on Operations. I am always looking to continuously learn and up-skill and I get this everyday at EP. Alongside the work, the people are the best! I have to thank my manager and friend Emma McAllister for everything she has taught me and the path she’s helped to pave for me. Without sounding like I am overselling EP, it is a great place to work and I’m lucky to have been part of our growth journey to date.

What are you most excited about?

I have some of my family coming back home from London to visit in the coming months which I’m super excited about! And on a similar note it’s great that we can now start planning trips to see other EPeeps again. There have been so many new starters that we have only been able to meet online, and many many other team members that I haven’t seen in a long time.

Goals for the next 3 months?

There are a number of projects underway and coming up across the next three months at work. One in particular is that I have recently joined our EP Environmental Impact Committee, which is a group that focuses on our environmental footprint and promoting eco-friendly business practices. We are reviewing ways to better track and monitor our power, waste and water usage to identify where we can improve, as well as organising regional community service days throughout the year. There are a number of initiatives that we’re currently running alongside these and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in.

In my personal life, I’m currently learning about stocks (and not quite on the crypto bandwagon yet). I have discovered an enjoyment for learning about the big wide world of investing, despite how much of a mind field it can be (who knew compound interest could be such a riveting topic?). My goals for the next three months is to establish my top five companies to invest in and develop investment strategies. There’s a heap of other EPeeps who have been giving me tips & tricks along the way and I’m keen for any reading/viewing material to be sent my way if anyone has anything!

How do you prefer to start your day?

As I mentioned earlier, I’m an early bird! My alarm goes off at 4:55am and I snooze for 15 minutes before I roll out of bed and on my way to the gym for a 5:30am start. From there I’m usually at work around 7:15-7:30am to have breakfast, a coffee, and to get started on a big day of mahi (work). My peak time is in the morning, so I’ll blast through outstanding emails and then make a to-do list for the day ahead. I finished a book called Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy who talks about working on your hardest task of the day so the rest of it is a breeze (unless a few other complex tasks come up of course!).

What’s one thing that surprised you when you began working at Education Perfect?

How much of a user first mentality EP has across all departments. Starting off in the Support team, it was trained from day one not only how to best support our users with their queries, but to fully understand the busy life of a teacher and how our product can really support them in their day to day work. It’s great to work for a company that is truly having a positive impact at such a large scale.

What’s the funniest joke you know by heart?

I tripped in France.

Eiffel over.

Absolute knee slapper.

Where is somewhere you’d like to visit?

I would like to do a tiki tour of a number of places in the North Island of NZ. Before Covid arrived over two years ago now, I was always going on holidays in other countries. With being restricted to New Zealand based travelling only, I’ve realised that there are so many beautiful scenic views in my own backyard!