The one where we thank our lucky stars
By Sarah
On 25 September it will have been five years since Melissa’s first day at Pomegranite. Five whole years of her Monica Gellar-level efficiency, dead-pan humour, expert spreadsheet-ing, kind support, and “safe” hands. Could we be any luckier?
(Can you tell she’s a big Friends fan?)
A while ago, I was writing a letter of recommendation for a Pomegranite who was taking the next step in their career journey. When Melissa proofread it for me, she said, “It’s a pity you only get one of these when you leave!”
The next logical step, obviously, was to write a letter of recommendation – presented formally on a company letterhead complete with Directors’ signatures – for Melissa. One that wasn’t for a potential employer, but rather for her.
She loved it so much that she immediately had it printed, laminated, and stuck next to her desk.
I can think of no better way to celebrate her five year Pomegranite anniversary than sharing this letter.
Thank you, Melissa, for finding us in this big world. You are pure gold.
To whom it may concern,
Melissa Castle joined Pomegranite Consulting as a Project Manager on 25 September 2019. She was hired to help Director Liz Fletcher manage clients during Director Sarah Gurney’s six month sabbatical. Upon meeting Melissa at the Gautrain station in Johannesburg for a day of client meetings and onboarding, Sarah could immediately tell it had been the right hiring decision.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said. And she meant it. She just didn’t realise how much she meant it – yet.
Liz’s reports to Sarah during her sabbatical – delivered telephonically to a balcony in Tuscany and a hotel laundry room in Kuala Lumpur – were that, with Melissa as Project Manager, she knew that things were “water-tight”.
As six months turned into a year, which turned into several more, Melissa proved to be adept not just at managing website and social media projects from start to finish, developing and communicating briefs, managing the roll-out, timelines, job hours and feedback process of a number of projects simultaneously, but also at dead-pan delivery of exquisite one-liners. Her GIF game on Slack proved particularly strong.
In short, she became indispensable.
Ask her to cast her eagle eye over a website build for a “quick last look” at your peril. She will spot things invisible to most naked eyes and polish a project to shining perfection.
It was during her maternity leave in early 2023 that Melissa achieved the impressive feat of securing a promotion to Operations Manager. While on leave. Not one bit in the office, apart from the ghostly pre-scheduled email reminders that arrived in everyone’s inboxes channelling Melissa’s pleasantly intimidating organisational spirit, as comforting as that first sip of a crisp gin and tonic at dusk on a hellish Friday. You know the one.
Melissa took to the OM role like Robin Ellacott to private detecting, which is to say, with cult-deep-cover level skill and dedication. Not only has she assisted Liz and Sarah with team management, financial management, pitching for new business, and the general running of Pomegranite, she has made them feel more supported than they could ever have imagined.
With comforting insights like, “You’re definitely intimidating!” and thoughtful questions like, “Which option would make you feel lighter?”, Melissa has made herself more than indispensable over the years – she’s become beloved.
Her sharp mind, clear thinking, organisational mastery, warm compassion and dry humour have played a critical role in making Pomegranite what it is today. In fact, it’s no exaggeration to say that, without Melissa, there might not even be a Pomegranite in 2024.
If you have the opportunity to hire her, our advice would be: please don’t. If we could keep her on our team forever and ever (like, as long as she remained happy and fulfilled and challenged just the right amount, obviously), we would be exceptionally pleased.
Sincerely,
Sarah Gurney and Elizabeth Fletcher
Directors, Pomegranite Consulting (PTY) Ltd
