Employee Spotlight
May 2023
Meet Raye Bonham Carter, Customer Experience Associate!
Audicus strives to provide top-tier hearing aids and services to our customers.
Let’s see who’s working behind the scenes to make that happen.
Today we’re highlighting: Raye Bonham Carter!
“These are the most incredible people I’ve ever worked… the human to human connection, the interpersonal communication, and relationships are outstanding.”
What initially drew you to Audicus, and how’d your career path get you here?
Prior to joining Audicus, Raye was a Membership and Operations Director for a downtown YMCA in Huntsville, Alabama. In this role, Raye was the only member of leadership in the branch. After some time, she ended up segwaying to a new role at a new company, which unfortunately led to company wide layoffs not long after her role began. Raye notes “the CEO was kind enough to reach out and say he wanted to help.” Her former CEO mentioned he has a good friend that was looking for a Customer Success representative, and that is ultimately how Raye was introduced to Audicus’s CEO, Patrick. Raye’s former CEO wrote her a “humbling letter of endorsement the day I was laid off, got everything over to Patrick, who then gave it to Talent Acquisition and interviewed me the following week.”
Raye feels so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with her former CEO and to receive such a wonderful recommendation and work for Audicus. She notes “these are the most incredible people I’ve ever worked with here at Audicus. The human to human connection, the interpersonal communication and relationships are outstanding.”
What is your role at Audicus and when did you join the team?
Raye is a Customer Support Specialist on the Customer Support Team and joined the Audicus team in August 2022. In her role, “I support customers with their deliverables for their entire trial period and beyond with their hearing aid.” The Customer Support Team handles phone calls, emails, and text messages throughout the day, and each team member speaks to roughly thirty customers per day.
She loves connecting with clients and resolving any issues, and tries to keep the conversations light and comical. On one of her calls, one of her favorite customers knew Raye was drinking 40 oz. of coffee and told Raye, “Raye baby, you don’t need any more coffee.” 🙂
How do you usually start your mornings?
Raye loves starting her mornings off early, slow, and on a great note. In the morning, “I work out! My alarm goes off at 4:00 am central.” Once she is up, Raye feeds her cats, drinks her water, and takes her supplements. Raye is “a hybrid athlete” and teaches strength training classes outside of work. She says “I’m very lucky to live in a building where I live on the fifth floor, and the gym is on the second floor where I workout on a treadmill and lift.” Once her workout is complete, she makes her way back up to her apartment, has additional supplements, watches documentaries, and begins her day. Raye mentions “self care is extremely important to me, because you can’t pour from an empty cup, and have to protect your peace.” She enjoys having a self-indulgent morning, and then hops into work. By taking a morning focused on herself and her peace, she’s able to give everything she can to the wonderful customers of Audicus.
What’s one of your favorite memories at Audicus, and how would you describe the culture?
While there is not one set favorite memory, Raye enjoys “the humor that everyone brings” to Audicus and the Customer Experience team. Every day “there is pure laughter or laughter through tears,” as humor is most definitely used as a coping mechanism. She mentions “if you laugh, there’s a chemical reaction in the brain which makes you so much more lighthearted, and the hard days so much better.” The Customer Experience team is very close-knit, and we “get through every day together, and the sense of humor everyone seems to have.”
Additionally, Raye enjoys one of Audicus’s slack channels, Pawdicus! In this channel, everyone is invited to share pictures/videos of their fur babies, and ask any questions as well. From time to time, Raye will post her beautiful and silly three cats.
When asked to describe the culture, Raye says it is “warm, inviting, and ohana – where we’re all helping each other so much, and Ohana means family, where no one gets left behind.” The Audicus team truly is supportive, and highly collaborative. The CX team takes a look at the caseload coming down on a Friday, “our leadership tries to get us all out on time” so no one is working late.
Raye recalls she had quite a heavy caseload on a Friday, and realized no one was going to leave her, which was highly reassuring.. She mentions “leadership, as well as team members, reached out to me and asked what cases they could take from me and how they can help me. Everyone jumped in and started taking cases while I was on calls.”
Having a supportive team can make the world of a difference in a role. Raye notes “Samantha, Gina, Leigh-Anne, Angela, and Emily [all CX leaders] are the best leaders I have ever worked with. They are all absolute sled dogs, where they’re not sitting in the sled getting dragged, but they are really the head of the pack and leading us.”
Any advice for someone wanting to enter this field?
For anyone wanting to transition into a CX role, Raye has some solid pieces of advice. She suggests “get on Linkedin and take advantage of the 30 free days of Premium and hit up every CX support role that you come across to get your foot in the door.” Additionally, “message the recruiter [who posted the role] and let them know” you applied. In Customer Experience, “your individuality is your greatest strength, so let your freak flag fly, and formulate your resume to reflect your customer service and conflict resolution experience.”
Once you’re in the role, “make sure you take care of yourself first” because “if you can’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of anyone else.” While you want to always be there for the customer, “take your lunch every day at the same time if that’s what you want to do, so that your brain is forward and you’re not thinking about something else. Raye continues to reassure anyone coming into this role to “protect your peace, and remember to take care of yourself first, so that you can take the best care of them.”
What’s something surprising that not many people know about you?
Raye is very much involved with community theater. She notes “acting was my first career. I got into SUNY Purchase Conservatory Arts and Film in their acting program, and that was my pursuit until my father became terminally ill.” Raye attended school in Huntsville, Alabamba, where she ultimately received her degree, and continues to do a great deal of community theater. The last role Raye played in “was a female Hamlet, and I performed it at the amphitheater on campus at UAH.”
What are you excited about for Audicus in 2023?
Raye is “excited about growing!” She notes Audicus “is extraordinary in cultivating its talent and advancing from within.” Additionally, Raye is thrilled to “learn new operations standards, more about how different platforms work, and being able to just grow my education and knowledge base within Audicus and then grow as she grows.”
Outside of work, what are your favorite things to do?
Outside of work, “my husband and I are the biggest dumb dumb foodies on the planet, and we love going out to eat.” Raye is a vegetarian, and loves exploring their new town of Omaha, Nebraska to experiment with new restaurants and places to enjoy. Raye notes “my husband and I fell in love over meals – we were friends for two years, and then we started dating. I married someone who is my souls joy and we are each other’s confidants.” Food is a connector for many, and “we go out and act like children with money, go out and eat food that is just extraordinary, and that’s one of our favorite things to do.”
__
Thank you, Raye, for being such an incredible and important part of the Audicus team, and culture! We are incredibly lucky to have you here with us!