MEET THE INFORMIT TEAM: Ally Scale

We’re introducing a Q&A series that delves into the heart of what makes Informit, Informit: our amazing team. To start off, we’re getting to know our marketing and comms star: Ally Scale, who is in charge of this website (amongst many other talents), so we felt it was only fitting!

Background

I joined Informit in mid-2023, having undertaken marketing, communications and sales roles at numerous Universities and TAFEs in the international education sector (Deakin University, University of Sydney, and The Gordon), as well as a short stint in publishing, at the independent Melbourne-based publisher: Text Publishing.

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I live in Torquay on the Surf Coast in a house of boys: my partner, my two sons and a dog. When I’m not wrangling two little ones under four, I can be found reading, renovating and gardening.

What does a day in the life of a Marketing and Communications Manager entail?

On any given day I create digital marketing campaigns and navigate the chaos of social media. I try to keep on top of hashtags and SEO. I chase deadlines, give comms advice, craft words and make sure they match our brand aesthetics. I liaise with designers & web developers and put on some pretty fun events (lots to come in 2024, to keep an eye out for future invites)!

What did you get up to this summer?

I started an online bookclub via bookstagram called First Reads, centering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors and stories, started a new hobby (wave skiing) and took my kids to any museum that would have us. It was uncharacteristically productive! Maybe that was due to all the rain?

What did you study and where?

I studied a Bachelor of Arts (Public Relations) and a Master of Arts (Writing and Literature), both at Deakin University.

Fun fact about me: I finished my Masters at the University of Iceland, land of tumbling waterfalls, volcanoes and baby blue icebergs. It was the ultimate sensory experience. In Iceland the sky aches with brooding melancholy, the land is sparse and almost treeless, the lava rocks crunch musically beneath your feet. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Bucket-list level kind of stuff.

Do you have any hidden talents?

I can recite the first half of the periodic table from memory. Just don’t ask me to remember the chemical symbols, I’m an arts student!

What are you currently watching/reading?

I just finished The Visitors by Jane Harrison, a reimagining of the arrival of the First Fleet from a First Nations perspective. Originally conceived as a play, this novel starts with a thought-provoking premise but grows to be so much more, due to the depth of characterisation, the lyrical descriptions of Country and the insight into Indigenous interrelationship with the land. It’s brilliant. I also just started ‘Boy Swallows Universe’ on Netflix: adapted from the famous Australian novel by Trent Dalton, and I’m really enjoying it so far.

What was the first musical gig you ever attended?

The boy band to rival all boy bands in the 90s: Hanson, in the Southland Mall carpark, as a teenager. My brother and I convinced our Dad to take us. It was pandemonium. My poor Dad! Nobody knows this except for everyone who sat at my end of the table at the Informit Christmas party, and… if you’ve read this far, now… so do you 😉

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