Head of People, Forest - 'I wanted to be an actress - HR wasn't the plan'

HR wasn’t Julia Harrington’s first career choice, yet it has turned out to be the happiest of accidents. As Head of People for e-bike operator Forest, she is growing the people strategy and finding that her acting skills have armed her with confidence, empathy, and an ability to ‘wing it’ when needed.

The stage was her first calling

“When I was a child all I ever wanted to do was to act, sing and be on the stage,” she says. For a while she achieved that, making a debut TV appearance aged 14, she even began to write her own music and was part of an opening band in Romania. “I got to experience lots of really amazing things when I was younger which made me want to pursue a career in entertainment,” she says.

Her success was a double-edged sword for her parents, however, because she was a good student with impressive grades and was well placed to gain a place at university. “I told them that I didn’t want to go – instead I went to drama school,” she explains. It was a three year course, but one she didn’t complete. “I met an Australian man on Tinder, I was 20 and living in Munich, Germany, where I’m from and after about three months of dating, he asked me if I wanted to move to the other side of the world with him,” she says. Understandably, most of her friends and family warned her how spectacularly it could go wrong but she did it anyway and listened to her gut feeling that he was the one – she was right.

“I’m so glad that I did. You don’t get that opportunity very often to just uproot your life – I couldn’t do that now. Six months after we met, I moved to Australia and I didn’t know anyone except him, I bought a one way flight and here we are 12 years later and married,” she laughs. Her ability to know her own mind and not listen to the naysayers continues to stand her in good stead even in her biggest life decisions.

In Sydney, she continued to act but came across some barriers. “I tried to get an agent, but they told me that unless I sounded Australian it was unlikely to happen, so I did that,” she continues.

Playing the game worked to her advantage, she did what she refers to as ‘some really fun things’ including flying to Fiji for a film shoot. “I shot ads for Uber and Toyota, and I even did a shampoo advert that aired on French TV,” Harrington says. It was fun but also uncertain. “You never knew when you’d get work.”

Endless auditions taught her skills of resilience

Not ever knowing what tomorrow may bring built her skills of resilience. “I got knocked back a lot and experiencing that made me strong - the fear of it doesn’t deter me now. I’m also good at reading the room because when you audition a lot you must understand what people want from you. I know how to dial up or dial down my assertiveness and push out different parts of my personality depending upon who I am speaking to,” she explains.

Harrington began to play a strategic game, working for the talent agency in-house. “It was a win-win situation because I could pursue work but also book other people,” she shares. True to form she then did the unexpected. “We moved to London,” she says. “I get these very strong gut feelings, and I usually go with them whether that’s moving across the world or something else,” she explains. Harrington had never been to London before let alone lived there. It was 2019 – the couple had lived in Australia together for four and a half years before they got on a plane for the UK.

“Then Covid came and I had nothing to fall back upon because there was no acting work. I was 26 and I wondered what I was going to do with my life,” she says. It was time for a regular income. “I got lucky and landed a role at Monzo Bank,” she shares. It was April 2021 and her first foray into a new career was also laced with a difference. “I was onboarded during lockdown – I couldn’t meet anyone in person.” She joined as their Hiring Operations Associate; it was a baptism of fire and a good one.

"I was offered the position after three rigorous interviews at Monzo," she says. "I was lucky the role suited me so well. I quickly got a permanent position after probation, plus a pay rise, and began to think I might be quite good at the job!" she laughs. Her success was rapid; by the time she left almost two years later, she was regarded as one of the most highly valued members of her team. This set the stage for her next move at the beginning of 2023 - joining a management consultancy in the midst of a high-growth hiring phase.