ReGen Strategic
In 2010, Rebecca Boteler packed up her bags, sold her house and jetted off to Asia to become a travel writer.
Based in Bali, Rebecca travelled around southeast Asia, taking on a range of challenging adventures that have aided her well in her position today as ReGen Strategic’s General Manager of Strategic Communication.
Along her travel journey, she volunteered with animals, taught English to children and even hiked the Himalayas and attended the Dalai Lama’s teachings in northern India.
Although she faced some tough encounters, particularly with some of the monkeys she looked after in Thailand, she says travel taught her to trust herself and her instincts.
“When you're travelling on your own, in a country where you don't know one person that can help you, it really makes you focus on how you're going to resolve situations because all sorts of things can happen,” she said.
“The value of that is that you learn how to back yourself and know you can overcome whatever situation life throws at you.”
Looking back now, Rebecca says her love of travel was sparked at an early age, having heard the stories of her grandparent's adventures.
While she was born in Perth, Rebecca spent her early years in Melbourne. At the age of 10, she moved back to Perth to live with her grandparents, who she describes as her biggest inspiration in life. She says they have contributed to a large part of who she is and instilled strong values of hard work and good manners.
“My grandparents were also very strong on grammar, so they corrected my speech from a very young age, which was really irritating at the time, but when I was older, I became a sub-editor at the ABC, so I figure it kind of paid off,” she says.
Having had a natural talent for English in school, Rebecca set out to study a Bachelor of Arts majoring in journalism and public relations. Shortly after finishing her studies, she chased her love of travel, jetting off to America to work in ski resorts.
On her return, Rebecca landed her first job in journalism, securing a role at Curtin Radio.
Six months into this position, she accepted the opportunity to become a journalism tutor at the university, a role she held for 10 years.
After Curtin Radio, Rebecca went on to work at a number of different news organisations including 6PR, 96FM and Channel 7.
However, working at the ABC had always been a big goal for her. As a child, her family would often have ABC radio playing around the house and each night they would sit down to watch the platform’s news bulletin.
When Rebecca was offered a role at the ABC, she jumped at the opportunity and was able to live out her dream, working as a radio reporter, TV reporter, producer, news reader, sub-editor and executive producer.
In 2010, Rebecca set off on her journey to become a travel writer. This experience saw her travel to many destinations across Asia, but Bhutan holds a special place in her heart.
“I consider Bhutan to be one of the world leaders in ESG, even though they don't call it ESG, because they very much had a mandate of doing the right thing by people and by the planet,” she explains.
When she could take a break from travel writing, Rebecca became a yoga teacher and was able to embark on some volunteer experiences. She describes this journey as rewarding, amazing and heartbreaking all at the same time.
On the outskirts of Siem Reap in Cambodia, Rebecca taught English to orphans, and while over in Thailand, she served as an animal rescuer.
“The conditions for the volunteers were horrible because they spent all the money on the animals, which is how it should be,” she laughs of her experience in Thailand.
“It was three volunteers in a concrete box, no heating, no cooling, no windows, no running water, no flushing toilets, so many insects, spiders, poisonous snakes and then there was the monkeys that you're looking after and monkeys are the meanest creatures on earth, they’re so malevolent. But it was still one of the most rewarding experiences of my life!”
India was the last destination on Rebecca’s list before she wanted to return to Perth. While travelling home she applied to join Campaign Capital, which would then go on to evolve into CGM Communications and, later, ReGen Strategic.
Rebecca says she met ReGen founder Daniel Smith within a day of landing back in Perth. She felt she was ready to take on her next adventure and make the move from journalism to public relations.
“I met with Daniel and I was severely jet lagged, but I wanted to see what the job was about,” she explains.
“Daniel jokes that I actually interviewed him for the position because I asked so many questions, but when I look back at it now, it was really a conversation about values and whether our values aligned.”
“I got offered the job that day and it was a big step for both of us because I was the first person he ever hired, and I had never worked in PR before.”
Since that first meeting, Rebecca has gone on to support the business throughout the highs and the lows. She describes the transition to becoming an ESG consultancy as a challenging time, but it was ultimately something that enabled her to live her values at work.
“I really value the premise of ESG in just doing the right thing,” she says.
“I think all the people that work for ReGen have that similar value of really wanting to do the right thing by our clients and by the environment. I think that's something that ties us all together, but also that we have in common with our clients.”
Looking back now, Rebecca believes her story is one of hard work and she continues to use her travel learnings in her advice to clients.
“The things you learn travelling do help you in terms of being able to trust your gut,” she says.
“I think that really helps me in my job because I back my decisions and it helps me have good relationships with my clients in that they trust my advice.”