This blog is dedicated to highlighting Everything Fleet’s strongest assets – our amazing team. Peek behind the curtains to get to know Ashlee a little better and to learn about her journey.

Ashlee joined Thrifty/Jonday as a Casual Rental Sales Officer (RSO) at Gold Coast Airport in 2019. It was supposed to be a temporary 5-week position to help us out over a busy holiday period but she quickly accepted a full-time position and was promoted to a Duty Manager and Acting Branch Manager, thereafter.

When airports were shut down during Covid, Ashlee spent a lot of time working at our other Thrifty branches across Northern NSW and Brisbane.

This cross-geographical experience was extremely beneficial and when the sale of the 40 locations to NRMA/Kingmill transpired in late 2021, it was apparent she would have to be one of the team members that stayed with us!

Ashlee, tell us a bit about yourself…

I love getting to work with some great people and that isn’t just limited to the Everything Fleet staff. It has been a bonus getting to know a lot of our trades during the rebranding and forming relationships with suppliers — Andrew from Apollo Smash, the team at Bus 4×4, our carpenters Mark and Phil – just to name a few.

I love getting lunch from the Bakery next door to our Logan branch! And meeting celebrities and pretending that I don’t know who they are.

What are the things you’ve done professionally that you’re the proudest about?

Being selected as one of the inaugural members of the Everything Fleet team.

Are there any projects you loved working on?

I would say it was love/hate…I was overseeing the fleet for Season 2021 of a TV show that is filmed in Northern NSW each year. We were expecting it to be smooth sailing compared to the previous year because the country was finally returning to normal. Then the second wave of COVID hit and the NSW/QLD border slammed shut again, creating a logistical nightmare! It was a huge challenge but our staff and the Production’s Transport team worked together as one to make it through (I’m sure we all gained a lot of additional grey hairs during the process).

What has been some of the challenges during the global pandemic?

There are so many! Where do I start?

  • Prior to the pandemic, I was working at a busy Airport location and it became a ghost town overnight. That was surreal to get your head around what was happening.
  • Sitting at QLD border control for hours on my way home after a very long, very busy shift in Ballina was not pleasant at all.
  • Providing fleet for a TV Show and then the NSW/QLD border slammed shut at a pivotal moment of the production schedule in 2021 and having to work out how we would manage the logistics of this.
  •  I am from WA so not having the option to visit family and friends was hard.

On reflection though, whilst the pandemic has been tough for many, it has been good for me professionally. It taught me to roll with the punches and get out of my comfort zone so, as a result, I’ve learnt a lot and developed skills that I would never have gained if the world didn’t fall apart at the beginning of 2020!

While not working, what do you do?

Drink. Garden. Watch the footy. Spend time with friends, family and my four-legged bestie, Magic.

What is your favourite and least favourite car?

I am not a car fanatic but my favourite vehicles we have on fleet is easily the Kia Carnival. It is so comfortable… almost feels like you’re sitting on a sofa whilst driving. And, for a people mover, they handle really nicely.

On the topic of people movers, I’m kind of enjoying our 4wd Toyota Commuter vans too. They’re a bit of fun to drive – a strange vehicle that always gets the attention of other drivers on the road or in the shopping centre carpark.

My least favourite car would have to be any vehicle with a manual transmission. Although I can drive a manual vehicle, I hate it and regularly complain that “If I wanted to use 2 feet to get somewhere, I would walk.”

What is your favourite road trip?

I’ve driven across most of the country so it is hard to pick a favourite. Anywhere in the Top End of Australia, particularly as the sun is rising, never disappoints.

I recently went on a great Road trip with the Everything Fleet crew to deliver vehicles to Broken Hill for a film that is about to start shooting. It was fun meeting some of our brand-new staff members and getting to know everyone else on a different level.

Do you have any more questions for Ashlee? We’d love to hear from you.

You can contact us on 131 381  or email us at hello@everythingfleet.com.au