November 2025

At Carne, we know our strength lies in our people; the ones who bring our values to life, every day.

In this month’s Carneversation, we sat down with Rachel Young, Associate Director in our Marketing and Communications team, based in London. Rachel reflects on the experience she’s built at Carne and the recent promotion that will mark the next step in her journey after returning from maternity leave.

Q: Tell us about your role at Carne and your journey so far

A: So, in terms of my role at Carne and my journey so far, I joined Carne as part of the AMX acquisition. That’s the Asset Management Exchange, arm of Willis Towers Watson. I was originally part of the BD sales team, and my role essentially went from supporting the AMX sales – so typically that’s working with a more institutional client base – to transitioning over to the asset manager side of the business and learning a lot more about the Carne offering and the work that Carne does. So, I was supporting with RFPs, DDQs, and was also involved in migrating our CRM database over. It was certainly a big transition. It was a learning curve, but what struck me most when joining Carne as part of the acquisition was definitely the people.

So yes, everybody is very busy, of course, but everybody also will always make the time to explain something to you. And it was really nice actually joining a team with a really strong sense of culture. After a few years of doing the sales support role, I transitioned into the marketing team. Quite honestly, I have never looked back. I love the work we do, and seeing Carne’s marketing effort evolve as well over time has been really interesting, and I’m really proud to be a part of that. Definitely in line with the company’s growth, you can see the marketing effort evolving into something much more strategic, in my opinion.

My role specifically within marketing sits within our campaigns, so I get involved in the delivery and the content strategy. I would honestly say I couldn’t enjoy it more. I love leaning into the thought leadership initiatives that we carry out, and also learning to work with our SMEs. Recent campaigns that I’ve worked on, that you may have seen, include Keeping Track – our ETF sales campaign at the beginning of the year, private markets, Straight to the Point campaign, which happened within the last few months, and most recently, Supermodel II – Carne’s flagship campaign, really plotting that management company story on the map, which I’ve enjoyed being part of.

Q: What makes Carne different to other companies you’ve worked at?

A: In terms of what makes Carne different to other companies I’ve worked at, I would say two things: the people, as I’ve already mentioned – I think there’s a really strong sense of culture – but also a really strong entrepreneurial spirit within the business. I think there’s a reason that, honestly, Carne is the success it is at the moment. And yes, of course, the quality of the product we offer, the quality of our service, and our market positioning, of course, play a really important role in that. But actually, I think underpinning that are the people operating the machine and their ambition. That entrepreneurial spirit, I think, is core to some of the success that we’re seeing right now.

Q. What’s something you always have at your desk?

A: As for what’s always at my desk – this is a little bit of an odd one – but it would be a hot water bottle for me. I’m someone that really feels the cold. I hate being cold, so there will always be a hot water bottle and a hot cup of tea on the go at my desk.

Q. What advice would you give your younger self?

A: Advice I would give my younger self – so I’m a little bit hesitant to answer this one. The reason being, there are loads of things that spring to mind. I’m not saying it’s all gone perfectly so far. But actually, the things I’m thinking of are things like making strong educational choices at a younger age, having a clear idea of career path and sticking to that, setting clear goals. These are things that I’ve taken on a little bit later on, whereas I think that would have been helpful at a younger age. But at the same time, I am where I am, and I’m proud of where I am, and I’m quite happy with my lot. That’s why I’m a little hesitant to answer the question.

Saying that, I do have a two-year-old daughter, and what advice would I give her? I suppose, answering the question in a roundabout way, I would encourage her to try and make some strategic choices at a younger age and work towards goals. Definitely, I think there are lots of options at a younger age – educational options, and then career options and options for development. Unless you have somebody that is giving you proper guidance, you sometimes don’t make the most of them. So, I certainly try and help her out in that regard, give her a little bit of steer.

Q. What’s your proudest achievement this year?

A: So, the proudest achievement this year? As cheesy as it sounds, coming back from maternity leave in November last year and trying to excel in my role, trying to learn as much as I can, and then ending that year on a recent promotion have definitely been the proudest moments for me this year. I would say I’m beyond grateful for the opportunity that I’ve had, that Carne has presented to me this year. I think there’s boundless work to get stuck into, but with that comes boundless opportunity.

Really, I’ve had fantastic direction and management, so I’ve been really, really lucky, and I attribute a lot of that to my success this year. But it has been such a personal success for me. It’s been a really challenging year, don’t get me wrong, but one I am immensely proud of.

Also, I would like to mention how grateful I am to Carne for the opportunity that I’ve had this year. To be formally recognised for my achievements with a promotion, especially because I am about to go on maternity leave now with my second baby – to work for a company that values and supports its people – means a lot.