Feature photo: Tanya Keller (center) with team Rent Responsibly at a team retreat in Breckenridge in June 2023.
If you have ever browsed the posts and stories of the Rent Responsibly Instagram page, you have seen the artistic touch of brand manager Tanya Keller.
One year ago, Tanya joined team Rent Responsibly to expand the company’s audience on social media and email marketing as well as create graphics for the company’s platforms, social media posts, and events. Her role also involves updating the Rent Responsibly website and optimizing the website and content for SEO.
Her artistic eye developed while growing up in Hong Kong and living there for 30 years.
“One hundred percent of my design – and home – is Asia and Hong Kong,” Tanya said. “I always draw inspiration from there, specifically cities and architecture from my favorite places outside of Hong Kong: Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand.”
She’s now based in Goleta, California, a coastal farming town known for its production of avocados and citrus fruits in Santa Barbara County. She and her husband, Clint, a fruiterer from Australia, settled in California due to his work in fruit retail.
Right: Clint, Eve, Tanya, and Percy at the Lemon Festival in Goleta
Graphic design education
Before moving to Santa Barbara, she worked in digital marketing at Native Union and event marketing in the Hong Kong office of PEI Group, a subscriber-focused business intelligence company.
“When my son turned 1 in 2019, I left my full-time job and returned to school,” Tanya said. “I wanted to combine my skills, so I completed a graphic design degree after working in marketing for 10-plus years.”
She earned her associate’s degree in graphic design from Santa Barbara City College in 2021, adding to a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and economics from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Before joining Rent Responsibly, Tanya did freelance graphic design and digital marketing work for various industries, from a regenerative farming and restoration project in Papua New Guinea to a private medical practice in San Francisco.
Her dream job at Rent Responsibly
She sought employment at Rent Responsibly after seeing a job posting for a brand manager on LinkedIn.
“I honestly was shocked when I saw the job description,” Tanya said. “The job was written for me. It had the combination of marketing and design, and I was so pumped that someone understood what I wanted to do and that they saw the value in this hybrid role.”
By the time she saw the ad, however, many other applicants had beaten her to applying for the job.
“I thought, wow, this is my dream job, but I never thought I would hear back,” she said.
Tanya’s application surfaced to the top because of her stunning portfolio and broad combination of marketing and design skills, said Alexa Nota, co-founder and chief operations officer at Rent Responsibly.
Vacation rentals speak her love language
Tanya is the granddaughter of a German Jew who fled Nazi Germany to seek refuge in the United States and later moved to Hong Kong to start a manufacturing business. At the time of the move, Tanya’s dad was a child.
Tanya’s family is scattered across the globe, giving her exposure to many different cultural influences and making travel almost second nature – and it’s what introduced her to the appeal of vacation rentals.
“I first fell in love with vacation rentals as a guest,” she said. “I love the intimacy, the flexibility, and the ability to maximize your time with the people you’re traveling with. Growing up, experiences were definitely prioritized over material things, and I think that still resonates with me.”
“My love language is quality time,” she continued. “My husband travels a lot for work, and our family is across the globe, so ensuring we maximize the time is crucial to me. Also, STRs are cheaper, so you can enjoy longer vacations and go to places where you might be priced out of hotels, especially in California.”
Following in Anthony Bourdain’s footsteps
One of her favorite travel memories was a spontaneous weekend trip to Taipei for her 30th birthday with her now-husband.
“We were on a flight back to Hong Kong, and I had the post-trip blues, so I decided to watch Anthony Bourdain’s The Layover: Taipei on the inflight entertainment, and I immediately booked flights,” Tanya recounted. “We almost did everything on Bourdain’s list. Unfortunately, the beef noodle spot was closed, but luckily, I have a chatty husband, and we had the most incredible taxi driver who said we couldn’t leave Taipei without having beef noodle soup, so he turned off the meter and drove us to his favorite spot. Those are the little moments I remember most. Kindness goes a long way, especially when traveling and experiencing new places.”
Nowadays, she stays in short-term rentals with her husband and two children, Percy, 5, and Eve, 2.
“Short-term rentals can accommodate young families so well,” she said. “My husband, Clint, is Australian, so we try to plan little trips when his family visits. Last year we went down to San Diego. In an STR, we could divide and conquer between LegoLand, the Zoo, and naps. We were even able to pull off grownup-only dinners. Next up is Palm Springs for Thanksgiving.”
“My son has a dairy allergy, so the flexibility of cooking in a kitchen or prepping meals to bring out with us is ideal,” she added.
Expanding Rent Responsibly’s audience
Like other Rent Responsibly team members, she works remotely from her home office and her appearances at Zoom meetings occasionally come with cameos from Percy and Eve.
Tanya works closely with Jenna Fuhrman, Rent Responsibly product marketing and partnerships manager who is based in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. Two thousand miles apart, they correspond over Zoom meetings and Slack messages.
“We complement each other with our likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses,” Tanya said. “I love creating; she loves reporting, analytics, and making order with processes and systems. So, we can play to each other’s strengths, and it honestly makes me love my job more.”
Tanya’s eye-catching graphic designs – whether promoting an educational event or a new article – and marketing strategies have helped to grow the company’s audiences across all platforms, said Jenna, who closely tracks these statistics.
By revamping the Rent Responsibly About Us webpage and making SEO enhancements, Tanya has increased organic website traffic by 35%, Jenna said.
Since Tanya launched the company’s Instagram strategy with consistent posts, the addition of video, and reels; Rent Responsibly IG followers have increased by 67% in six months.
Among her video projects, she spearheaded the company’s client testimonial video series.
She also designs all marketing materials for events, campaigns, presentations, and more with an artist’s attention to detail, Jenna said.
“She designs the masterpiece; I am the operations behind it,” Jenna said.
“I could talk for days about her willingness to learn and her quirky personality. I am so thankful she has joined me on the marketing team as my missing puzzle piece. I couldn’t ask for a better counterpart.”
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