When you’re working with your best friend, you have to support each other every single day
When i was 16 years old, i had to take care of my sister for three months and ellyse would bring food and keep us company
— elsa roodt on katie harvey
Iwas the PR manager of a hotel here in Dubai and so was Katie Harney. Back then, we used to have these monthly dinners with managers from other hotels, and that’s how we met… and we just hit if off instantly. That was about 10 years ago.
Well, we joked around about starting our own agency for a few years, and it took a while before we both realised it was something we seriously wanted to do. So in 2010, we took the plunge, and that’s how Q Communications, which specialises in PR campaigns, was born.
We started the business in 2010 when the recession was still on, but it has been an amazing journey since. Today, we have a great team, and are expanding, and I don’t think we could have done it without each other. It’s really hard to name just one instance when Katie came through for me in my time of need because, when you’re working with your best friend, you have to support each other every single day. It can get crazy, but at the end of the day, there’s no one I trust more than her.
It helps that we are also very different. Before we started the company, I t hink we had al r eady reached this unspoken agreement about how we would work and deal with things, and the most important rule was to always be there to support one another. Today, it is not just about having a common goal to grow the business, but also to enjoy it. It is amazing, to be able to go out with your best friend after a long day of work, or to be able to celebrate a good day together. I recently got married, and of course, she was my maid of honour as well. It is just part of our lives to support one another — whether it is business or personal, I’m blessed to have a friend I can work with.
Ellyse Lorono and I were classmates in the Philippines from the time we were 12 years old to when we graduated from high school. We were really close back then, and I remember when I was 16 years old, my parents had to go somewhere for three months, leaving me to take care of my nine- year- old sister. During those months, Ellyse would come over every other day to bring me food and keep us company.
After high school, Ellyse moved to a different island for her education. We kept in touch, but to be very honest, I never suspected that one day we would reconnect and that it would be in Dubai. We actually met for the first time in 10 years just last year, and to finally be able to see her again is crazy!
Today, she lives just three blocks away from my place in Al Rigga. She was the one who came through for me all those years ago, but today I’m trying to help her out too. Ellyse got a little homesick when she first came to Dubai because it’s her first time being away from family. And she spends almost 12 hours at work! So I’ve been urging her to get out and meet new people. We both go out for different events together. I want her to learn about new cultures and just have fun. time, place and situation don’t matter when it comes to good friends — the best ones will always find a way to help
Imet Andrew Danebergs while studying at RMIT in Melbourne in 1996 and we were close right from the start. We actually spent almost every day together for five years, and the running joke around the university was, ‘ If you need to find Andrew, just look for Nick, and vice versa!’.
Anyway, one day we decided to go hiking together through the Crosscut Saw in Victoria. During that time, there was some construction, and a whole lot of haze and before long, we got completely lost. It was raining and then snowing, and was a miserable hike overall. And, honestly, if I had gotten lost with anyone else, I don’t think we would have ever managed to find our way out. Luckily, we had done a lot of hiking together. It was a lot about being there for each other and keeping each other calm. We ended up being lost for two days, during which we hardly spoke to each other, but were busy trying to figure out where exactly we were on the map! In the end, we did manage to get through it — it was just a matter of quietly working things out. It taught me that a good friend is someone you want to have around in a bad situation.
He’s still back in Australia, but we keep in touch through social media. Of course, he was the best man at my wedding. I haven’t seen him in a year and a half but, honestly, nothing ever changes.