Rachael founded Willow Tree in 2015, having previously worked for a London based firm as a Financial Adviser. She started her career in finance at Barclays Bank way back in 1998.
Helping people to become financially stable is incredibly rewarding for her, and she especially loves the excitement of first time buyers on the day they get the keys to their new home.
Rachael grew up in Eastbourne and has always lived in East Sussex. Being by the sea soothes her soul, and she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
Outside of work, life is rarely quiet. When she is not at her desk, she is spending family time with her husband and lively young son. As a family they find themselves outdoors a lot of the time, making the most of Eastbourne’s beautiful beaches and the gorgeous surrounding countryside with their dog - Willow the Weimaraner - whose name was the inspiration for the company.
Cassie joined Willow Tree in 2021. She was made redundant from her previous job whilst on maternity leave so was looking for a job where she felt she could help people.
She worked for Yorkshire Building Society for 6 years where she worked her way up to branch manager. During this time she learned vital customer service skills, including how to adapt to the individual client to meet their needs. Over this time she took an interest in the mortgage side and took her CeMAP exams.
Cassie’s world revolves around her family, she and her husband have two daughters with a two year age gap. As you can imagine this takes up a lot of her free time! They always go on a family day every Sunday. They are keen members or National Trust, English Heritage and Drusillas! They certainly make the most of their memberships travelling up to a couple of hours each way to enjoy new places to visit.
Cassie's other interests include her passion for the environment. At university she studied Geography and enjoyed it so went on to take a masters in Coastal and Marine Resource Management. Although this is not an avenue she pursues, she has transferred these skills to her roles in the financial industry as she loved the challenge and to learn.
Haylee has been a part of Willow Tree since the very beginning. She started with C&G in 2000 before moving to an independent mortgage brokerage in 2005, which is where Rachael and Haylee met. That company closed in 2014 while Haylee was on maternity leave with her daughter, so Rachael snapped her up!
She is absolutely invaluable, brilliant with our clients, incredibly tenacious when chasing lenders & providers and has an exceptional memory. We couldn’t do without her!
Her interests are her children - a son and a daughter. They keep her very busy and during the time she gets to herself she loves watching gripping boxsets on Netflix!
Haylee is also interested in Interior Design and loves to make her house look like a show home, although this can prove to be difficult with the children around!
Willow is a 12 year old Weimaraner and the name inspiration for the business. She manages to be incredibly intelligent and impossibly stupid at the same time, and her favourite place is on a lap for cuddles - which at 30kg makes for quite a lump.
She is a regular fixture in the office and loves the attention from visitors and clients alike.
