What do you do and how long have you been in your current role?
I am director and founder of Make Events. We are an events design and production company based in Cheshire designing creative and exciting events for both corporate and private clients. I have been in this role since July 2012.
What was your first job? What was the most important thing you learnt there?
I got a place on the Burton Group Retail management scheme (now Arcadia). You could be sent to any store in the country and I got Dorothy Perkins in Hanley – 30 minutes from where I lived. The most important thing I learnt there was how not to manage. I had such expectations and was so keen but I was just stuck at the fitting room. It wasn’t until I had my monthly meeting at head office with the rest of the trainees that I realised my store manger should have been working through a training pack with me. When I returned to work I asked her about it and it was sat on her desk still sealed in the envelope – she hadn’t bothered to open it.
How did you get from there to where you are now?
After a year and a half on the trainee scheme and it not meeting my expectations, my mind started to wander towards a career in hospitality. I got a job as a receptionist at a luxury golf and fitness resort near where I lived. I worked my way up the ranks and into a management position in operations but I had my eye on an events role. I suggested setting up a social committee for the staff to show what I could do. It worked and as soon as the events manager role became available I begged them to let me have a go and they did.
I then went on to work for pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in their employee engagement division as events manager and I also set up a wedding venue dressing business called Brides & Bows, which I later sold. When I was ready for my next move (and to earn more money) I made the decision between getting a job with a large events agency and working long hours on their terms or working for myself, working long hours on my own terms, and the latter won. I went freelance for a year then decided to set up Make Events.
Looking back did you expect your career path to take the turn it did?
I always dreamed of having my own events business but in a daydream kind of way. When I really thought about it I couldn’t imagine not having that anchor of a real job. But circumstance and a conscious decision made me take the leap. I don’t think my younger self would have believed it if she could see me now.
Would you do anything differently?
I would have got a mentor earlier on in my career. When I went freelance, I engaged a business mentor. I thought that now I didn’t have a boss I should have some guidance. He has really helped me understand why I didn’t push myself sooner which has made me realign my thinking and make bolder and braver decisions.
Who has inspired you along the way?
Family members really as I come from quite an entrepreneurial background. From an events perspective it would have to be event planner David Tutera, Jeff Leatham, artistic director of the George V hotel in Paris, Steve Duggan, David Stark and Brit Bertino. I also hugely admire Karren Brady.
Have you ever had a job interview that went spectacularly well or spectacularly wrong?
None that I can think of. When I applied for the position of events manager for AstraZeneca I approached them about a job before there was one. By the time I had an interview I had done that much swotting up on the company they asked me who my mole was. I got the job though.
Is there a piece of career advice that has stuck with you?
Lots. My team laugh at me as I am always looking for pearls of wisdom that I can write down in my little book – I may publish the pearls one day. Fred Done, owner of Betfred, is one of my clients and he told me 'never mess up for a client' even if you lose money - just sort it out.
What career advice would I give my 21 year old self?
Don't worry as you are going to have your own business, managing A list celebs and it will be your dream job, so enjoy yourself now and stop worrying.
How do you wind down and relax after a hectic day?
At the moment I tend to work until I go to sleep, so to wind down when I go to bed I catch up on Corrie - I am a Manchester girl after all.
Want to share your career story with us as part of the ? Email news editor Samantha Edwards to feature in a future How I Got Here.
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