I am the owner and founder of Anna Olivia Bakes, a small boutique bakery based in San Jose. Offering a wide range of baked goods, I operate at local Farmers’ Markets, as well as having a corporate catering offering and wholesale accounts, where my baked goods are sold at local coffee shops.

For four years I have led the planning of a four-day, two-track, 1,500 delegate technology conference for the iOS/mac community, that runs alongside Apple’s WWDC.-Created and executed project plans for all conference components - acquiring sponsorship, planning a marketing and communications strategy, updating and creating website content, logistics, and resourcing;-Worked with the founder to expand Altconf to four global locations, building new relationships with each of the local organisers and facilitating each events’ success by providing conference planning templates and supporting materials;-Budget management - developed a plan to outline required sponsorship and estimated costs, to ensure conference remained profitable. Grew sponsorship from $60,000 to $115,000 in the first year, and by a further $10,000 each year;-Used feedback received each year to improve the experience for third parties, e.g. introducing a badge scanning app for sponsors to collate attendee data;-Identified risks (e.g. not achieving sponsorship target, venue change/cancellation), scoped possible strategies to combat the risk and then implemented appropriate solutions where required;-Developed and updated website content, and delivered conference marketing (social media, marketing emails and blog), with 3,258 tickets sold across all five events in 2019.

During my time at at AICD I was responsible for planning and scheduling event facilitators for ~800 education events across Australia and internationally for the upcoming 18 months. Additionally, I planned and managed the roll-out of a new scheduling system for use by internal business teams and the third-party event facilitators.-Scoped extensive user system testing, using the results to influence system changes implemented by system development teams;-Built relationships with over 120 event facilitators (based across Australia, Asia and UAE) to ensure a smooth transfer to the new scheduling system, providing training materials, over the phone support and in-person troubleshooting;-Reviewed existing processes and procedures, updating them to ensure they aligned with the new system;-Implemented temporary solutions in response to system problems, then managed each change request with system development teams, prioritising changes based on the potential system impact and the availability of resource,

For a short contract over the peak shopping season, I assisted the Centre Manager to run the Queen Victoria Building shopping centre in Sydney (170+ stores).-Liaised with tenants to help them understand centre processes and nuances, to ensure the success of their remodels and new store openings;-Conducted lease compliance reviews for all tenants, identifying business risks, as well as opportunities to gain additional revenue for the centre through augmented sales clauses;-Held regular meetings with Operations & Facilities teams to review past issues and plan upcoming focus.

Initially I was tasked with scoping the opportunity to introduce business-to-business clothing and home sales to M&S. I then took responsibility for executing this opportunity.-Established relationships with over 30 senior stakeholders including the CEO, to discuss potential opportunities in each area of the business;-Assessed and proved the business justification for the project using data, market research, commercial and customer factors, and costs;-Scoped the project and in discussion with the Executive Director, identified key opportunities to pursue;-Prepared and delivered communication updates to key stakeholders throughout the project;-Created project planning documentation, amending and updating it at key stages of the project;-Reviewed product quality and held stakeholders to account for delivering their part (e.g. delivering a bespoke end-to-end ordering procedure, or developing a bespoke product for a particular client);-Managed project financials: tracking costs, sales and profit generated from customer orders and events;-Planned and implemented a variety of different selling ventures to put the project to the test, e.g. pop up stores and bespoke in-store and online deals for businesses;-Reported on project status (RAG), and completed general project administration.

Managed a departmental remodel, opening a new sales floor and tripling the department’s size to 15,000 Sq Ft.-Developed departmental project plan to align with overall store remodel, focusing on meeting overall deadlines and quality of execution;-Influenced stakeholders to gain additional resource and to train my team on new products;-Used knowledge of my customer base to make changes to layouts and improve sales;-Identified the risks of introducing new product areas to the department, and implemented solutions to mitigate these, e.g. creating a technical training plan for all team members to undertake.Alongside managing the department remodel, I:-Led a team of Section Mangers and Customer Assistants to deliver an annual turnover of £12m; -In response to business e-commerce operations changing, I planned and implemented training for over 300 staff members on a new ordering system on iPads.

Managed three direct reports (and a broader team of 60) to deliver sales of £10m+ each year, I created quarterly strategies outlining how we planned to exceed business KPIs. -Implemented a store customer service plan and increased satisfaction scores from 87% to 89%;-Delivered a floor remodel, removing the Homeware department from the store and significantly reworking Menswear to introduce a M&S/HSBC bank into the store;-Led a Father’s Day sales campaign across the region (16 stores), delivering briefings at Store Manager meetings and setting actions for all stores to implement;-Supported the roll-out of a new stock management process, providing technical advice to other stores implementing the process;-Created and executed strategies to deliver my KPIs, reviewing results to identify opportunity for further improvement-Managed the performance and development of my team, giving honest feedback, coaching and managing poor performance;-Applied operational policies and procedures to deliver success in my areas of responsibility;-Managing an events calendar to deliver a clear in store customer journey and maximise selling opportunities.

Work experience position held for one month: identifying and processing magazine content from company archives; fulfilling client requests for content; calculating royalty fees owed to contributors and forwarding required invoices.