Honestly, I didn’t plan on working in events, education and training, I studied broadcast journalism and was in between projects when I discovered events. I don’t know if it was the work or my amazing colleagues but I was sold. It gave me a chance to broaden my skill set, talk to people and be creative in delivering events. In hindsight, it’s all about planning so I’ve been training for it my entire life. I have a big family; do you have any idea how long a pack of biscuits lasts in a house full of boys? Not long. My first experience of project management was on the weekly grocery shop. I was forced to consider: when and where we were going, who would be home, who was going to unpack, and most importantly where the best place was to hide the ‘stash’ (turns out it was my mum’s shoe-boxes). Result: mum and I always had biscuits to have with our tea. I excel at creative, yet simple solutions that save time, money or improve satisfaction. At Pearson, I was expected to understand, condense and disseminate information for each new announcement, to ensure trainers were briefed and training content was accurate. Then Michael Gove happened. Suddenly it felt like there was a new government initiative or 60-page report to review every week and I simply didn’t have enough time to respond to all the emails. So I created an internal web page, giving the sales and customer service team’s access to a central location with definitive answers on all new company/government initiatives. Again, communication skills were necessary in my house, if you wanted be heard you had to communicate effectively. It’s all about timing. At Pearson, by simply revamping the marketing for a struggling qualification, I was able to raise customer satisfaction from 85-92%. I put the same level of enthusiasm into delivering events as I do my holidays and that is saying something (in 2013 I went to 5 countries in 4 continents - non-work related, it was a really good year).