Autumna will revolutionise the way care for the over 55s is accessed in the UK. With sections on Retirement Villages, Assisted Living, Home Care, Live-in Care and Care Homes, the Autumna platform will be the go-to source of information and guidance, providing a level of insight and advice not previously available in one place. Easy to navigate, the platform is deliberately designed for the end users of care services, those assisting the end user when they are unable to act alone, and also the care providers, who will be able to promote their service on a level playing field. Free advice lines will allow people to talk to experts about the legal and financial aspects of care provision, as well as how to go about finding the right care home. Autumna is an independent company which does not take referral fees from care providers and which charges just one fixed annual subscription for each listing. I am delighted to be working with Autumna and with Debbie Harris, its founder, who is on a mission regarding care for older people!

www.rareskillsgallery.comThe Rare Skills Gallery is an art gallery situated in Forest Row, East SussexA celebration of creative skills, quality materials and endless imagination, we are driven by a clear philosophy:1: Everything we sell upholds rare skills and quality workmanship - paintings, ceramics, wooden furniture and tableware, silver jewellery, leather goods and stationery.2: There's an emphasis on english heritage, talent, longevity and beauty – in buildings, engineering, landscape, nature and natural materials. 3: It is a family business with family values. Everything created is down to the efforts, commitment and talent of family, close friends and artisans who like what we are doing and want to participate. Many of the wide ranging products we sell are designed and made in small studios and workshops around the country and we want to bring their work to the fore.4. We try really hard to accommodate people’s individual preferences. Art should be for everyone, regardless of depth of pocket – or academic understanding. So, whether you want a card, a framed print or an original painting; whether you’re drawn by silver jewellery or silk scarves, whether you have £2 or £2000 to spend, there is something for you here.

The Rare Skills Set is a consultancy specialising in brand development for emerging and growing businesses. It is so important for the founders of a new business to focus on what will define and drive their brand - yet all too often, early activity is limited to designing a logo and getting a website up and running as quickly as possible. It's a classic case of 'cart before the horse', whereas investment in brand definition at this stage pays early and long-term dividends, and it builds early confidence too.For longer-established businesses, we focus more on employee engagement as this has such a huge effect on the brand and how it is both perceived and received by customers and suppliers. From the beginning of any project, we work inside the organisation to ensure that there is a consistent understanding of purpose, as well as clarity around its true identity. This enables us to identify and communicate the relevant messages for customers, and also to attract and engage employees who will be successful for the organisation and for themselves - becoming passionate advocates. We look outside the organisation too, initially to understand the market but also to see if the inner reality reflects the external perception - and if doesn't, how, what and when to communicate in order to close the gap in understanding.If people understand and buy into the purpose of the organisation, they share its values, and trust in the actions and behaviours of its leaders, they are more likely to be loyal to it - whether as a customer, a supplier or an employee. And they will recommend it to others.Understanding who you really are, defining your purpose and values, and developing a style of communication that is an accurate reflection of personality, is critical to creating a strong brand.Your brand is much much more than your logo. But your logo is a reflection of your brand.It's worth getting it right from the start - and keeping it on track.

Establishing Peer Group in 2007 was a natural next step in a 25 year career spent enabling large, complex organisations in the UK and further afield, to communicate effectively with employees, candidates, target candidates – and their influencers.We established a stimulating, intelligent, creative and enthusiastic team with a lot of experience and a depth of knowledge on critical current affairs: the employment offer, employee motivations, priorities and influencers, recruitment, retention, talent management, engagement – and on employer reputation: how to build it and how to sustain it.A specialist communications consultancy, Peer Group used numerous research methodologies, considerable brand knowledge and communications flair to define, articulate, communicate and manage the employer brand for national, international and global organisations. Clients varied in size and also in the scale of the projects they commissioned, but what united them all was a clear strategy, challenging objectives, ambitious plans and a real focus on talent management, retention and engagement – with most operating in highly competitive employment markets. Though slow to grow and achieve recognition, the Employer Brand remains ever easy to shatter, and so requires essential ongoing careful management.We had strong views about what we were there to do: 'We don’t create your brand for you and we don’t sell branding by the yard. We reveal your brand identity, we determine precisely who needs to know and understand it, we articulate it appropriately to those audiences and we ensure that it stays front of mind.'

Established and managed the research and planning function; involved in business development and strategic planning for a variety of commercial clients.

I established Leapfrog initially to deliver recruitment and training products and services to the recruitment communications industry - although the client base expanded to include mainstream advertising agencies, professional institutes, recruitment consultancies and other commercial organisations. The offering developed too, with an increased focus on research and communications campaign planning, working with a number of associated. Eventually, when the ages of my children permitted greater flexibility, I joined ThirtyThree - to that point, a loyal client!

Ran a £7 million billing commercial client account group. Significant clients were British Airways and Tesco. Also responsible for managing the training budget, cross-agency training needs analysis, sourcing training providers, designing and delivery core skills and soft skills training programmes; design, development and delivery of the graduate training programme.