I am Course Leader for the very popular Graphic Branding & Identity Course at LCC. We have up to 65 students in each year, and I have recruited a teaching team of brand design practitioners who are all experts within their field to teach this specialist area of graphic design. Our students love their course, rating us 96% for their overall satisfaction. Our Branding Industry Partners are some of the best in the country and the world. Our students go on to work for many of them, fulfilling UALs ambition to change the World for the Better through our Creative Endeavours.

I was invited to join the Board of Trustees as Portfolio Holder for Brand Marketing & Communications, following my involvement as a member of the City Club Steering Committee. In 2023, I also joined the Enterprise Board, and later the Finance Board too. We are an award-winning Art Gallery and regularly receive 5-star ratings for our Exhibitions from publications such as The Guardian and Financial Times. We recently won Eastern Eye Editors Special Award 2024 at the 7th annual Eastern Eye Arts, Culture, and Theatre Awards (ACTAs) for MK Gallery Beyond the Page: South Asian Miniature Painting and Britain, 1600 to Now

We opened SSHY Creative Ltd in 2012, as an antidote to the comfort of client-side and to experience the roller-coaster highs and lows of running a small design agency. After a break to lead Tesco's in-house creative agency, I am now back running SSHY Creative with the added bonus of supermarket and food retailing experience. My philosophy on great design remains the same...“My ambition is to create ‘beautiful design that makes you smile’. It’s how I’ve been judging design solutions for the last 10 years – when a see good design and I know it’s going to meet the client’s objectives it makes me smile. And when I present, I know I’ve got the right solution if I see the client smile.” SSHY Creative is a little graphic design agency that creates big, bold graphic design that does the job. Everything from little logos to big brand identities, little leaflets to big campaigns. SSHY Creative is brand new, but Simon and I have been creating effective design for donkey’s years. It’s what we do, and we love it.

I was invited to be External Advisor during the validation of the Ba (Hons) Design Management & Cultures Course. I then taught on these courses at London College of Communication before becoming Course Leader for Graphic Branding & Identity.• Ma Graphic Branding and Identity• MA Data Visualisation• Ma Design Management & Cultures• Ba Design Management & Cultures• UAL International Summer School• UAL Short Courses

I couldn't resist this fantastic role to develop the creativity at Tesco's in-house agency. I introduced new talent into the existing teams, then led the creatives and their managers, including graphic designers, photographers, art directors, stylists, copywriters, artworkers, chefs, home economists and set builders. The department employs 40+ full time staff and up to 90 freelancers a week, making it in the top 2% of UK agencies by size, and possibly the largest in-house agency in the UK. Our work covered all marketing streams including packaging, in-store, publishing, clubcard, local, internal comms and advertising.

I joined Argos as a Senior Manager and gave myself 2 objectives – raise the profile of design at the highest level in the company, and deliver improved sales through design effectiveness. I achieved both in my first year, and got the go ahead to invest in my team – recruiting high calibre, professional designers and growing the team from 2 to 18. My remit increased from just catalogue pages, to all publications, then in-store POS was added, the online shop, and eventually I led the creative strategy for the rebrand of Argos.Along the way, I won ‘best annual reporting suite 2010’ at the CorpComms awards, as well as judging the Design Week Awards and prestigious Benchmark Awards. You can see me talking about my design philosophy in a video case study for Business Link, and online articles for the Design Council.

When an opportunity arose to join the new Boots online team, I jumped at the chance and soon become Head of Online Design – leading an entire overhaul of the website, as well as launching Wellbeing, a digital TV channel.

After a number of exciting years running my own business, I decided to feel what it was like to get paid every month, and took a leadership role at Boots the Chemist in their in-house design team. Projects ranged from Christmas gift guides to a major redesign of the entire in-store communications.

I graduated as a graphic information designer but began my career in 1991 during a recession. As there were virtually no jobs for graduates, I set up my own graphic design business with my boyfriend Simon Yeomans. The Government Enterprise scheme helped us get going.