What is a fun fact about you?
I am absolutely dog mad! I love everything about doggies and having grown up with Westies as well as some bigger dogs (which we were only supposed to have for a few weeks, but somehow ended up staying with us forever), I am lucky enough to be a proud parent to my current wee four paws – a cheeky terrier who we adopted last year and who has very quickly stolen my heart (as well as my bank balance)!
What was your first job?
My first job after uni was as a researcher at an energy consultancy, where I worked on an array of projects. One project that stands out to me is working with my colleagues on an energy development project for the Mozambique Government, who were looking at best practise in South America so they could learn what worked in a similar infrastructure as in Mozambique. I remember coming back from lunch after a particularly busy few weeks at work, and I was rewarded with a surprise trip joining my colleagues alongside the Government officials on part of their tour around South America – 4 days in Buenos Aires!
What is the best piece of career advice you have ever received?
Be true to yourself – don’t forget who you are and what you stand for.
How did you end up here?
After 17 years in-house at a variety of asset management houses, I was looking for a new challenge – one that would allow me to continue learning, but also enable me to use all of my skills and experience I had garnered throughout my career. This is a small industry and I have known the founder of White Marble, Twink, for over 15 years. The opportunity came up to join the company and it was just so right for me at the right time.
What excites you most about your job?
To be part of a something that you believe in, where you can help grow the business and see it go from strength to strength, where you are valued for being you and the experience and personality that each of us brings to work every day.
If you weren’t working at White Marble and money wasn’t an object what would you be doing?
Well it would be between two extremes: 1) working with animals in some capacity or 2) a foreign correspondent along the lines of Kate Adie!
What do you think will be the biggest influencing ‘thing’ in marketing in the next 10 years?
A lot of things can happen in a year, never mind 10, but I would hope that sustainability and social good will have grown to be a must that companies need to consider and show. Companies will need to substantiate what they say and be held accountable to bad practise, whether that be from an environmental, a social or an ethical standpoint.
What is the coolest place you have ever been/ What is your favourite holiday destination?
Do I have to narrow it down to one place?
Close to home I would say the Seil Islands off the west coast of Scotland; an amazing community where you are truly in the midst of the amazing landscapes, light and nature in a rugged piece of Scotland, as well as some amazingly fresh seafood!
Further flung would be Vietnam – a truly amazing holiday from all perspectives: the history, the politics, the food, the people and the landscape. I travelled from the north of the country to the south in the space of three weeks and was able to see the real differences between the North and the South from all of those aspects.