I’m from Birmingham and my Grandparents moved to the West Midlands in the 1960s from Jamaica and St Kitts.
When I was younger my parents were very supportive of my education but outside of that they didn’t force or encourage me down any particular career path. I enjoyed studying Psychology at A level and so thought I wanted to be a counsellor and went on to undertake my undergraduate degree at the University of the West of England. However, part way through my Psychology degree I changed my mind but I didn’t want to waste time changing course.
Upon finishing, I spoke with friends and family about what I was good at and after some soul-searching decided to go to Birmingham City University to complete a MA in Events and Exhibition management. I needed to work alongside studying and that’s when I first joined the bank, my first job was a telephony role in debt management operations.
Once I’d finished my master’s degree, I thought I’d have a better chance of finding an events role in London and decided to apply for internal jobs first to make the move down happen faster. I secured a job at the Tottenham Court Road branch and the day before I was due to start I remember travelling down on the train with two suitcases to stay with my Auntie.
I wasn’t immediately successful in finding an events job receiving feedback that I didn’t have enough experience in events. So I applied for an admin role with an events company in order to get my foot in the door but the feedback I got from that interview was that they felt I was too ambitious and would want to move to an events role and they were looking for someone who wanted to stay in the role for a long time.
Honestly I remember being quite frustrated and decided to pivot and look at what opportunities there were internally. I made a conscious effort to build my network and reached out to leaders, asking to have coffee chats and learn more about other internal roles. It was the first time I was cognizant of how large the organisation was and how varied the possibilities were. I eventually moved to Business Banking and my role focused on building a network of business owners and bringing in new business leads. I was excited to build my confidence and skill in this area and it suited me as I’m a very sociable and talkative person, who likes working with new people.
Not long after I started this role the new MD of Business Banking had a different vision for the business and the role I was doing was discontinued. In its place they created an exciting new role which required building and maintaining a local business eco-system and attending and organising networking events. Finally I’d obtained a role that allowed me to develop my passion for event management but it also led to me finding my previously undiscovered purpose.
Our organisation has a great history of championing women in business and as I developed my own understanding of barriers to enterprise I began to look into methods for supporting business owners from ethnically diverse backgrounds. I learned more about the challenges they faced and began to build a profile for myself at the bank advocating for this community.
I came to a point in my career where I wanted to travel and so requested a two-month break and just before I was due to go away an opportunity came up to work with a senior leader in the bank who was focused on diversity and inclusion from a client perspective. I was unsure whether I’d get the role and worried that my time away might hinder me but the hiring manager saw my potential and reassured me that they were more than happy to wait for my start date as I was the right person for the role. I travelled to South East Asia and learnt so much and returned to England refreshed and ready to start, however upon my return I found out the leader I was supposed to join had gotten their own exciting opportunity externally which caused a short period of uncertainty for me.
However it actually turned out to be a fantastic catalyst for my career as I was now able to lead on this work. Over the past few years in addition to meeting and connecting with many exciting entrepreneurs, industry-wide stakeholders and leaders in DE&I I have also had the opportunity to develop my own experience in DE&I policies and strategies and senior leadership engagement. The project I’m most proud of is working with external partners Aston University’s Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) on the Time to change: A blueprint for advancing the UK’s ethnic minority businesses report. Which sets out ten evidence-based recommendations to promote greater success and inclusion of Ethnic Minority businesses (EMBs) in finance and business support in the UK.
My current role as Enterprise Strategy Director sees me continuing to work with the team at CREME to implement the reports recommendations and working with wider strategic partners such as, West Midlands Combined Authority and West Yorkshire Combined Authority (on the Bradford Business together initiative).
I never envisioned that my career would lead me down a path I’m passionate about but has also giving me the opportunity to work alongside so many brilliant minds. The engagement from other organisations and people we have had since launching was unexpected but so welcome and shows the impact of the recommendations and it’s meant so much to be part of this journey for the past few years.
(Report: https://www.aston.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2023-05/creme_nwg_time_to_change_report_.pdf)
My Black Caribbean heritage means I’ve witnessed racial disparities which helped to forge a passion to make things fairer and more equitable for minoritised communities. Throughout my childhood, I attended Saturday school, where I learnt about Black history including Black pioneers, heroes and activists such as Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey and Mary Seacole. This education coupled with growing up in a predominately White area, led me to be very aware of the ‘othering’ that can happen to those who are different. I didn’t realise how uncomfortable I’d felt at school until I went to college which was more culturally diverse than my school had been and allowed me to feel comfortable in my own skin for the first time. Through my experiences, I knew I wanted to help others especially people that also felt like they were lacking community and felt out of place or not seen and understood.
In my current role I get to understand the experiences of ethnic minority entrepreneurs but also explore the opportunities and advocate for ways we can provide better support which gives me a sense of fulfilment. I am also one of the co-leads of the bank’s Racial Equality Taskforce and to work alongside colleagues who are striving towards the same goal has helped to invigorate my passion into what it is today.
One of my proudest achievements from earlier in my career was when I received my first award from our organisations Gender Network for the work I’d done to support women in business and advocate for other women. I remember feeling so proud to win this award and it meant a lot to get recognition and validation which confirmed the work I was doing was meaningful and important.
Reflecting back on my career, I wish I’d known at the outset how invaluable building a network can be. In Black and Asian communities, we are taught that we must work twice as hard to get half as far and the narrative seems to say ‘keep your head down and your hard work will be recognised’. However visibility has been a lynchpin in helping me develop my career and bringing me new opportunities. Being strategic about where you want to get to and actively building relationships with stakeholders can take your career further. I have always liked talking to people and I’ve had years of experience building confidence in engaging with new stakeholders but for someone who’s starting out on their career journey, pre-preparing questions / discussion points to help them stimulate conversations with new connections can be a massive help.
My main piece of advice for anyone navigating their career journey is to be open to learning new things. Learning continues after formal education all throughout your career. Take those skills learned in school and bring inquisitiveness and curiosity to the workplace. Keep asking questions and understand what people do. Being very open to opportunities and taking on things that you didn’t expect can lead you to places that you never imagined. Surrounding yourself with different views and opinions can also help to unlock different ways of thinking. There will also be points of uncertainty in careers, however, how you navigate these is important. I personally have been proactive in building a tribe by nurturing relationships with people I feel a natural connection with. Talking through things with the people I trust has helped me to understand what’s best for me but also helped me to look at challenges that arise from a variety of angles to find the best solution for me.
I would also encourage people to give back either through volunteering or participating in community projects. Over the last few years firstly through local authorities and more latterly through a charity called Inspiring the Future I have participated in career days, given talks at schools and helped with interview and CV prep for young people thinking about their future career steps. I’m also currently supporting an intern through an internal programme we have providing work experience.
