I grew up with an entrepreneurial father who ran multiple start-ups. Although it was incredibly inspiring to watch him build businesses out of nothing, I also witnessed first-hand the challenges, hard work and sleepless nights that come with running a business and managing people.

It was this, along with a steer from my Business Studies teacher Mrs Rhodes, which first sparked my interest in HR. I was about 15 when I asked her ‘why do some people work harder than others’. And so she explained the role of HR. I don’t think I even knew such a job existed until that point.

My Degree & first Job in HR 

From there, I studied Business Studies as a Degree at Nottingham Trent University, and specialised in HR Management. After some travelling, I got offered my first HR job at Sodexo and began my mission of helping people reach their potential. However, the reality of working in HR wasn’t quite as I’d imagined it. My days were spent handling employee complaints, disciplinary cases and redundancies. I was probably dealing with around 8 employee issues at any one time.  

After nearly quitting HR, the HR Director at the time helped me to understand how important HR is in these critical moments and reignited my passion for HR. She said that how we act and support people in the moment is a huge part of why we exist. We set the standards and tone of the organisational culture and ethical excellence. That really stuck with me throughout my career. 

My progression up the corporate ladder

Over the years, I continued to progress up the HR Ladder, and after joining Pearson, I achieved my goals of becoming HR Manager by the time I was 25 and Global HR Director by the time I was 30.

I also completed my Masters Degree in HR from London Southbank University, whilst working full-time. 

As Global HR Director, for the Technology division at Pearson I partnered with an inspirational CIO & Technology leader, Genevieve Shore, who had a big, bold vision. I was tasked with helping her to create a high-performing leadership team and building a high performance culture. 

In this role, myself and my global HR team of 15 people were able to add a tremendous amount of value – I helped her build a high performing leadership team, restructured the ensure function to help provide clarity and purpose to each team, we revamped our recruitment process to hire 200 digital roles and piloted the first ever virtual induction programme, which turned out to be a huge success. 

Then I started a family

 After being in that role for a few years, I went on to have my first baby boy. After he was born, I realised the commute, global travel and long hours were no longer feasible so I found a job closer to home, working as Head of HR at Argos Head Office. This was a great role, where I led a range of strategic HR initiatives. 

During my time at Argos, we sold Homebase and we were acquired by Sainsbury's, so there was a high expectation for the HR teams to support the leaders and employees navigating a huge amount of change.

After this was complete, I started to reflect on what my next personal goal would be. What would I want to do, that would give me more freedom and flexibility, whilst still being able to work at a strategic level and deliver high-quality HR Services. 

The beginnings of Modern HR

After supporting a friend with some HR issues (as a favour) who ran her own successful small business, she suggested that I set up my own HR Consultancy. 

As I began to research the idea, I realised that people, like my dad and my friends who run small businesses, don’t always know how to lead a team, what policies you need to have, how to have a difficult conversation, or how to attract the best and brightest people. 

But these were exactly the kind of things I could help with. 

I passionately believe with the right advice and guidance, not only can a lot of the pain and hassle associated with people in the workplace be prevented but also small businesses can achieve a competitive advantage through their culture, performance, leadership and talent – And if you don’t believe me - just google Netflix or Zappos!

So, in 2017 I created Modern HR, and now, I work as a Virtual HR Director & Leadership Mentor for ambitious, yet kind small businesses and charities, in a freelance capacity. I also became a certified Gallup Strengths Coach, to add an extra dimension to my offerings. 

Some of my recent clients include Lokulus, MQ, Pearson Pensions, Beelivery, The Roundhouse and YMCA England & Wales. 

I’ve also held a number of Board & volunteer roles, including Safeguarding Trustee for a Multi-Academy Trust and HR Lead for UN Women UK.  

You can read my testimonials here.