April PardoeI am a 39 year old married mum of one 15 year old daughter. I have worked my way up from Admin Assistant to PA to the CEO over the past 12 years and am finally in my dream job! I spent 10 years working in various branches of the public sector and now work for a small charity The Breastfeeding Network. I am passionate about the work we do supporting women and their families as I have seen the good it can do and know how I would have benefitted from it when I was struggling to breastfeed my daughter. I am proud to be the first and only PA in the organisation and I enjoy being the “go to woman” when people need something! I enjoy the flexibility and freedom of working from home and have a close relationship with the CEO Shereen who is a very supportive and encouraging boss. I enjoy working with our volunteer Trustees and am pleased to have introduced better organisation and more structure to their meetings.

Away from work, I am a keen actress and work with several different amateur groups in my area. I am involved in setting up a local branch of the Women’s Equality Party in Northampton and will be using my PA skills to get this up and running.

I love being a PA and am passionate about the importance of the role – I would love the opportunity to show young people considering their future that there is more to administration work than “typing and filing” and that being a PA is a highly skilled and respected role.