Belinda Aujla | The Prince's Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S)
I am the Personal Assistant to the Executive Chairman and the Executive Director at The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S).
After graduating from Queen Mary University of London, I didn’t know what career path I wanted to follow and came across a receptionist role at an Embassy, where I ended up working for six years. I held numerous roles during my time there ranging from an Information and Research Officer, Diary Secretary to a senior diplomat, Consular Officer and lastly Human Resources Officer. With the great array of experience there, I found my calling and knew that I wanted to become a Personal Assistant.
In 2017, I came across the fantastic opportunity to work at Clarence House, for A4S and have been here for over a year. The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project was established by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2004 “to help ensure that we are not battling to meet 21st century challenges with, at best, 20th century decision making and reporting systems”. It is so inspiring working for a wonderful organization that is making a difference.
Emma Sikora | LV=
I currently work as Executive Assistant to the Chief Risk Officer, supporting the leadership team of the Group Risk Management function.
I spent my early career working in recruitment then HR, working as an HR Business Partner until three years ago. I wanted to develop myself in a role that would broaden my commercial knowledge whilst allowing me to continue focusing on my passion for people development and effective communication.
I enjoy the varied responsibilities of my EA role, no two days are the same! I have worked for LV= for the last nine years and I have been given some great opportunities to develop my career. I have progressed through different roles and moved to new areas of the organisation. I have also achieved CIPD and APM qualifications as part of my journey whilst working alongside some fantastic people and teams. I wholeheartedly believe in the value that the EA role brings to both leadership teams and all employees across an organisation.
Kristianne Benn | Mishcon De Reya
Having achieving only A levels, I decided I wanted to become a lawyer, I knew, at the time getting a training contract with a degree was difficult and so I got a job in a small practice in Fleet Street as an office junior.
After 2 years, I left and got a junior legal secretary role and enrolled on an ilex course. I fell pregnant with my eldest so dropped my studies, however my passion for law continued, and I seeked a role in the litigation department for Mishcon where after 2 years become PA to the head of department.
Nearly 13 years later, I am the department's co-odrinator who is responsible for assisting management to implement new procedures and ways to develop the PA role in the ever changing legal market. The love for law still exists and so I have enrolled on to cilex and in my second year to qualify as a legal executive. I have also successfully completed the Business Excutive Award Programme with Winmark.
Letitia Jackson | Barclays
After completing College, I started my career working for a local Solicitors as an Office Junior and achieved promotion to Senior Accounts Assistant.
Upon leaving this role, I joined Barclays as a PA, supporting 4 directors in Transaction Product Management. I then moved to support the Corporate Technology CIO (Chief Information Officer) for 3 years, before moving to support another senior Managing Director in the Cash and Transaction Technology area, supporting key initiatives such as Banking Structural Reform and Brexit.
Helen Rees | Marwell Wildlife
I have been PA to the Chief Executive at Marwell Wildlife since March 2011.
A music graduate of Southampton University, I began my career in 1994 as an Arts Administrator working in local authorities and arts centres in Hampshire before securing a PA role at Southern Arts (the regional arts funding body) where I spent 4 years supporting the Local Authorities and Education teams. I then became Project Manager at Portsmouth-based Music Fusion, one of the first lottery-funded Youth Music Action Zones in the country.
Taking a couple of breaks to look after my young family, I returned to work part-time as PA to the Head of Health at the Audit Commission for 6 years, before the full-time Marwell role enticed me away from the public sector into the charity sector (not to mention the zoo industry!) for the first time.
My role at Marwell includes providing all aspects of PA support to the Chief Executive and Director of Conservation, as well as to the Chairman and Board of Trustees (including several sub-committees). In 2018 I took on responsibility for our Reception team from another department, transforming their integral role within the organisation & supporting them as valued members of staff. I constantly seek to add value to my role, and this is described in the 'significant achievements / contributions' section below.
In 2015 I founded the South Hampshire PA Network, which is described in the 'helping others' section below.
In October 2015 I was selected as one of just 6 finalists in Executive PA Magazine’s PA of the Year Awards, and in November of the same year I won SecsintheCity’s Social Media PA of the Year Award. These accolades have also resulted in my being asked to write blog articles and take part in online interviews for various PA industry websites and magazines. I recently embarked on public speaking engagements too, at PA training & network events, leading the #OneProfessionOneVoice Choir at ExecSecLive conferences around the world, and speaking about PA networks and the PA career pathway for Hays, Vonlanthen, regional PA networks and Hemsley Fraser. I was a founder member of EPAA’s Regional Advisory Board when EPAA launched in 2017, a voluntary role I held for 2 years.
In my spare time I am a keen (not very fast!) runner, I sing and play piano, and tend an allotment growing my own produce for home cooking.
Paula Moio | Time Family Office
Paula Moio is a self-made, future-focused professional, who truly embraces her passion, advocating for change of perceptions and recognition of the PA/EA role.
Works tirelessly alongside a like-minded global network of professionals to raise the profile of the Admin Profession in today’s demanding market, and who are determined to break barriers.
Bestowed with a BBC News Award for her outstanding contribution to BBC News/ BBC World Service in 2013, where she has worked as PA at executive/Board level for 15 years.
In 2017 and 2018 is shortlisted for the We Are the City, Rising Star Award 2017 for the EA-PA category – “the award celebrates 100 individual female contributors that represent the leaders and role models of tomorrow.
In 2018 it receives the prize 'Star Award', granted by LIIFTEFFECTS.org to ordinary individuals around the world who have made a difference in the lives of others - inspiring and motivating them to become better versions of themselves.
Paula currently works as a C-Suite Bilingual-Concierge EA, at an international company in the Finance industry, where she had been headhunted on LinkedIn. She took the leap of faith and has been successfully working there since January 2016.
Hanna Stacey | Rackspace
An Executive Assistant with 6+ years' experience in high growth, fast paced tech environments.
In addition to the standard job requirements of an EA I play Project Manager on multiple strategic projects that contribute to Rackspace’s overall EMEA objectives and targets. I am also functional champion for employee engagement, business partnering with HR to make sure we align to and continually improve our People Plan (this includes Hiring, retaining, cost planning, succession planning, developing and mentor programmes). In the absence of my current leader I am aligned to I am expected to lead from the front with his immediate team making sure to keep operational order and keep us on track, often being referred to as the 'glue' of the team.
I take great pride in coaching and enabling my team and am currently developing a new career and personal development strategy for the EMEA admin support team for 2019. In addition to this I work with female University Interns to build confidence and understand their forward career path.
My output, organisation and positive attitude to work has won me the accolade of finalist for employee of the month at Rackspace as well as nominee for employee of the year 2017.
In addition to this, this year I have set up a women in tech diversity group in the EMEA business, partnering with the global team in the US to create true global alignment and influence positive change for our business. This is something I am very passionate about.Outside of work I volunteer for New Leaf Project which commits to mentoring Young Offenders in the Thames Valley area.
Nikki Holland | PwC
After achieving my diploma in Office Studies at the age of 18, I was still unsure what kind of career I wanted and still had dreams of being an air stewardess or a model.
So being more realistic I applied for various office roles and was pleased to secure a job working for a direct marketing company booking the inserts into magazines. It was an interesting and exciting role but unfortunately after 18 months the company went into liquidation - not a great start my working life!
I was fortunate a find a new position working for a company called Digital Equipment, now known as Hewlett Packard. My position was a Sales Administrator which involved travelling the UK working on their stands at computer exhibitions. I stayed with the company for 8 years working my way up the ladder until I left to have my daughter Emily. After a 5 year career break and a move to Jersey I took a part time role at a local trust company in a secretarial role which enabled me to get back into the working environment and build up my confidence.
After 2 years I knew I was ready to get back into full time employment so took a position as PA to the CEO of Airtel-Vodafone. The company were newly established on the island so it was just me and the CEO in a rented office where we started to build the company from scratch. This gave me a useful introduction to recruiting staff, marketing, finance, and setting up an office and generally helped me develop the skills I now call on today. Two years later we were able to roll out the network to Channel Island paying customers, an achievement that still excites me to this day.
As a result of this successful venture, I was approached by several HNWI’s and because I always like a challenge, I accepted. I was sad to leave Airtel-Vodafone but after six years I knew it was time to take the next step on my career ladder.
Over the next two years I worked for two HNWI’s. Both roles were demanding but a challenge is something I have never shied away from. The roles were complex and involved coordinating meetings in various locations all over the world so I had to be super organised which of course I am! As much as I enjoyed the roles I still felt that there was something more to be achieved.
I was approached by a friend who advised me to apply for a role at PwC as PA to the Senior Territory Partner. At the interview I realised that this was a position that played to all my strengths and would allow me to develop further management responsibilities. Fortunately, PwC felt the same way and I joined the company in September 2014. The role, as I hoped, soon grew and enabled me to take on the added responsibility of managing the Secretaries/PAs, then in 2016 I was promoted to Office Services Manager/PA adding Facilities and Reception to the Office Services team.
As I have mentioned previously, I like a challenge and had noticed that Jersey didn’t have a network for the PA community so I decided to start one myself. I successfully launched The PA Network Jersey in July 2016 enabling 250 PA/EA/VA and office managers to meet and share their knowledge and experience on a regular basis. We have had some amazing speakers, training seminars and fun social events but the stand out event so far has been our International Women’s Day event in 2018 which PwC kindly sponsored. It was attended by over 150 people from all sectors of the community, the feedback was amazing so much so we are running it again this year where one of the topics up for discussion is how gender equality in the workplace benefits the economy, organisations and women themselves. The network ended 2018 on a high by being shortlisted for External PA Network of the Year at the Manchester PA Network awards in November which was great way to put Jersey and the Channel Islands firmly on the map.
I am proud to have had an extensive and varied career and look forward to the challenges to come.
Melissa Francis | Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Melissa began her career as a junior typist at Lloyds Bank before quickly gaining promotion to support the Branch Manager and moving on to the Area Director’s office.
Over time her role transitioned to that of a PA/Manager’s Assistant within commercial banking and after starting a family, Melissa progressed to roles within Share Registration, Single Company ISAs and eventually on to a Customer Service Team Leader role within the bank’s Cash ISA product.
Greatly missing her PA role, Melissa moved on for an enjoyable seven years at a Further Education college supporting senior leaders before taking up her current role within the NHS where Melissa is employed as a Senior Executive Assistant to the Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Chief Executive at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Melissa splits her working week across three sites at two busy NHS Trusts and is a proud Staff Ambassador, part of a wider team who advocate improving the patient, staff and visitor experience. Melissa’s EA role brings great variety however; the added dimension of Staff Ambassador duties create many opportunities and Melissa enjoys facilitating at the annual Staff Conference and supporting colleagues at Trust events. This includes career open days where Melissa has previously supported applicants, coaching them through their candidate journey as they work towards a new admin or secretarial role. Placing great value in paying it forward, Melissa sees this as an investment in the future of the organisation.
Melissa has developed a passion for networking, building relationships and attending national learning events, championing continuous professional development. Setting herself mini challenges to refresh her journey of learning, Melissa has previously 'dipped her toes' in to the blogging pond writing for the Eventopedia UK, #ProudPA blog.
Melissa is a Fellow member of the Executive and Personal Assistants Association, a Fellow Member of The Institute of Administrative Management and an Associate Member of the CIPD.
Milly Green | MUFG
Being part of a small intake of students studying Japanese at Oxford, a career in banking wasn't really the standard choice among my peers - most wanted to translate manga or find a creative role overseas.
However, my interest had been sparked by a schools programme at JP Morgan when I was 17 and from there I took part in a range of insight days through which a career in Banking increasingly felt like a good fit for me. I liked how the people I met seemed smart and driven, while still being friendly and approachable, and wanted to be a part of that environment.
I first learned the ropes as a Market Risk intern at MUFG Securities in 2015. There were loads of opportunities to meet people from all over the firm, and a number of the people I met at this time have gone on to be an immense support for me in my career ever since. I have now been working at MUFG for nearly 3 years in Enterprise Risk Management. My day to day role is really varied, involving areas such model backtesting, EUC design, risk appetite monitoring and recovery planning. I really like the combination of quantitative and qualitative skills my role involves, and how I get a lot more exposure to the key issues considered by the bank's management than I would have expected at such an early stage in my career.