Catherine Harrison

Cath Harrison (52), Derby, has been working since the age of 15, After an impressive career as a Personal Assistant of over 35 years, working in the private and public sector at businesses including tech giant Hewlett-Packard, Cath honed her experience and became the right-hand woman to her employers.

In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, Cath was made redundant and decided to take the plunge and launched Bee-Assisted Ltd .

Because of her leap of faith, Cath found herself as a new business owner later in life than most, despite this she took it in her stride to quickly become fully booked, utilising her 35+ years of experience as an executive assistant.

Cath now also offers support to new VAs, and in 2024 started training to be a VA Mentor. She has been a guest speaker at networking groups, in schools and other businesses across the Derbyshire region. She regularly appears on podcasts sharing her expertise.

Cath is a passionate advocate for disability support and improving accessibility, a cause close to her heart; her eldest son was diagnosed with hearing loss and mild autism at a young age and is now profoundly deaf and a bilateral cochlear implant user.