I’ve been married to my husband Mark for 36 years, I’m a mother of two grown up boys and a grandmother to three wonderful grandchildren so family is very important to me, I spend as much time as possible with my grandchildren, which is a little less since we moved to the North Pennines during the pandemic from East Anglia, slight change in scenery there! I walk with my husband, who is heavily involved in the Animals at Home business, and our dogs as often as we can, although our 12-year-old Labrador is willing, she is suffering with the hills, so sometimes stays at home and looks after the house for us while we’re out. I’m a keen open water swimmer and we’re very fortunate to have bought with our property a disused flooded quarry, so warmer months we will be found swimming and paddle boarding in the quarry, often accompanied by friends with the day ending with a barbeque and some light refreshments. With friends and family based in north Scotland down to Looe in Cornwall we are quite used to travelling and try where possible to combine business with pleasure.

My role as Managing Director of Animals at Home, following a Management Buy Out of the business back in October 2019, means that my responsible is for our Franchisee’s ongoing support and further Training, as well as advertising and recruiting for new prospects interested in joining the Animals at Home family and the future growth of the brand. Prior to joining Animals at Home back in 2014 my working life involved travelling around the country as a Reseller Account Manager in the B2B Telecoms industry, this included training and supporting start up and existing telecoms companies that had agreed to resell telephone systems, lines and mobiles from my employer, ensuring good supplier relations and the growth of the resellers business. The trouble shooting experience and business knowledge gained during these 20 years has been transferrable and invaluable when dealing between senior management and Franchisee’s to maximise business productivity working as the Franchise Manager for Animals at Home. It also helped that I could talk about pets all day. Part of my role is to ensure success of the New Starter along with building their confidence in their business and brand to enable them to reach their goals and longevity of their business, by way of the Franchise Agreement renewal at the end of their initial term. This will then naturally lead to the success and growth of Animals at Home the brand.