What do you do for Remarkable Practice?
My role at Remarkable Practice involves proofing and editing all of the great material produced by the team – Business Bitesizes, blogs, webpages, emails. I can be quite pedantic, so it’s a good fit!
Favourite song of all time?
This is the hardest question of all – doesn’t it depend on the mood you’re in?
I have a Desert Island playlist on my Spotify which is now up to about 25 songs, from Tangled Up in Blue to If I Were a Carpenter to the opening number from Lilo and Stitch (He Mele No Lilo).
However, if I HAD to choose just one, it would be Saint Saens’ Aquarium from his Carnival of the Animals. It was playing when I walked down the aisle 25 years ago, and I never get tired of it. I’m always immediately transported back to that wonderful day.
Name a famous person that you have met.
I was with my husband, Paul, at a conference once, and Steve Redgrave, 5-time Olympic gold medalist, was the guest speaker.
He was such a down-to-earth guy and he didn’t really know anyone there, so he joined our little group. He sat with us at dinner and shared some interesting rowing titbits – for example, he worked for TWO YEARS to shave ½ second off his time.
He made me see how all-consuming being a professional athlete can be.
When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Hard to remember back that far, but I think I wanted to be a nurse. This would have been a disaster, as I’m ridiculously squeamish. Computers were in their absolute infancy (my first computer programs were input on punch cards), but I did once think I would do something in that field, and so it has proved to be (kind of).
My favourite place in the world is...
I don’t have the itch to ‘go places’ like I used to, so I’m pretty content no matter where I am, as long as I’m with my family. Sounds boring, but my favourite place is my home. But I do love traveling in Italy and Germany, and we enjoy going to the Great Smoky Mountains in the US.
What are you most proud of?
First, our two sons, Cal and Jack – two terrific young men who it’s been our pleasure and privilege to raise. Even though they’re both in their twenties, we still manage to spend a lot of family time together, and we really enjoy their company.
Personally, I’m most proud of attaining a university degree in Mathematics, at the ripe old age of 34, after several years of taking night classes while working full-time. Getting that degree opened up a huge door for me – my company, NCR, sent me to France to work in their software deployment centre, and I’ve never looked back.
What is your favourite edition of Business Bitesize?
Definitely the recent issue about the importance of trust. If a company (or a family, or any group you belong to, really) gets that right, everyone wins.