Kim Thorpe - PA to the MD and Commercial Director of Thomas Sanderson Ltd
The UK's premiere conservatory blinds and awnings installer.

"It was a fantastic opportunity to be a P.A. at a senior level as it gave me a birds-eye view of all areas of the company. It also proved to be an invaluable stepping stone in my career as it led me into the PR role I have today"

Working for Toni Mascolo, a celebrity in the hairdressing world, true entrepreneur and workaholic would be a challenging job for most P.A.'s.
However, to take on the role with little experience and to do it so well that he didn't want to let her go and now trust her to run their P.R. department tells you that this lady has something extra special.

"I wanted to work for a company that was fun, young exciting and be a part of a something that was really going places"

Having left university qualified in biological sciences, Alex stepped into the business world raring to go and full of enthusiasm. She became totally disillusioned in her first serious role helping to set up a new company catering for business lunches.

"I worked my fingers to the bone for little job satisfaction or financial reward and I knew that it was time for me to move on".

This spurred her on to take a pro-active approach and with new criteria in mind Alex sent her CV to Toni & Guy's head Office.

In the first instance, Alex was invited to attend an interview working in the franchise department. Her bid for this job was not successful, nevertheless, they kept her details on file and shortly afterwards, Alex was approached a second time for the position as Toni Mascolo's P.A. Although being a P.A. had never previously crossed her mind, she saw it as a golden opportunity not to be missed.

"It was an extremely challenging and demanding role which required commitment 24/7 but I loved every minute.. Toni took me under his wing and gave me all the encouragement and support I needed".

During a massive expansion programme through franchise; Mr. Mascolo would take Alex with him when checking out various locations across the UK and overseas.
She would prepare presentations, take minutes at board meetings and manage his busy diary. This included a great deal of public engagements and where necessary she assisted him in writing speeches. Two days of the week she was based at his home and the rest of the time at the Head Office or away on business.

Working in such a fashion-led industry, I asked Alex whether there was an onus on her to dress or look a certain way, to this she replied:

"Of course working for Toni & Guy you would expect to be well groomed at all times, besides free hair-care is part of the package so there could be no excuse for coming to work with your roots needing doing! When I first joined, I followed Toni's lead and dressed in a smart and corporate fashion but as time went on I realised that it was equally acceptable for me to take a slightly more relaxed, trendy approach"

It is clear that as time passed they developed a close working relationship. Toni came to rely upon Alex a great deal and he also trusted her judgment, allowing her to make decisions on his behalf.
As well as having a good business head Alex excelled at, and enjoyed more the creative side - writing speeches and such like. She developed a burning desire to fulfill her artistic talent, which lent itself even better to PR.

Not wanting to hold her back, but also reluctant to let her go, Toni attempted to douse the fire by offering to change her role to 'Executive P.A.'. Alex would have a secretary of her own and work as his right hand man taking his place in meetings etc. nevertheless, the need to realise her artistic flair could not be extinguished. He finally capitulated and let her go to the broad-reaching and exciting role she holds today - heading the P.R. department for Essensuals (the next generation salons from Toni & Guy run by his children).

"When you work as a senior P.A., you are in a very privileged position as you learn an awful lot, not only about the company you work for but business in general. It certainly opened the door for my current position which otherwise, I would probably have not been considered".

Bio -Claire Portman has a background in direct sales, marketing and senior account management, she is also a working Mum! She joined the DeskDemon team earlier this year as the Sales & Marketing Manager.

Day In The Life Series: We are always interested to hear from senior P.A.'s, or people that work in a particularly interesting environment or have a very special story to tell - if that is you, send a short message via email to cportman@deskdemon.com and we will be in touch!