What Do You Mean I Don’t Work For Shared Interest?!?

After six years of working for Shared Interest, it’s time to move on to pastures new.

What can I say to summarise my time at SI? So much has happened.

When I got the job of Customer Services Team Leader back in 2004, there were only around a dozen staff working out of the 3^rd and 4^th floors in the Collingwood Street office. I’d never heard of Shared Interest before then and I couldn’t believe what was right on my doorstep the whole time; a local company with the sole aim of helping disadvantaged communities around the world. I might even get the chance to put my French and Spanish skills to good use.

It was a steep learning curve what with the ins and outs of fair trade to get to grips with, international development issues as well as the varying producer needs. I am pleased to say that in six years I haven’t stopped learning.

Shared Interest has grown so much in so many ways. Staff numbers have doubled, we have 3 overseas offices in Nairobi, Costa Rica and Lima and the Shared Interest Foundation has gone from strength to strength.

When I started I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to represent Shared Interest at the IFAT conference in Ecuador; meeting and speaking to producer groups we worked with face to face. Or that I would have a change of career and move into HR and complete a post graduate diploma. Even more surprising was that I became au fait with social accounts having never heard the term before working for SI! I am really pleased I got to work with staff from our overseas offices and be part of something amazing that makes real changes to the lives of people who need it most.

My husband often jokes with me when we meet new people that he’ll give me three minutes before I mentioned SI. Well that’s what it does to you, working somewhere like SI, you can’t wait to tell everyone what you do and what difference we make to so many people. I’m sure that feeling won’t leave me for a long time although I must remember that I don’t actually work here anymore! I will of course make sure I keep up to date with developments at SI with a keen interest and you never know I might just become a Welsh based ambassador.