Meet the RDs: Kristy Roff and Suzanne Cox
Here at Get Ahead VA, our people are everything. We’re dedicated to growing our business all over the country, so our customers can access a wide range of highly skilled professionals wherever they are. We currently have regional offices in Bristol, Leeds and Newcastle and we’re pleased to announce our latest addition: Berkshire & North Hampshire.
Here’s 60 seconds with our Berkshire & North Hampshire Regional Directors, Suzanne and Kristy, who will be running the new Get Ahead VA office together.
Name: Kristy Roff
Area(s) of expertise: Customer relationship management and project management. I am creatively process-driven with a commercially focused media marketing background.
When and why did you join Get Ahead VA? Following over a decade in the IT industry, I longed for an opportunity to take total control of the success my career, and 2019 seemed to be the year! The opportunity to work with entrepreneurial SMEs, which are prevalent in the region, as well as creating an outlet for skilled professionals to maximise the flexibility that virtual working offers was an intriguing prospect for me. Get Ahead VA is an established model that we’d already aspired to, so when the opportunity arose to take on the region, the decision was easy.
What did you do before you joined Get Ahead VA? After university, I worked in radio for 8 years and had a blast doing so – I gained a lot of confidence and business passion during this time. Sadly, I was part of a redundancy round after the birth of my first son, so my priorities had changed somewhat. I was lucky to fall into a part-time, flexible role for an IT consultancy, working remotely from home. This balance was fantastic whilst managing my young family. I progressed up through the business and latterly held a management position, but not being ‘technical’, my potential was limited, and I needed to satisfy a dream of reaching my own goals.
Career highlight to date: I’m very proud of the fact that my commitment and effort has led me to work up the career ladder whilst spinning the home life plates on top. But I will always think fondly of how fortunate I was to organise some great events for the radio station, and I have met some amazing people. I was particularly honoured to arrange an event for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations and I met Her Majesty and Prince Philip in doing so.
Plans for the future: The future is now. We’re so excited to be a part of this amazing brand! We have a fairly rapid growth plan to ensure that utilising a VA is an accessible option for businesses in our region, and to demonstrate that they can have a broad range of professional, skilled resources available to them, which are cost-effective and managed by us. This enables them to focus on what they do best, whilst we simply lighten the load. Then, who knows, early retirement!
Name: Suzanne Cox
Area of expertise: I’m an experienced virtual assistant myself – highly resourceful, proactive and detail-oriented, with a core enthusiasm for HR.
When and why did you join Get Ahead VA? I joined Get Ahead VA in May 2019 after running my own virtual assistant business. I always aspired to grow this business and support other local VAs, so the opportunity to run an established franchise came at just the right time.
What did you do before you joined Get Ahead VA? I built a career in operational HR for two multinationals and took redundancy as an opportunity to start my own business as a virtual assistant. I had six great years when my children were young, being able to manage my work around their needs. I love the varied, reactive nature of VA work and particularly enjoy supporting start-ups to grow to the point where their needs for a VA develop.
Career highlight to date: I’ve been fortunate to have some great roles in my career, all of which have given me new insights into business, people and myself. Managing and analysing performance management data for over 15,000 global employees in a part-time role was certainly my biggest achievement and gave me the skills and confidence to liaise with a range of senior people. I’m really looking forward to taking all my experience into Get Ahead VA.
Plans for the future: To build the Get Ahead VA business in Berkshire & North Hampshire with a team of experienced VAs, helping our clients’ businesses to grow.
If your business could benefit from Kristy and Suzanne’s help, please get in touch on 0118 380 5130 or berks.hants@getaheadva.com. To find a regional office where you are, please get in touch on 01483 332220 or office@getaheadva.com. We pride ourselves on being the staff you don’t see, but the difference you do.
