ABOUT ME
My journey in entrepreneurship began several years ago when I operated a wedding coordination service for brides seeking to have their wedding in the beautiful KZN region of South Africa, situated on the east coast. My clients were mainly brides from abroad seeking a unique experience for their wedding day. This was a lifelong dream and when the opportunity presented, I took it. Having said this, don’t let the images of dreamy bridal dresses, flowers and wedding trinkets of a wedding day fool you. It’s hard work!
I attracted my clients through an interactive website that was designed to showcase the best of the region and the best venues to host a wedding.
We communicated mainly via email or on the odd occasion via phone or fax. There was no WhatsApp, MS Teams or Zoom at that time. We exchanged pictures, colours and style formats initially to determine the overall look and feel for the BIG day. Then I gathered a team of service providers that would form part of every detail for the big day. Each step was communicated to the bride and groom (where necessary) and agreed upon before the service was approved. The client entrusted me with funds to me to pay the deposits to each service provider to secure that service for the date of their wedding. On that day, I arranged the final payments to all service providers for the balance of their services. In most cases, the journey from start to finish took about 6 months.
However, in some cases, it took 12 months. The wedding timeline from start to finish mostly depended upon the availability of the preferred church and venue for the selected wedding date. Once this crucial element of events was secured the rest of the services could be procured.
There were challenges along the way that required remedy. It was important to keep my client informed of all matters and to reassure them of my dedication to achieving their dream wedding regardless of unforeseen challenges. This involved providing alternate solutions that still met my client’s needs and expectations, and the service providers played a huge role here in providing advice and suggestions to overcome a challenge for the mutual benefit of all parties concerned. Attending the wedding day to oversee all the details of the day was both truly rewarding and exhausting. It was worth every effort to see the bridal couple happy and glowing on their special day surrounded by their friends and family. It was all the reward I needed on that day. I look back on the dream weddings I helped to create for my clients with pride and fondness. The lessons and skills I gained in customer service, trust, integrity, communication and problem-solving stand me in good stead with my HR Consultancy business today.
I have also worked in the Professional Services (Consulting Engineering Industry), FMCG (Food Industry), and Shipping sectors within South Africa and more recently in the UK Care Sector. I have held the positions of HR Administrator, HR Officer, HR Coordinator, and HR Manager. I spent 3 years in the UK from 2019 until 2022. I commenced an HR role in the care sector just before the world was placed in lockdown in March 2020. This was testing time. There was no manual or Google support to guide HR in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenge for our team lay in seeking solutions for the business to provide a 24-hour 7-day service to our residents when many carers feared coming to work. I’m sure HR teams worldwide faced similar challenges and were stretched to capacity to propose innovative solutions to guide management on the way forward.
Everyone looked to HR and I’m proud to have been part of this time in history. This period showcased HR and revealed the true strength of HR people and their importance to any business. Furthermore, over my working career I have been privileged to work with some great employers and colleagues. My colleagues valued my professionalism, guidance, advice, and willingness to assist no matter what the issue.
Furthermore, my colleagues would describe me as caring, supportive, and knowledgeable. My employers valued my integrity, business acumen, and ability to play the role of buffer in juggling the needs of the business and employees with ease.
I am also a ‘figures’ person and thrive in working with payroll activities and spreadsheets. I have extensive experience in managing full-function payroll as well as carrying an overseeing role ensuring accuracy and timely finalisation of monthly and annual payroll activities in accordance with SARS and third-party requirements. I held the positions of Bookkeeper and Assistant Accountant before cross-training in the field of HR.
