When did you join ELBA?
September 2004 – I have been working at the charity for over 17 years. Incredible really, but the time has gone by so fast, and I’ve had lots of different roles from a community project manager through to managing the ELBA Hackney programme (when we still had a borough focus) to my current role. I still love working at ELBA.

What is your role and what does it involve?
Director of Partnership & Practice and I am part of the senior leadership team. I have responsibility for looking after external partnerships, particularly with our corporate partners, and ensuring we are working to support their targets as well as achieving real impact for our community partners. I assess risk, strategically manage a lot of relationships, and try to bring in new partners. The other part of my role is to improve how we work internally. This includes quality and performance as well as staff learning and development.

Three words to describe yourself
Sociable, adventurous, community-spirited (if I can count the last as one word!).

Tell us one thing that people may not know about you
I lived in the Philippines for a year working on international development with VSO – an amazing experience. I was recruiting and training business volunteers to become development workers in other developing countries. I got to travel to a lot of the 7,500+ islands making up the country, working with local community partners, recruiting and training volunteers. I also worked with international volunteers in the Philippines helping strengthen local organisations. It was shocking seeing the stark contrasts between the slums (often washed away each year with the floods) and the huge wealth. This made me want to support those in need even more. After returning to the London VSO office, I really wanted to do something to support local communities. That’s when I saw the job opportunity at ELBA as a project manager helping community organisations connect with companies and volunteers from Canary Wharf – my first role at ELBA.

Tell us the best thing about working for ELBA
The people. The passionate, dedicated and diverse staff team. We talk about being part of the ELBA family as there is such a sense of closeness with colleagues – past and present. ELBA colleagues have set up excellent internal groups: wellbeing programme always ensures there are a lot of activities to support physical and mental health; and the inclusion group encourage us to debate all sorts of topics. I love working with all the community and corporate partners who are all fantastic to work with and are all committed to improving the lives of others. I love supporting different people to work together and collaborate. I love the sense of purpose that our jobs and those of internal and external colleagues share. I am so proud to work for ELBA.

Name your favourite place in east London and why
There are so many, but because I love food SO much and Asian cuisine best, it has to be all the Vietnamese restaurants on Kingsland Road, Hackney. I often eat there when meeting friends. The Bangladeshi restaurants in and around Brick Lane and the Turkish restaurants in Dalston rank a very close second.

Complete this sentence ‘The absolute best thing about volunteering is….’
…giving back through sharing time and expertise, while also learning and developing yourself further through new experiences that bring insights and improve transferable skills.