PA / Admin

Education/Qualification

• 2023    Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading – Proofreading 1, 2, and 3
• 2013    City University – Diploma in Novel Writing and Longer Works
• 2004    Oxford House College – The University of Cambridge Diploma in Teaching English (CELTA)
• 1995    Stradbroke College – NCTJ Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism
• 1994    De Montfort University – BA Honours in English and Media Studies

Systems used

• Microsoft Word and Excel
• Sage
• Jira / Asana / SQL

Career Summary

Current Employer – Self Employed

Position – Freelance Virtual Assistant

Dates – September 2015 – Present

• Work on ‘Upwork’ and ‘Fiver’ doing VA tasks including document production, project management and problem-solving for clients using the website I built

Current Employer – Online Tutor

Position – English Teacher

Dates – September 2015 – Present

• Teaching English to students in 30- or 60-minute conversation classes
• Built a loyal group of students by providing engaging lessons

Previous Employer – Digital Consultancy

Position – Writer / Proofreader

Dates – June 2023 – January 2024

• Wrote a comprehensive curriculum of English grammar lessons for YouTube, and made accompanying videos, expanding tech skills to include video-editing

Previous Employer – Online Children English Classes

Position – Writer / Proofreader

Dates – September 2022 – September 2023

• Wrote a complete story-based ESL curriculum

Previous Employer – Online Children English Classes

Position – Proofreader

Dates – October 2021 – September 2022

• Worked as part of a global remote team to produce a new story-based curriculum

Previous Employer – Council

Position – Executive Assistant to the Director of Finance and Resources

Dates – July 2004 – September 2015

• Initially appointed as a temporary PA for two weeks after being put on ‘gardening leave’ from Bella when the magazine was taken over. Was then taken on permanently in the Executive Assistant role after two weeks of supporting the Director of Finance, and was invaluable by offering a discrete and professional support service in a time when the council was in a time of flux
• Part of a team of three managing the CEO and the five-strong Executive Team, handling confidential communications, and gatekeeping calls from tenants to the CEO, ensuring high-level complaints from housing tenants were dealt with promptly and politely
• had sole responsibility for both travel booking, managed the budgets for the Executive Team, and for travel and events on behalf of the director
• Also, enjoyed event planning, and organised the annual conference, and the Executive Team away days, and had sole responsibility for event catering, and venue booking

Previous Employer – Magazine

Position – Writer

Dates – February 2000 – July 2004

• Wrote and proofread feature articles for Britain’s second biggest-selling women’s magazine
• Worked to tight deadlines, contributing to a weekly circulation of over 131,000 copies
• Collaborated with a national editorial team, developing relationships to find human-interest stories

Previous Employer – Newspapers

Position – Journalist

Dates – September 1995 – January 2000

• Solely responsible for sourcing compelling content for a weekly front-page story and seven inside pages
• Exclusively wrote feature articles for the newspaper, focusing on this area as my specialisation