A senior operator, available for VA work.

I started my career in international youth support aboard P&O Cruises, which is where I learned what working under proper professional pressure actually looks like. From there into education, through to running a college nursery, leading Special Educational Needs support, and lecturing Further Education Mathematics. More recently, I have been running an ecommerce business with my partner, day to day, and the operating skills from that work translate directly into the kind of help small business owners actually need from a virtual assistant.

I am offering virtual assistant services now because I have the operating experience, the qualifications, and the headspace, and because the standard of VA available on the marketplaces tends to disappoint the kind of business owner I want to work with. The site you are on is meant to do something the marketplaces cannot: introduce you to the operator behind the work, before you ever ask for a quote.

Career

Three threads, one operator.

Education and safeguarding

Eight-plus years across Further Education at Bournemouth and Poole College, moving between roles that all had safeguarding and student welfare at their centre: the college nursery (operations, parent communication, staff coordination, safeguarding lead), Special Educational Needs support (documentation, individual education plans, exam access arrangements), and Mathematics lecturing on Functional Skills and GCSE programmes. Earlier still, a stint with the NHS School Health Nursing team. The common thread: working environments where children, vulnerable adults, and confidential records are non-negotiable, and where the paperwork has to be right.

Ecommerce and operations

Co-owner of The Loving Company, a UK WooCommerce shop with a supplier feed of thousands of SKUs. Day-to-day this means CSV imports and product data cleaning, stock and order admin, customer service, supplier coordination, social media, and the bookkeeping handover at month end. The operating reality of a small ecommerce business sits behind everything I now offer to other small business owners as a virtual assistant.

Independent living and travel

International youth support work aboard P&O Cruises early in my career, and a Bay of Biscay crossing under sail more recently, taught me a useful working lesson: how to plan well in advance, work calmly under pressure, and keep going when conditions are not what you hoped for. The same instincts apply to a difficult inbox or a Monday-morning supplier feed that has decided to break.