My father was the general manager of a hotel, so I grew up in a hotel wanting to be a hotel manager. By the age of seven I was helping the chambermaids in the bedrooms and preparing prawn cocktails with the chefs. But my father advised me against following the general manager career route so I completed a broader degree in travel and tourism instead. My first job after graduating was as a quality and service manager at a Jarvis hotel and, over time, this evolved more and more into personnel and training, which I really enjoyed. After helping the chain to get its first Investors in People recognition and starting up an NVQ programme, I was then certain that I wanted to pursue a career in HR. Hotels are in my blood so working in HR in a hotel was ideal for me.