My name is Beth. I am a mum first and foremost to funny, beautiful 6-year-old Robyn, and also a senior premium beauty operations manager for Boots UK. What I love about my role is I get to support our stores in delivering our beauty proposition to our customers. Beauty, for me, has always been about making people feel good. That could be helping a customer who is living with the effects of cancer and supporting them to find solutions to regain their confidence after losing their hair and lashes, or someone experiencing changes in skin due to pregnancy or menopause and needs a new skincare routine.
In addition to my role I feel incredibly lucky to chair the Women of WBA UK Business Resource Group (BRG). The leadership team is an inspiring group who have become a really important part of my support network.
I joined the BRG because, not only was it a great opportunity, but also because I wanted to be part of a group that positively encourages and celebrates being yourself at work. As a team we focus on key pillars to support women in and into leadership across WBA, create inclusive teams and foster an environment where women thrive.
Women of WBA works to help drive awareness of gender inequality and issues affecting women to make a positive difference with colleagues and customers. It is a place to feel accepted, learn and support making a positive difference for WBA’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) agenda.
Having a daughter made me acutely aware of the challenges women continue to face. I have dedicated more time to educating and challenging myself about DE&I. The pandemic has disproportionally affected women in many ways including period poverty, the rise of domestic violent crimes reported to the police during lockdown, childcare and work challenges, job loss and mental health illness in young adults and women. The issues faced are not the responsibility of one person, but need a collective response effort.
A typical day would be…
My alarm goes off at 5 a.m., then I snooze at least twice. Finally, I jump on the spin bike or a gym session, ideally before 6:15 a.m. when my daughter wakes up. Being a single parent means I need to be disciplined in order to carve out time for myself.
I drop Robyn at childcare between 7 and 8 a.m., and then head to the office (or back home during lockdown). Throughout the day, I typically have meetings with Trading, Marketing, Learning & Development or our Premium Brand partners. My goal is to ensure our beauty operation is effective for our store teams to deliver an amazing experience to our customers.
I then head back home to pick up my daughter. During the ride, I make calls or listen to a podcast or audio book. It’s a good time for me to clear my head before switching into multi-tasking, negotiating and problem-solving mum mode. I get Robyn to bed by 8 p.m., and then, with what’s left of my day, I may partake in some fitness fundraising challenges or complete my work to become a volunteer for The Hygiene Bank. If I can keep my eyes open, I may also binge something on Netflix.
Lockdown has had its challenges. As someone who is energized by being around people, not being able to meet others face to face has been draining. I hadn’t realized how important having people around me drives my creativity and lifts my mood.
To keep myself in a healthy frame of mind I try hard to stick to a routine. Practicing mindfulness, exercising and keeping a gratitude journal have been very helpful and made me appreciate some of the things I have perhaps taken for granted in the past.
I love my job and I am so excited to continue the great work we do at Boots UK and the Women of WBA UK BRG!
To find out more about Beth’s career, click here.
