Happy International Womens Day!

This year’s theme is ‘breaking the bias’, which is all about a world free of stereotypes, and discrimination, and working towards a more inclusive, diverse environment where females are equally valued and celebrated alongside their male counterparts.

Whittingtons are lucky to have many women in our team and as customers. We believe that we should always be celebrating our achievements and milestones, both in personal life and business, not just for one day of the year - but every day.

On International Women’s Day, we wanted to personally celebrate all the lovely women working within Whittingtons, and say a massive thank-you for all the hard work they do to deliver a first-class service to our many customers.

To celebrate today, we have a few faces and stories to share of the Women that are rarely to be found in the 14 nationwide store floors, but are actively working behind the scenes to ensure that Whittingtons remain ahead of the game!

Women Working Whittingtons - #BehindTheStores

First up, we have the lovely Mel, Whittingtons General Manager - a team member without whom every staff member in stores and head office would be lost! Running at 100mph behind the scenes Mel covers everything, from stock control, new-in products, overseeing the stores, marketing department, and the business as a whole.

Before Whittingtons, Mel worked in Accounts, Stock Control, Office Management, and IT systems integration with finance. She studied towards her CIMA at night school, which swiftly led to Management Accountant roles, Group Accountant and Financial Controller.

After working within the Finance industry, Mel discovered Whittingtons. She fell in love with the family-run feeling enjoyed by the Company and all of the individual branches and it wasn’t long before she felt impassioned to assist with the development of the business.

Mel has helped Whittingtons reach many goals since beginning the team 7 years ago, and continues in her quest to help the Company's continuing growth. Mel commented on her favorite aspects of the job being “creativity, as well as working in a team’. She went on to say that she loves “getting out and about, and being hands-on in branches, helping stock count or clear out old stock or set out new stock. I love a shop floor feeling. It's much more rewarding than number-crunching spreadsheets”.

Her advice to others wanting to work in a similar industry is ‘to just go for it, its so creative and ever-changing’. Mel’s favourite inspiring quote to share with you all today is, ‘What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make”.

Say ‘hello; to Faye, also known as, the Christmas Queen! A key player in the flow of Whittingtons. Specialising in product design, buying, merchandising, and managing the Southern Branches.

Faye has owned Whittingtons' sister store, 'Lavenders', for over 20 years with her husband, Brady, running it solo from 2015 while Brady joined forces with the APAC team (Whittingtons Supplier). While working at the lovely Lavenders, she also trained as a Florist.

Lavenders of London, soon extended to Lavenders in Covent Garden, creating an exciting opportunity for Faye to help source and supply on-trend interior design and entertainment venue items, all of which fell beautifully in line with Covent Garden’s already well-known artificial plants and flowers.

After selling Lavenders to APAC, Faye soon joined the Whittingtons Team, where she’s flourished for the past 3 years. Faye has a massive impact on overseeing every department; from Quality Control, Products, Southern Branches, Marketing Department, and more - we would all be lost without her knowledge! Her advice to others joining a similar field is to ‘be prepared to do any aspect of the job, early starts and long hours - but it’s very rewarding'.

Lindsay is next up on the hot seat, she has worked with Whittingtons for an amazing 16 years as an Office & Accounts Manager!

Lindsay works closely with Mel, Whittingtons General Manager, to oversee the business in the finance and office departments. She loves that every-day is different, and there are always challenges to overcome. Lindsay deals with a variety of colleagues, and a diverse range of customers.

Lindsay’s favourite products at Whittingtons are the new artificial flower range - in particular ‘the large peonies as the textures and colours look so real!’. She said Whittingtons is a great place to work if you have a creative flair, it helps to keep you up to date with the ever-changing and current trends too.

We asked Lindsay to share her favourite quote in honour of International women’s day, which was, ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you have said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel’.

Hello to Mandy!

Mandy has been within team Whittingtons for the past 11 years, starting in our Sheffield branch and then moving up to an Area Manager in 2018. She specialises in buying, product design and development, merchandising and managing the Northern Branches. Mandy is known to help make the most beautiful displays and turn areas of Whittingtons around in a flash when needed!

Before Mandy blessed Whittingtons with her creative eye, she worked as a Florist for 32 years, and also owned a flower and furniture shop for 6 years too! Since moving to Whittingtons, she has loved travelling around the Northern stores, meeting lots of differ ent faces, problem solving, making displays and designing layouts!

We asked Mandy if she had any advice for any women who are hoping to do a similar line of work, in which she said ‘don’t be put off by thinking it’s a male orientated business. It’s really not - there are some big characters out there, but once you get to know them, and the trade, they give you their full respect!’.

Mandy’s love for everything florist reflects outside in her free time too, where she enjoys being at the beach, surfing, swimming or walks.

Thanks for everything you do Mandy - the team always know you are just a phone call away.

Finally we have the last lady to share with you all this International Women’s Day - Olivia.

Olivia works as Marketing & Social Media Manager for Whittingtons, joining the team just a short 9 months ago. So far, she is loving the fast paced environment, never having time to be bored, switching between different jobs, and working both as a team member and alone.

Olivia has always had a passion for the creative subjects, having a flare for Photography from the age of 15, leading her to University and setting up her own photography business. During her 7 years as a photographer, she developed a love for Marketing - realising she was enjoying the social media, website, and customer communication more than photography itself. For the past 4 years, Olivia’s roles have quickly changed as she has been immersed in the Marketing world both through personal work, and professional roles.

Olivia’s favourite products within Whittingtons are 'everything Wedding' - always having enjoyed events and with past history of Wedding Photography, she loves to see how amazing the artificial trees, flowers, wedding signage and little details come together for customers' 'Big Days'.

"You can truly put anything together that you can imagine with all the products from Whittingtons - as long as you have the creativity to put things together, there is no limit to what you can create!”.

In light of International Women’s Day, Olivia also shared her favourite quote of ‘every woman’s success should be an inspiration to one another - not something to be jealous of. We are all strongest when we have each others backs’.

Thank-you to all the lovely ladies who work within Whittingtons, you are all highly valued and work so hard to help this amazing business bloom. We hope you know there is no limit to what you can accomplish, and we are strongest, when we work as a team.